This summer I am enrolled in Tinkering Fundamentals: A Constructivist Approach to STEM Learning, a Coursera course facilitated by instructors from the Exploratorium. Our activity for week two is to create simple circuit components that can be connected and combined in various ways to generate light, rotate a motor, sound a buzzer, turn on a fan and more. Components might also include switches, potentiometers, or just about anything that can be connected to a circuit to affect some kind of change. Here's the activity guide on circuits from the Exploratorium.

Coincidentally, just last week, I spent time deconstructing some old technology and scavenging for parts (see post here) which provided me with a number of differently sized and shaped motors, fans, switches, spare wire, and other odds and ends. Many of these items have made their way into this week's project, as you can see in the photos above. Being the hoarder I am, I had also kept the bulbs, bulb holders, and switches that the science department was ready to part with at the end of the last school year.

As part of the Creator's Studio elective course, I teach the concept of circuits using kits such as LittleBits and Squishy Circuits. Understanding how a circuit works is an important step in project development, as most class projects require some kind of circuit in order to function. Interestingly, it wasn't until constructing these items this week (and watching the course videos) that I realized how structured my activities have been. While my students are given time to explore how circuits work through the LittleBits and Squishy Circuits kits, I find myself providing a lot of information upfront, rather than letting them discover how circuits work purely through hands-on exploration, tinkering and reflection. As much as I enjoy the LittleBits kits, they are hard to get wrong. Students can experiment with different components but they can't mis-wire anything because the magnets that attach the components work only in one direction. Squishy Circuits are also fun, if a bit messy, but limited to a few components that work at fairly low voltages.

To complete this new project using the spare parts I gathered, I cut down a 4" x 4" wood post in 1" slices to serve as bases for each component. A few nails and stripped wire, solder and glue gun, and I'm up and running. I'm now on a mission to find other components from old toy parts, used household items, and neighborhood garage sale treasures.

I look forward to doing this activity with students in the fall. Using the new circuit components, students can set up various scenarios; lights in series versus lights in parallel, single pole versus double pole switches, 3V power versus 6V power, large and small fans, strange new motors, and solar power versus battery power, just to name a few. Perhaps more importantly, students can try wiring components up in all sorts of combinations, some of which will work, others that will not. All of this exploration will drive the conversation, and I can participate rather than direct the flow. 

I remember playing with these very same items when I visited the Exploratorium, and always left with a feeling of having learned something new, and having fun. I am excited to see them up and running in my own classroom. 

I've come to be known as "the tech hoarder" here on campus, as I collect any and all manner of old equipment, electronic toys, cell phones, even appliances that others are ready to leave behind. You never know when you are going to need some extra wire for soldering, a switch to turn on a circuit, a DC motor for the remote control car you are building, or an old cell phone charger to power that Raspberry Pi. It took years for me to give up some of our many cables, accessories and connectors in the server room and I regretted it the moment they left the building. 

We recently received a large cache of older technology equipment from a very generous donor. While many of the items were put directly to use, there were a few pieces of equipment that didn't work. In particular, old printers, fax machines and copiers, which are incredible finds, and offer up a treasure trove of useful items. Here are some of the cool things I dug up:

Motors:
Generally, there are two types of motors found in printers and copiers. Simple, inexpensive DC motors, which are powered to move in one direction or the other, are perfect for attaching to the wheels of a remote control car project. They can also be used in projects like Spinbots and any other activities that require some kind of constant rotation. 

These same motors are also found in a different form, as cooling fans. I generally leave these motors inside their fan housing as they can be repurposed as propellers in vehicles, or installed in a DIY solder fume extractor, a project I did last summer. 

The second type of motor is a stepper, which is digitally controlled to rotate in precise degrees and speeds. Think of these motors as the ones that feed paper into the printer, for example. They are the exact motors you find in 3D printers, controlling each axis (X, Y, Z) and the filament extruder.

NOTE: In addition to printers and copiers, I also took apart some old, but high end, remote control cars this year. These provided me with servo motors. Servos are terrific for robotics, where turning at specific angles is important. Picture a robotic arm bending, or hand grasping an object, and you get the idea.

Gears and Rods:
This past year, one of our 8th grade groups in science created a water turbine to test how electrical energy could be generated through the motion of a wheel powered by running water. In doing their experiment, they designed and laser cut gears of varying sizes to capitalize on the gear ratio to increase rotational speed. While this project turned out wonderfully well, they could have used gears from old printers, as those I gathered here. I also saved some rods that can be used in coordination with the gears.

Bearings:
These little gems can be easily overlooked when tearing down an older printer. Bearings come in many shapes and sizes, and are designed to allow one object to rotate smoothly around or along another object. All 3D printers use bearings, generally along the X and Y axes to keep the action smooth even while moving fairly quickly. I incorporated bearings in a filament spool holder for the Printrbot Simple, as you can see in the third photo below.

Lenses:
All laser printers, copiers, and faxes have some kind of laser unit composed of a laser, various mirrors and lenses. Attach a lens to an iPhone and suddenly you have a camera with macro capabilities. Below are some shots of the lenses I removed, as well as what you see through them when connected to an iPhone. For pictures two and three, I used one of the larger lenses. For the remaining pics, I used the very small bubble lens (seen in the fourth picture) from the fax machine, which has a high degree of magnification. You can see the comparison on the bottom row between a normal shot of a USB drive and penny, and their respective close ups.

Other odds and ends:
A number of other items can be had from these old devices, including LCD screens, speakers, switches, springs and extra screws. They are just waiting to become a part of the next project!

If you are willing to de-solder:
Finally, if you are willing to take the time to de-solder some components, you have a whole world in front of you; LEDs, capacitors, transistors, resistors, switches, and more. Personally, I can't find enough time in the day, but for anyone building a project on a tight budget, this is one way to obtain those components on the cheap.

What will you take apart today?

As the year comes to a close, I feel the need to look back upon the two sessions of Creator's Studio and share what worked, what didn't, and what to look forward to in the fall. Overall, it was a very successful first year. I learned a great deal about my own teaching style, along with what strategies work most effectively in a project-driven classroom. While I can celebrate many successes, the class wasn't without its challenges. Below I highlight the pluses and minuses in my experience this year, and give my outlook for the future.

CHALLENGES:
Time - In referring to time, I mean the amount of actual time for students to work on projects. Given the need to cover some foundational concepts together (circuits, very basic programming, Arduino sampling, and digital design) and to gradually bring students up to speed on the process of project development, the remaining time is devoted to project work. However, we meet three times per six day rotation, for 45 minutes each, so every minute counts. And as teachers know, we can't capitalize on every minute, as some time is given to set up and clean up, not to mention the occasional fire drill. 

Schedule - The second greatest challenge this year was being scheduled at the end of the school day. I understand the need to put core classes in the morning and early part of the day, to hit the mind "while it is fresh", so to speak. Unfortunately, this need places elective classes at the end, where students often miss class due to sports activities, doctor's appointments, and the like. A number of class sessions this year saw students absent for these and various other reasons, which makes project completion even more difficult.

Gender Balance - Through the two sessions of Creator's Studio this year, there were five girls out of 24 students, representing approximately 20%. Obviously, I would like to see the numbers increase. A more balanced roster allows for a much richer learning experience for everyone. I also find that mixed grade levels is important, as my second session which contained both 7th and 8th graders demonstrated. In looking at the requests coming in for the fall, this more blended mix of grade levels and gender will indeed happen. 

End of Project Blog - One very important goal of this class is to have students document their project work for themselves (reflection) and a larger audience (sharing). We do this through the student blogs section of this website. While my original intention was to have each student document the entire project process from idea to prototype to revision and final product, the reality is there is not enough time. However, regressing a small bit, I still want students to wrap up their project with an End of Project blog, with very specific guidelines to show what the project was about, what challenges they faced, including photos and/or video along the way. While a few students put a considerable amount of focus in documenting their work, the majority struggled. This is something I need to place more emphasis on in the coming year. I believe it's a matter of demonstrating the value and importance of documenting one's work, and giving students more opportunities for writing and reflecting in class.

Meeting each student at her/his level - With every student taking on a unique project, it can be difficult in a 45 minute class period to support each individual. I let my students know, from the beginning, that there will be times in a class that I may not get to everyone, and that much of the responsibility for work done will reside with the student. This is a tremendously important skill to have, the ability to self-motivate, take risks, and try things out without someone else telling you what to do, or how to do it. Most children this age haven't had a great deal of experience doing this, so I see it as a huge learning opportunity. However, sometimes a student is just stuck. And while these learners are the ones I most often spend my time with, in some sessions the numbers are greater than I can handle, even with 12 students. My goal in the coming year is to provide more instructional videos online for learning the tools, so that I can spend more time on project design and development specific to each child. Additional information on this can be found in the Next Year section below.

SUCCESSES:
Creative Project Selection - I am amazed at the variety of projects that were generated this year. In somewhat "if you build it, they will come" fashion, once students had a handle on the kinds of projects they could take on, and the kinds of tools they had access to, it was a matter of just getting out of their way so they could proceed to build something they were very passionate about. If anything, I had to help tone things down a bit, since one idea would spark another, and soon a child had 4 or 5 projects she/he wanted to work on. And while there were a couple of students each trimester that were able to complete multiple projects, the majority focused on one big project. See my previous blog post for details on the most recent student projects.

Task Boards - During the first trimester, in order to help students gain as much focus as possible during any given class period, I implemented task boards. These 2' x 3' shower boards (dry erase) were used at the beginning of class to allow students to externalize their thought process and identify specific steps they needed to accomplish that day. The boards were left out during class so that we all had an idea of where we should be focusing our time.

Google Doc Project Dialogue - While the task boards worked well for trimester 1, I felt the need for greater dialogue in the second trimester. I am uncertain if this had to do with the fact that 8th graders were now a part of the class, or whether the students in general approached work in a more sophisticated manner, as even the 7th graders were now older and more mature. In either case, to be more effective as a coach/mentor, I created individual google docs called Project Dialogues that I shared with each student. Using this doc, I had students reflect on their progress throughout the project and I gave feedback before each class meeting. I always ended the dialogue with "What will you work on today?" Students got accustomed to walking into class each day, opening up the dialogue, and writing back to me. This step was required before starting any hands-on work, and it was evident that going through this process helped students focus on the tasks at hand.

My Own Learning Journey - While students worked on their projects, I also took my own journey through discovery of the various tools we used. Building my own 3D printer was an incredible experience, while shadowing one student's Arduino project forced us both to dig deeper into the code than we expected. Setting up, configuring and using the laser cutter was a thrill, and now I am embarking further into 3D design as I build instructional videos around Autodesk 123D. Learning is a life-long pursuit, and I am in it for the long haul.

NEXT YEAR:
The New PIRL Space - One challenge I failed to mention above was classroom size. This first year was a prototype, and as such we used a space that was formerly the student store. Not an ideal classroom, about half the size, and thus the need to limit the roster to 12 students. Even with just 12, I often found myself sending students outside to work on projects, particularly those that might have involved a power tool. This summer we will turn the existing middle school computer lab into PIRL, the Project & Idea Realization Lab, moving most of the elements from Creator's Studio into a much larger space. Please stay tuned for more information here on the blog. 

New Tools - The first trimester of this year began without access to the laser cutter and minimal access to the Cube 3D printer. Over the course of the past nine months so much has changed. The second trimester students had full access to these tools, along with additional design software and resources. In the coming fall, two Makerbot Replicator 5th Gen printers will be added to the suite of tools, and we are exploring the options for CNC, vinyl cutting and vacuum formers. I am also interested in other tools coming down the pipe (no pun intended) including DIWire from Pensa Labs. I first saw this tool on Kickstarter, but as of this writing, they are now taking pre-orders. We are living in very interesting times.

More Course Instructional Videos - As I mentioned previously, part of my strategy in handling the issues of limited time and difficult scheduling is to provide more resources outside of class. By giving students access to lessons on their own time, and of their own choosing, I can focus more in-class time to specific problems and questions that arise during project work. I've recently added videos for Autodesk 123D Design, and will follow these up with tool use (soldering, drilling, sawing) along with any other hard and soft tools as necessary for the coming year.

There is no doubt that this year was exhausting, but exhausting in the best possible ways. I have learned so much about new technologies, new teaching strategies and new classroom management approaches, all prompted by the needs of Creator's Studio. I look forward to next year with just as much energy and enthusiasm.