Another semester, and another year, has come and gone. Where did the time go? 

In anticipation of a quick semester (really a trimester), I reduced the amount of required projects to two, the circuit block and the hummingbird project. I had hoped this would allow more time for students to complete their personal projects during the remainder of the semester. In the end, I think they gained one day, as we lost a few days to graduation rehearsal, special schedules, and the like.

Nonetheless, it was a wonderful semester. Project ideas were creative and unique, many challenging students to reach into areas with which they were not familiar. While some students built upon concepts learned in earlier projects (i.e., building a simple circuit, using hummingbird) others involved the integration of Arduino, 3D design and printing, and laser cutting. While most students completed their projects, a couple are using recess, lunch, and any other break to make final revisions and enhancements. Here is a sampling of projects:

Below are two video clips showing student projects in action. In the first, one student 3D printed an existing model of a T-Rex, but he's modified it to allow for the integration of a servo motor and LED connected to an Arduino Uno. His code is written such that the press of a button starts a loop that will move the servo a given amount of degrees back and forth, while turning on the LED.

In the second video, another student demonstrates her Hummingbird controlled, light-sensing, servo driven nail-polisher. As she describes, it's not quite perfect, but does indeed show what can be done using these components and a bit of code.

I continue to be impressed by the ideas and creations of my students. As I always say, "Open the door, then get out of the way!"

I will re-evaluate the flow of this course for the fall of 2016. My struggle has been time and balance, feeling the need to front-load the course with some experiences in circuit making and robotics/coding, while allowing for enough quality time for students to work on a personal project. The process of ideation, prototyping, iteration, is essential for their learning journey. It is more important, I would argue, than their final product. If I believe this fully, then the course I design and implement should reflect the opportunity to experience this process in its entirety.

I cannot be sure exactly what factors are at play, but the complexity and variety of projects for this second session of Creator's Studio has impressed me. It is likely due to a combination of the following:

• Students in session 1 describing and displaying their projects;
• The expansion of tools in our arsenal;
• Our collective experience thus far this year in the use of PIRL;
• The inclusion of 8th graders in this second session;
• The academic growth of 7th graders since the beginning of the school year

Regardless of the reason(s), it is enjoyable to see students taking on these projects and witness the independence many have shown in working through challenging problem areas and attempting multiple iterations of models and scenarios. And yet students don't hesitate to seek help from me, or from classmates, where necessary and relevant. As I have said throughout the course, the process of designing, building, and iterating is as important (possibly more important) than the end product.

Here is a brief description of the current student projects:

• Name in Lights - Inspired by an Instructibles project, two students are creating either an initial or a word in large letter format and placing solar powered light bulbs inside. The letters are generated in Illustrator, converted to vector art, then modified to accommodate the placement of holes for the lights. Prototypes are laser cut in cardboard to make sure sizing and proportion are correct, then 1/8" plywood is used for the final pieces. The letters are painted and bulbs are hot glued into place. Students are also laser cutting wood boxes to place the solar chargers during use.
• LED Cube - Similar to a project from last session, a student is creating an illuminated cube that will serve as a decorative night light. The initial boxes are cut in cardboard for size testing, then laser cut in acrylic for final pieces. Acrylic pieces are sanded to give a diffused look. A simple circuit is created with LEDs, battery source and a switch.
• Remote Control Plane and Mousebot - One student is a great fan of the Makershed projects, and thus has taken on these two kit projects. It is interesting to see how some students lean toward proscribed step-by-step projects, while others may find something inspiring but add their own twist to it. Still others start with an original idea in their head and let their imagination guide them. All of these approaches are valuable.
• Wearables and E-Textiles, then a Way Out project - This student uses EL Wire and a battery pack to modify a t-shirt with lights. As the project turns out much easier and quicker than anticipated, the student quickly moves on to a 3D printed object (a Portal laser gun). She is now taking this object and integrating an LED circuit so that the tip of the laser gun will have actual light projected from it, triggered by a switch and powered by a watch battery. 
• Solar Powered iPhone Charger - This modification of the basic Minty Boost concept integrates a LiPO battery and portable solar panel to charge it. There is a bit of soldering to do on this one, so the student accesses our resource links on this site that point to tips on soldering.  I have found that having supplemental resources online, including our Course Instructional Videos, is  invaluable for providing support when I cannot reach each student during the class period.
• Motion Triggered Nerf Projectile - This student is building a platform using an Arduino and PIR sensor to trigger a nerf gun when a moving object passes a certain area. He originally wanted to have it track a moving object, but after some additional thought and research into the necessary code and hardware required, he opted for the current project.
• Remote Controlled Boats - Two students are working on different remote controlled boat projects. One is hacking an RC Car's parts, designing and printing the propeller in 3D, and working on prototype boat hulls with foam core. The other recently completed an underwater submarine project as part of the 3rd trimester science curriculum (DEEP) and thus wants to follow that up with the RC boat project. 
• 3D design and Printing - This student is exploring TinkerCAD for use in the area of aircraft and spacecraft design. He has designed two models thus far, with multiple iterations, and continues to work on new designs. With our new Makerbot Replicators now available, he is printing larger models.
• LED Matrix Sound Analyzer - Using an Arduino, a microphone and an LED matrix, this student's project involves a matrix of lights that reacts to sound coming through the microphone. First attempts have shown moderate success and he continues to adjust settings and dig deeper into the code.
• 3D Printer - This student has taken on the same project that I wrote about in the previous blog post, building the Printrbot Simple from the maker kit. While this is likely to be the most comprehensive project to date, he has spent each class diligently working through the build steps.

Below are some recent photos from a build day.

In the spirit of this week, I have a number of reasons to be thankful about this class. I was given the opportunity this year to put a course into the schedule that was unlike anything done before. While we strive, as a school community, to provide learning environments that are more student driven, active, and creative, it is not without challenges nor without taking a bit of risk. So I am thankful for the opportunity to serve as a prototype "maker" classroom.

Additional thanks must go to my colleagues here at St. Matthew's who came to our aid this week. As we near the end of the trimester, students are racing to the finish line to complete their projects. I knew the week would be the most difficult in regard to supporting each individual project. I called upon my friends here at school to see if there were any available adults that could visit us on Monday and Tuesday. As is the nature of the work ethic here, responses flooded in. From the Athletic Director, to math and science teachers, technology teachers, the librarian's husband, Middle School Principal and even the Head of School, the cavalry arrived.

These were two of the most productive days I have experienced in Creator's Studio. It didn't matter if people knew how to code or use a soldering iron, what mattered was that each student felt supported. A student designing a model could bounce an idea off of an adult in the room, a teacher could take some students out to the meadow to test out their trebuchets, and I could focus on two projects that needed the extra bump. It is truly a luxury to have this level of cooperative learning in the classroom, and while it is not possible every day, it was essential this week. 

Thank you to Alex C., Andy, Bruce, Gabi, John, Manny, Michelle, Ross, and Stu!

Final thanks go to my colleagues outside of St. Matthew's. As I mentioned in my previous post, one student was stuck in the coding part of his RC Car. Neither he, nor I, had enough knowledge to take the next steps forward. I called upon the K-12 fablab group to see if there were any takers. Within minutes I had responses coming through, with suggestions to changes in the code, and verification of accurate hardware platforms. My student and I are happy to relay that the code adjustments worked! There are still refinements necessary but we are over the hump. In fact, at this stage, he can now focus on looking at the code to see how subtle changes will affect the output.

Thank you to Angi, Jaymes, Trevor, Harlan and all the folks in the k-12 Fablab group.

Below is a short take of the Arduino controlled RC car in action. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I've reached a point in the class, with one particular student project, where I just don't know enough to help him move forward. The project is an Arduino controlled RC Car, using an Adafruit motor shield (v2), DC motors and car chassis and a basic IR remote and receiver. The goal is to control the car with the remote for simple navigation (forward, backward, left and right). His ultimate goal is to attach a camera, but we aren't there yet. ;-)

After testing out the great sketches that come from Adafruit for the motor shield, and IR sketches from around the web, we are able to get motors to respond in one sketch, and to get the IR receiver to read the codes from the remote in another sketch. However, we are struggling with getting the two to work together. This is one project where I have stepped in a bit more than others because of its complex nature. However, it has moved beyond my current knowledge level as well.

Enter one of my favorite professional learning networks, k-12 fablabs. I have been a part of this group for the past six months or so, learning something new with every post. Educators from across the globe contribute their knowledge, share experiences, and seek assistance from one another. I turned to the group for help on Friday and within minutes I received a number of responses and suggestions. I will test new sketches of code on Monday and am sure to continue the conversation with my colleagues moving forward. Thank you to Angi, Jaymes and Trevor for your help thus far!

In related news, another contributor to the k-12 fablabs group submitted a new resource from the Smithsonian for 3D printing historical artifacts. The site is called Smithsonian X 3D, and it includes downloadable models that anyone can print on their own 3D printer. What an incredible way for students to study history, to hold and work with accurate replicas of objects from our past. While there are a limited number of objects available now, I look forward to the growing collection.

Here is a sample that I tested out this week. It's a 3D scan of Abraham Lincoln's Life Mask. I printed it on our Cube then painted with water-based acrylics.

It's hard to believe that the Thanksgiving break is coming so quickly, as it represents the end of this inaugural session. While some students have begun work on their second projects, others are still hammering through their first. We will work diligently to make sure that everyone completes at least one project.

During these most busy times, I can't emphasize enough how helpful it is to have other adults present in the room. Over the past few weeks a number of my colleagues, teachers and administrators, have paid a visit to Creator's Studio. If even for a few minutes, having another adult assisting is tremendous, and I am so grateful. When students are working on such varied topics simultaneously, my greatest challenge is to support all of them. Extra hands come in handy.

The pictures below depict how divergent our projects have become. From soldering kits like digital watches, to laser cut prototypes of model boats, to Arduino controlled RC cars, students are deep into their work.

To help students externalize their thinking process, and to hold all of us accountable during class, I created these task boards out of shower board left over from our mobile dry erase Z-Racks. The left overs allowed me to make 2' x 3' sheets (approx.), one for each student. Each day we meet, they take a few moments at the beginning to update their boards. Often, I will review these prior to class, and if there is something I know they will need to take on but haven't listed, I will comment on their board. The entire process helps us to sustain a solid workflow mindset.

As a last tidbit of news, I finally had time to research how to engrave and cut on a single laser cutter job. I haven't had any students create works like this yet (I hope the boat projects will do this), but will make time for it before the end of the session. We still have 3D printing to cover! 

Here's a quick project showing engrave and cut.

I haven't had much time lately to work on my own projects, but couldn't resist this one with Halloween coming up. This project is based on one from Adafruit, called the Superhero Power Plant. The original project uses Adafruit's Neopixel Ring, one FLORA neopixel, and a Gemma board. It also comes with downloadable artwork for laser cutting and engraving. Perfect timing!

I made small adjustments, switching out the Gemma board for a Trinket, which is what I had available. Think of the Trinket and the Gemma as tiny Arduinos, sort of. They aren't equipped with as many pins, and actually work a bit differently. For example, with an Arduino Uno, I can connect via the serial USB, send data to the board and receive data back. The Trinket doesn't allow for serial connection over the USB, and requires something called a Bootloader. If you'd like to learn more, see this Overview of Trinket from Adafruit's Learning System.

While there is a slight learning curve involved with getting Trinket to talk with the Arduino IDE, it was worth the time. The big advantages to Trinket (and Gemma) are size and cost. As you will see in the photos below, the Trinket is very tiny, and as of this writing, costs a mere $8.

I won't go over the tutorial, as that is available from the link above. I will say that it took some trial and error to get the soldering just the way it needed to be, and in the end I used a larger battery pack than what was stated as I knew the Trinket had a voltage regulator and could handle the extra input. Overall, a fun project!

After two months sitting in PIRL Terrace, the laser cutter got its first run. We purchased a 5th generation Full Spectrum Hobby Laser due to the good reviews and decent price for an entry level laser cutter.  As this was my first experience with technology of this type, I really didn't know what to expect. The initial set up was fairly pain free, but there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle beyond the cutter. I was a bit nervous while making sure the air compressor, the water pump and 5-gallon bucket, and the exhaust fan/hose were all set up correctly. I used BoxMaker online to download a test design of an interlocking box. You can see the results below. I added the two holes on top for pencils.

The students continued their work on individual projects this week. We were able to meet three days, so some work was done in Creator's Studio, while one day was spent in PIRL Terrace. The projects are really coming along now. Boe-Bot robots advance on their Arduino sketches. Boats are assembled using laser cut prototypes designed in Apple's Pages application, of all things. An Arduino driven RC Car is tested with new sketches. Light cube sides are sanded and boards are wired. An LED watch assembly receives the soldering of its components. Trebuchet pieces are drilled, cut and sanded.

Photo credits - Reynaldo Macias, 10-25-2013

This week the class only met once, but we took advantage of every minute we had. The trebuchet projects needed wood cut, so we met in PIRL Terrace to have access to the miter saw. 

After an introduction of some new materials (acrylic sheets and foam sheets) and how to cut them, we all brought our required tools and materials down to PIRL Terrace to continue our project work. In the gallery of photos below, students are seen working on their individual projects in this new outdoor space.

The light cube projects are trying out the new acrylic sheets for the cube structure. It appears to work better than the material we had at the beginning, as cuts are easier and cleaner. The boat projects are using the foam sheets with a glue gun to prototype their models. We also 3D printed some propellers from Thingiverse to try out with the RC air boats.

The trebuchet creators were given a thorough walk through of the miter saw, and then made their measured cuts under my supervision. They also sanded down their pieces of PVC.

One student completed his Boe-Bot project, and in the video at the bottom of this post, you will see that he programmed it to navigate based upon feedback from its IR sensors.

All projects are in different phases of development, as expected. While some have reached a level of independence and flow, I can spend more time supporting those that need the additional help. 

So aside from the session on hacking an RC toy, which you can read about in the previous blog post, this week was mostly about individual project work. I call these types of sessions "Build Days". We might have a small introductory lesson, or general housekeeping, but most of the time is dedicated for them to advance on their projects. Here's where some of them stand:

1. The Boe-Bot projects are advancing, one has already programmed the robot to navigate on the ground.
   
2. An RC car project is waiting for a chassis. However, prior to its arrival the student is working on Arduino and has already programmed two servo motors to move simultaneously. He borrowed some code from the Boe-Bot project, and adjusted it to work with an Arduino Motor Shield.
   
3. The light cube projects are going well. One will use an Arduino so that code can drive the color of the light that gets produced from the RGB LEDs. 
   
4. The trebuchet projects are moving quickly now that they have the materials to cut and test out. Today we even discussed the possibility of integrating some technology, like an arduino or RC driven trigger.
   
5. The RC boat groups will need to test some prototype boats to see what materials work best. One group wants to use a plastic bin, another student is building his own prototype out of some acrylic material we have here in class.
   
6. Soldering has become a solid tool for a couple of projects here.

Overall a very productive week. Here are some photos of the students in action.

This week we revisited the Makey Makey so that students could experiment with some sites that were blocked during the last class. They started off with the How-To page at Makey Makey, then tried out other sites they knew would work with keystrokes. Some students also used Garageband. In Garageband, you can select a piano, then go to Window...Musical Typing, in order to make the keyboard, and therefore Makey Makey, respond as piano keys.

Students also had the opportunity to advance on their individual projects this week. I think it makes sense for the class to split our three days per rotation into some instruction and some project work. The instructional side will cover concepts that benefit everyone, where the project work is unique to each individual, with me serving as mentor/consultant. 

I have also opened up office hours, or "consultant time" one day per week so that students needing extra support can come in and work on their projects.