We are now in year three of Creator's Studio. Over the course of the last two years our students have acquired skills (coding, digital design and fabrication, physical computing) in classes beyond Creator's, out of necessity. A unit in 5th grade science or 6th grade history might benefit from one or more of these tools, so we've supported our students in getting things done. 

All of this is a wonderful result of providing a rich learning environment for our students, but as an instructor it challenges me to revisit and sometimes re-invent my own curriculum. This is the case for the fall, as I have adjusted my goals for Creator's Studio. While in prior years I focused mainly on tool use during the first half of the semester in order to prepare students for their personal project, this year all units of study are wrapped inside projects and threaded with the "Design, Build, Iterate" process. 

I have now broken down the semester into these four projects:

1) Light Up and Spin! (Electronics): Digging a little deeper into how a circuit works, and understanding power versus load, students will create their own circuit block using LEDs, incandescent bulbs, or a motor. It will include a switch and a power source.

2) Shake Your Groove! (Mechanical Motion): Here students will investigate automata and their various mechanical movements, using cams, gears, levers, and other components. Starting with a prototype in cardboard and foam, students will ultimately walk away with their own automaton demonstrating motion through manual power.

3) I am Robot (Coding/Robotics): Using our Hummingbird Robotics kids, students will work in pairs to build and program a type of robot that senses the environment and reacts in some manner through lights and/or motors.

4) Personal Project: The largest portion of the semester is dedicated to a student's individual personal project. While similar in nature to prior years, this year there is an emphasis on originality. Students can be inspired by others' work, but step-by-step "kits" are no longer allowed. Rather, students must design, build, and iterate in order to complete the project. Students will share final work with parents on the last day of class.

I look forward to the new goals for this semester and will, of course, reflect on this experience in the coming months.

As we begin the second session of Creator's Studio, a lot has changed in our PIRL Terrace space. Our laser cutter is up and running smoothly, and I have a much better sense of its potential now, having used the device through the middle of the first trimester, and in a variety of other curriculum integrated projects over the past few months. We have added a number of materials and supplies from Trash for Teaching to allow students to select from a wide range of oddly shaped and colored items when building their projects. We have added more power tools and storage containers.

All of this has led me to question if abundance fosters creativity or are learners stifled by it as a result of being overwhelmed? On the end of the spectrum, do constraint and limitation of resources put greater creative juices to work?

In one chapter from the book Design, Make, Play (Honey, Kanter), Mary Simon and Greg Brown discuss the idea that abundance can spur creativity, both the abundance in variety of objects as well as the abundance of any given object. "That kind of variety stimulates all sorts of ideas",  makers placed in this kind of environment "scoop up treasures by the bagful and say 'I don't know what I'm going to do with this...but I'll think of something!'" 

I've witnessed this first hand with our own students. During a recent 6th grade history project, students studying ancient civilizations were asked to build a structure representing either China or Egypt. While traditional projects of this sort result in mostly sugar cube pyramids, it was interesting this year to see students rummaging through our Trash for Teaching materials for items of appropriate color and texture to apply to their project. 

It might also be said that creativity can manifest itself best in constraint, in the scarcity of resources available. I think back to the scene from Apollo 13 where the team in Houston is tasked with making a square object work in a round opening given the limited materials in the astronauts' lunar module. In this scenario, people are forced through constraint of resources and time to solve a problem with real world implications, in this case life and death. The same can be said for engineering the next great product using the most cost effective materials and efficient manufacturing processes, thereby increasing potential revenue.

I believe both premises to be true when it comes to student creativity. When presented with an abundance of items and the abundance of any given item, students get excited about the prospects of creating something from them. Ideas surface from seeing so many colors, shapes, textures, that might not under other circumstances. Students are heard saying "Let's use these plastic containers to hold water and make the Nile River look real", and "I can make all of these beads look like the skin on the dragon". 

In contrast, the imagination can also be challenged when faced with a problem of limitation. "You can build whatever kind of house you want, but it must remain within these property lines, and can only include these materials. You need to make the house light up or have some kind of motion, but are only allowed these electronic supplies." Ahh, that's a topic for the next blog...

What do you think? Creativity through abundance or constraint?

This past week, our 5th graders worked with Ms. Sauerhoff on their seismometers for Science class. 

Project Description:
"Ever since people first became curious about earthquakes, they have tried to design some kind of seismograph to measure their intensity and magnitude. In this lab you will have the opportunity to make one by yourself or with a partner."

"Goals: Think of a creative but effective way to measure the seismic waves (shock waves) from an earthquake. Your seismometer must be: 

1. made of common inexpensive materials found in a local store or the science classroom; 
   
2. able to determine the relative magnitude (size) of each vibration it measures;
   
3. able to measure vibrations continuously for at least 30 seconds;
   
4. able to measure even slight vibrations from a shake table."
   

Students spent the first two days doing research about seismographs and developing an initial design. After submitting a materials list and receiving approval for design, students began construction on their seismometers on day three. 

With PIRL Terrace open and supervised, students started construction of their seismometers. While in years past this project involved students working on their projects primarily from home, the new learning space provided access to a more diverse selection of tools and materials, allowing students to expand their thinking and be more creative. They also fed off of each others' design elements. Having the space and time to test out their models on the shake table encouraged further iteration in design. 

Still to come is a formal testing period with data collection, along with a reflection and evaluation piece about the final design. Here are some pics of students at work.

This past week Mr. Cowman's 8th grade science classes participated in the annual Physics Project. Groups of students are tasked with designing a Rube Goldberg-esque device that demonstrates a minimum of seven concepts in physics (force, speed, acceleration, velocity, momentum, etc). 

From the project guidelines: "The project must start with a ball rolling down some kind of a track, but it may switch to other types of objects and designs as long as the physics concepts are illustrated." 

Students can use a variety of materials including wood, plastic tubing, peg board, metal railings and more. The project should be self-supporting, and reliable, requiring multiple trials. In addition to covering physics concepts, students are evaluated on creativity and elaborate design.

This year's projects included water pouring tea-pots, exploding toy cars, match-sticks lit by triggers, and the ever popular Mentos in soda bursts. I've chosen to include this science activity in my course blog because of the impact our new spaces have had on the project build day. While in years past students could work outdoors and share a limited number of tools, this year they had access to miter saws, a drill press, a laser cutter, and a variety of hand-held power tools. PIRL Terrace served as a workshop and toolshed, with students and teachers buzzing about like a colony of bees hard at work on the hive. There seemed to be no lull in the build day, as students stopped only for short breaks or to grab a slice of pizza. 

After a day and a half of building, the 8th graders showcased their work to students in the other grade levels, along with faculty and parents. While not all of the marbles found their proper destination 100% of the time, the amount of time, effort and energy that students put into the process of designing, building, and iterating was clearly evident.

Thank you to Reynaldo Macias for photos and video. 

In the video below, students end the project with Mentos dropping into the bottle of soda. While the final step needed a little nudge, the explosion was wotth the wait!

As a quick follow up to my previous post, here are some photos of student projects in 7th grade history. The topic of study was inventions from Imperial China. As part of their project, students could build a replica of something invented during that period. Here are photos of three of those projects. The wooden stamps and Fu (Chinese axe) were designed in Illustrator and laser cut. The dragon head was downloaded from Thingiverse.com and 3D printed. It served as the headpiece for a wooden rowboat.

"If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people." Confucius

One of the benefits of starting any new program is, after planting a seed, observing how it grows. While we do have predetermined outcomes and expectations for this year's PIRL project to create new, innovative learning spaces for our students and teachers, it is incredible to see how once given the resources, our stakeholders branch out, generate ideas and create new, purposeful uses for the space and the tools.

Just before the winter break, two students approached me about working on a project in history. As part of their project, they need to design a dragon's head for printing in 3D that will become a centerpiece for their dragon boat. Another student in this same class hopes to build workable wooden stamps with Chinese characters. They are studying inventions of Imperial China. As I am currently without a teaching load, I see myself serving as coach or mentor during times such as these, working with small groups of students to enrich the quality of their projects in other classes.

Today, our first day back to school, two 7th grade students approached me about laser cutting the pieces necessary for a rocket launcher they are building in science. We quickly delved into a discussion about using Illustrator to design the parts, verified size limitations on the laser cutter, debated the ideal medium, a thin composite wood or balsa. One of these students participated in the fall Creator's Studio class, so his use of appropriate terminology was familiar, even fluent. This conversation simply would not have taken place a year ago.

In TLC today, a science teacher shared the idea of students using PIRL to design and build their seismometers as part of a unit on earthquakes and plate tectonics. In years past, the teacher would break out the materials and tools and find a safe place to work outside. Now, we can accommodate a project of this type in an environment built for this purpose.  Our 6th grade history teacher added that her Egypt and China unit involving the creation of some historical structure of student's choice (a pyramid, great wall, etc.) formerly completed at home, can now be done on campus with students working collaboratively in PIRL. We even discussed the option of using Minecraft as a creative venue, albeit with virtual structures. 

Thus we begin the second half of this school year with new energy and fresh ideas, stemming from the original seeds planted in the fall.

"Plant the seed, water it to give nourishment, stand back and marvel at what comes." Umekubo