Yes, we we’re back at it today. Not everyone could make it, but there we’re 14 – 3D printers under construction today. A few folks even finished and got theirs printing. Some of us have missed possible work days so we are a bit behind, and next week I’m off to New Orleans for the NSTA STEM Forum and then my daughter’s graduation from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, so I’ll miss the next 2 work days.
Today featured lots of soldering:
And attaching pieces with allen wrenches and lock nuts:
Ironically, some of the parts we installed today we’re printed on a 3D printer – I placed the pliers in the shot for scale:
Which when assembled and attached to a motor became a new part:
Our progress today:
Lots of messy learning today … had to drill out a piece made from aluminum that was not quite big enough to accept a heater core … I can’t show pictures of how we did it … not a good example for safety, holding a piece in my hand while using a high speed hand drill to bore it out – took a half hour at least. A few parts that had to be uninstalled and then reinstalled to get everything to fit just right slowed things down as well.
One of the challenges of my job as STEM Learning facilitator for 6 counties, has been that some of those counties (school districts here are by county, so every county is it’s own school district) have very restrictive online access policies … meaning they block almost anything even remotely social – blogs, wikis, photo archiving sites like Flickr and more. In one school district I was working with a group of teachers and pointed out that I’d found one of the above “not-blocked” – my mere mention of the fact was met with “SHHHH!” and, “Don’t tell anyone! If they know its open they’ll block it!” But when I asked if that meant someone was using it they admitted that no they weren’t – for various reasons … none of them about educating children.
I just want to point out that the “T” in STEM stands for technology, and the real power of that technology is learning to learn, sharing learning, collaboration and more. The standards even demand that students collaborate globally, and as I point out often, I don’t think they mean by sending letters back and forth.
Back in November I wrote a post about this issue and asked for feedback on: “What would be the most useful thing we could do to encourage district leaders to rethink their social media policies for teachers/students?” I received some great feedback in the comments section from some really smart people – check them out in the comments on that post. During a Twitter chat I even got a response from Arne Duncan, the US Secretary of Education asking for the names of the districts that blocked these sites. Although I did collaborate with folks from the USDOE after that, it was agreed that having Secretary Duncan contact these school districts directly was probably not the best course of action.
Instead we ramped up our campaign of information – both gathering information about what led the opposition to access, and disseminating information about safety and the reality of the various laws on internet and information use and access that many were misinterpreting to mean if they gave access to anything social on the internet they’d lose their e-rate funding.
In December I was invited to present to one district’s EdTech committee. I used a 2-pronged approach. I showed them numerous examples of the powerful use of these technologies and applications as learning places. Collaborative projects, how blogging can be used to motivate writing, editing, communicating, collaborating and more – wikis, video-conferencing, Google Docs and more – I have many examples right from my own classroom, but also with the many teachers and students my classes collaborated with over the years.
The good news is, that that school district has “green lighted” a pilot program of blogging in one of their elementary schools with 4th graders. Tomorrow I meet with the teachers at the school to get their blogs set up and a bit of training … then Tuesday I’m back all day to get each class started to blog and post a few times to get the process down as a first step. I noted last week while visiting the school that wikis are now unblocked and even Flickr (but almost no one uses them yet or even realizes that they are unblocked), so we have a foot in the door!
I’m not nervous at all to work with the teachers tomorrow, but I don’t get to work with students more than a handful of times a year anymore, and so I can tell I have that combination of being both excited and nervous about being in a classroom … like the first day of school feeling. I’ll keep you updated.
Today we were given the entire 3-4 hours to just get back to work assembling our printers. The group all retrieved their boxed printers and got to it.
BELOW: What I got done the 1st week:
BELOW: Most of what still needs to be assembled.
This printer is mostly made from wood. Wood that has been laser cut into parts … VERY precisely. The burning involved in laser cutting is betrayed by the black edges of the parts as you break them apart during assembly, as well as a hint of burning wood in the room and our somewhat blackened fingertips. Lots of screws and nuts, washers, gears and more are involved.
We got to a certain point today and the next step meant we had to get the 5 electric motors required:
As we assembled the frame, which involved installing the first motor, the shape of the printer emerged.
When we ran out of time today we had a few more parts assembled and ready to add.
By that point we had also installed the second motor.
As pieces are snapped out of the laser cut wood lots of these little pieces fall out … are they all unnecessary? Or ??? Deciding keeps you on your toes.
That’s as far as we got today and it might be 2 weeks before I get a chance to work on it some more. We’re told it could be 20 hours of work when tweaking all the settings and getting software setup and all … after today we were about 7 hours in.
BELOW: The printer they assembled to check out the assembly process was busy today printing out gears for a transmission (note the image on the computer):
Here’s a short video of the printer in action – click the link.
We participated in a school’s Family STEM/Science Night recently, which always ends up being a kick. Having families participate together and watching what happens is a blast. My cohort in science, Lou Loftin, who is the Science Learning Facilitator (I’m the STEM Learning Facilitator) where we work, took an idea he stole borrowed from a colleague last year, shared it with me, and we ran with it. Lou was running a, “How Many Drops Of Water Fit On A Penny” station, and I ran the, “Cantilever Span” station – it worked out even better than we imagined when we planned it. This would be an incredible classroom lesson that could stretch over several days to several weeks depending on just how deep you wanted to go.
So, how does it work you ask?
Materials:
Paint stirring sticks – in this case probably 200+ – we procured these from a big box hardware store … for free when we explained we were using them for science and gave them the obligatory sad, begging face.
Washers – (other weights could be substituted) – these are about “half-dollar size” – we had several hundred.
Since this is an inquiry experience, I gave as little input as possible. When getting a participant started (and usually parents stepped back and let their children take it on themselves) I would take one stirrer and place 2 or 3 washers on the end, stick it out from the table (see photo below) and then explain that they were to make as long a span as possible out from the edge of the table. “You can use as many washers and stirrers as you want …. Go!”
No other directions – and questions like, “But what do I do?” were answered by me with shoulder shrugs.
Some students worked by themselves and others grabbed friends and siblings (sometimes parents) and worked in groups. Preschoolers through middle schoolers stopped by, often confused about what the heck was happening here, but we could have charged a fee … if I’d really wanted to be evil (and rich) I would have mentioned that the first ten minutes are free but after that it’s $0.25 per 5 minutes. This event was only an hour long and there was plenty else to see and do … and parents were having to beg their children to leave … “Honey we only have 20 minutes left and this was only the third station we stopped at.” – “Ah Mom.”
As things proceeded there are failures … which are punctuated by the sound of 20 – 100+ washers crashing to the tiled floor, followed by the realization that the scattered washers and stirrers would have to be picked up. That deterred a few, but generally as fast as they could recover their materials they were back at it.
And when I say they were back at it … check out this video clip of one more intense participant:
We put out measuring tapes – a few measured (and if this had been a classroom learning experience we would have done that for sure), many took photos of their span.
In the classroom I would do just about this same experience as a first step, but:
– Next have students design as long a span as possible with as few washers / stirrers as possible.
– Give materials a cost and have students build the longest most cost effective structure.
– Perhaps have them build a structure that is not necessarily the longest, but with the most stirrers as possible sticking out beyond the edge of the table?
– Can structures be started out on facing tables and meet in the middle to form a bridge between tables? Lots of possibilities.
Two groups that built next to each other decided to connect their structures:
WARNING – OK warning is a bit strong. But keep in mind that these structures are easy to bump into with disastrous results. So think about that when planning where to have students build. Move all the desks to the 4 walls of your room and build out from there? Perhaps the cafeteria? Library? other large room where separation between structures is possible? Also have that discussion with students about looking out for each other.
In the classroom I would also spend some time talking about reacting to disappointment when for any reason their span collapses. Really disappointing for sure, but in the real world this happens (maybe show the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse video after your first experience – adults have things end in disaster unexpectedly too) – just know that and carry on.
Writing pieces on what, how and why in a journal would be great. As would thoughts on what will/would we do differently? I haven’t had a chance to develop creative writing ideas yet, but descriptive words about what it looks like, feels like, … colors, etc. can always be turned into poetry and stories.
UPDATE: If you played the video above note how tenuous the balance is. Note that the weight on the table has to be more than the weight hanging off the table. How much weight on the table is necessary to offset the weight off the table? Going deep might include pre- weighing the stirrers and washers and then getting as close to equal weight on both sides of the edge of the table. Think of the edge of the table as the equal sign in an equation, but this is going to be an inequality because there has to be more weight on than off the table. How close can you get to equal? Is there an inequality that shows that correlation?
I’ve been fortunate enough to teach in a school district that blocks very little – blogs, Twitter, Flickr, wiki’s, YouTube, Cover-It-Live, and more are all open. FaceBook and the obvious porn and other sites are blocked. However in my job as STEM Facilitator I hear from teachers locally and nationally in school districts that block most to all the above and more. If there are any social possibilities, whether it is moderated or not … it’s BLOCKED, no questions or comments allowed.
I’ve also been asked to share with local, state and even the US Department of Education, “What would be the most useful thing we could do to encourage district leaders to rethink their social media policies for teachers/students?”
So for everyones benefit it would be more than helpful to get feedback about that here. Especially if you are an administrator or government representative that has successfully dealt with this issue. The Common Core State Standards require students to collaborate globally, and certainly many of us can sing the praises as to why and how that is a valuable learning experience. So again – What would be the most useful thing we could do to encourage district leaders to rethink their social media policies for teachers/students? PLEASE share in comments and I will pass on.
Blogs are an incredible learning tool. But like an exercise bike, having one does not lead to self improvement unless you use it. And using it sporadically is only barely helpful. You have to invest time to get the great results … imagine now the sculpted/toned bodies of the models they use in ads for any exercise equipment … then imagine the sculpted/toned brains of your students using blogs. That doesn’t happen without consistent use.
Now that I think of it though, blogs are not like an exercise bike, blogs are like one of those pieces of fitness equipment that include multiple exercises – weight lifting, sit-ups, pull-ups, leg lifts and so on. Blogs are certainly writing spaces, but they lend themselves to not just publishing writing, but also response and discussion which is that higher level thinking we are vying for. But wait! There’s still more. Blogs also include, publishing photos, videos, podcasts, spreadsheets, slide shows, art work, and much more. AND all of those pieces can be written about and discussed. AND note its not even all writing, notice in my partial list it can be oral language and media … and of course it involves reading. So multiple exercises for the brain! AND all of that is archived and it is then easy to see improvement over time – you can see it, your students can see it and their parents can see it.
Did I mention the family connection? Not only is the blog available for student collaborators to see and interact with, the students’ families can as well. Students can go home and show parents what they did today, family members can comment … see what I mean? Oooh, and I’ve had experts like scientists and athletes and the like leave comments and interact as well.
Here’s the thing though, getting back to my initial point, that doesn’t happen if we don’t use them consistently. Blogs are powerful, engaging, motivating, learning tools. So use them consistently, and use all their possibilities. Otherwise it is like doing one or two writing projects a year that you turn into published books … “My Poetry Book” and/or “The Day I Was My Dog” – great stuff, but imagine doing that all the time and you (the teacher) doesn’t have to find the special paper and laminate and so forth.
Oh, and couple your class blog with a wiki and a photo sharing service like Flickr … it only gets better.
So if you have your students blogging because you want them to learn. Then really have them blogging all the time!!!! The initial time it takes to get them up and going will pay big dividends!
I’ve been making the point in my STEM trainings that part of the appeal, to me at least, of STEM and Maker learning, is how language intense it should be. Teachers react well when I point that out and make the case for not leaving the language experiences “on the cutting room floor,” so to speak. There are so many deep, thoughtful, and especially, creative language possibilities that are too often not realized or wasted in the rush to do an interesting, engaging activity and then move on.
In my travels I’ve recently heard some interesting, if not disheartening tales.
Several teachers I met shared being at a school board meeting where a school board member told about visiting middle and high schools and being appalled at seeing students using smart phones in the hallways and hearing how occasionally teachers have to ask students to put their phones away in class. Also he has heard stories about students accessing inappropriate sites on their phones. His plan is to change school district policy so that the first time a student has a phone out in class for any reason, the teacher is to confiscate the phone for a day. On the second occurrence however, the teacher is to confiscate the phone and then break it in front of the student and the class as a punishment and vivid reminder of how important the no phone policy is.
It was pointed out to the school board member that A) That put teachers in a very untenable position. B) It put teachers, the school and the school district in a position to be sued. C) It might be against the law to break something as punishment … and there were other issues and concerns raised. The school board member vows to look into it.
Another situation involves a teacher sharing at a training how she loved the new district online grade book program. She really liked how, even though she did not have a school district iPad, she could access the online program on her smartphone and that enabled her to input grades and notes while she was interacting with students in reading groups and other situations. She explained that she had been trained to do the same on paper, this took no more time to input AND it meant she didn’t have to take the time to transfer the data from paper to the program later on a computer. It saved her time and was more efficient. Other teachers nodded their heads and took notes about what they thought was a great idea.
Sitting by this teacher in the training were several district administrators. They questioned if the smartphone was hers or the school district’s. She explained that of course it was her phone. They admonished her and explained they would look the other way “this time” – but that technically they could “write her up” for going against school district policy. She was NOT to use her own device to input grades or access the online grading system. She asked if it was OK to take home her school laptop and input grades from home, and the answer was of course since it was a school district computer. She informed them that even though she used her phone that at no time were the grades actually “on her phone” but only on “the cloud”or internet, so she was not sure how that was against policy. They admonished her again and informed her that she was never to do that again!
Just spent the day at what used to be called EduBloggerCon (and a few other iterations over the years). As always great folks having conversations about where education could / should be going.
Now I’m actually sitting in the Bloggers’ Cafe at the end of the day … blogging … used to do this more often, kind of feels good.
I’m not going to go into all the conversations I had today, but instead focus a bit on one notable takeaway. Several conversations I had today with individuals centered around that we are having the same conversations about the same topics (how much things need to change, and we need to get people onboard, what we could be doing, how to do that, how to speed up that change, … you get the idea) and that it is really getting old and nothing seems to REALLY be happening.
I’m as frustrated about that as anyone out there (here? … wherever), but one takeaway I had about that today is that we are having those conversations with more people from more places. The first EduBloggerCon 7 or 8 years ago had about 30 attendees (more or less). Today, hundreds were in attendance and many were new faces. Having those same old conversations (and they weren’t all old topics BTW) is important I think. Maybe its not enough, maybe it won’t lead to change fast enough, but until enough people hear the message let’s keep at spreading it.
I’ve also heard for years that certain blog posts / topics have already been written … I think we have a whole new group online now that would benefit hearing about some of those same topics. Perhaps now that more and more stakeholders are connecting this is the time to re-visit and refresh those past conversations … maybe more ears are listening? Am I off base here?
UPDATE2/12/2013: I’ve had several responses to this post through Twitter and face to face that have used logic to make their point. I totally agree this is nonsense, but I’m looking for written or spoken authority that has clout … something I’ve missed so far in the CCSS or education policy or law or ??? that is unequivocal on this point. I’ve also gotten an earful from middle and high school teachers of content that point out that they then are responsible for their content area not just at their grade level, but in this case students that have almost NO background K-5 that show up in their classrooms … YEP, that’s a big point here, besides the engaging content and more that is missed. Original post below:
I hear occasionally that K – 5 teachers are told that they no longer teach content area standards in science and social studies because they “teach the Common Core”. They are to address the science and social studies only through the CCSS in English/Language Arts. This is proved, they are told, because the Introduction to the CCSS ELA specifically states in the fifth paragraph:
“Literacy standards for grade 6 and above are predicated on teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects using their content area expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields. It is important to note that the 6–12 literacy standards in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects are not meant to replace content standards in those areas but rather to supplement them.”
Note, it specifically states “…that the 6-12 literacy standards in history/social studies, science and technical subjects are not meant to replace content standards in those subjects…”. Therefore since K-5 is not mentioned in the same way, some are using that omission to mean that the CCSS can (and in the case of a school not making AYP – should) be used to narrow K-5 curriculum to only the literacy standards in social studies, science and even the arts – but not their content. I’ve even heard, “When a teacher walks through the door of a K-5 Title 1 school, they give up their right to teach content beyond ELA and Math.”
So, beyond common sense and logic unfortunately, how do we help teachers under these restrictions disprove this interpretation? What can we point to that has authority? Please share in the comments!
