Imagination Foundation – Arlington Heights Paul Solarz Westgate Elementary | Arlington Heights, IL I’m a 5th grade teacher from Arlington Heights, Illinois who has been teaching for 15 years. I recently won the 2014 ICE Educator of the Year Award and will publish my first book in early 2015. Fun facts: 1) I love to travel so much (esp. internationally)! @PaulSolarz | psolarz@sd25.org | CHS Short Stacks | They're short for a reason! eTextile Lounge — everything electronic and textiles 5 Year Olds Coding Without Technology Melissa Dann () is a prep teacher in Melbourne Australia who has begun exploring the concepts of coding with her five year old students. Yesterday she sent me the email below. As she reflects on her own practice, I applaud her confidence in considering a blog post – way to take a risk! As such, I asked if I could quote her here in this space to get comfortable. Hi Brian, Here is a quick overview of what been happening in my classroom teaching coding to 5 year olds. Game : Robots and Programmers Children work in pairs. Language development is an important part of the activity. I kept it to a maximum of 10 steps as the children were keen to ask their robot to take 100 or even 1000 steps however we realised (by counting how many steps it took to cross the room) that 10 was about right amount for the size of our room. After playing this game the first time, it became apparent that we needed a way to decide how far a turn was, eg ¼ turn, ½ turn. Thanks for your encouragement and support.
The 10 Best STEM Resources By Phil Nast, retired middle school teacher and freelance writer Found In: mathematics, science, preK-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 Curriculum Resources Exploratorium Provides interactives, web features, activities, programs, and events for K-12. Saturday and Summer professional development workshops are available through the Teacher Institute. Professional Development STEM Education Resource Center Provides nearly 4,000 science, technology, engineering and math resources for PreK-5, 6-12 as well as free, self-paced modules for teachers teaching global climate change to middle school and high school students.
Stocking up School Makerspaces Lots of teachers have been asking us how to set up a Makerspace at their school. As part of our Back to School series, we’re sharing an excerpt from the Makerspace Playbook: Schools Edition. Once you have a space where you and your students can work, you’ll want to outfit it with the tools, equipment, and materials your Makerspace needs in order for your students to accomplish their projects. But before you go on a shopping spree and max out your credit card, assess what your Makerspace will actually require. You don’t necessarily need a fully equipped shop. Sometimes an empty countertop might be more valuable than a fancy new machine. The Perfect List Ha ha! Of course, we have suggestions, but it’s up to you to find the right combination of tools and materials for your students. Makerspace Playbook: Schools Edition guides those who are hoping to start a Makerspace at their school or in their community. Budgeting for Tools and Their Care In addition there is maintenance.
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Tools and Materials - Maker Ed's Resource Library “Tools and Materials” contains lists and examples of useful tools and resources in making activities and makerspaces, including suggestions for consumables, hardware, machines, open source software, and other technologies. This category also includes guidance or tutorials on specific tools or skills. The resources below are listed in alphabetical order, as a default. They are also organized into subcategories, accessible by the tabs at the top of the grid. Filter - All Getting Started Open Source Software Tool Sources Tool Tutorials Sort By Title Disclaimer: Maker Ed’s online Resource Library contains links to third-party organizations, companies, and commercial products. SparkTruck - Tool Cards Tool Cards We’ve put together a guide for educators that introduces the tools we have on the truck, and what you can do with them! Download the entire set of Tool Cards (PDF) Activities & projects for each card: Laser Cutter: Vinyl Cutter: Shop Tools: Hot Glue Gun: iPad + Laptop: 3D Printer: Clay Oven: Laminator: Simple Circuits: Crafts Supplies: Back to top
Materials 101 Heart On Your Sleeve from Scott Garner on Vimeo. Endlighten is an acrylic sheet infused with colorless light diffusing particles. While regular acrylic only diffuses light around the edges, ... light diffusing acrylic Materials 101, Polymers I used to buy magnetic paint, but I wasn't very happy with its strength, consistency and color, so Nick Vermeer and I decided to make our own. Shape memory polymer strips (image by Inventables) Heat Reactive Materials Heat reactive materials change state, shape and/or color when exposed to temperatures above ambient. heat reactive polymers Thermochromic and waterproof polyester fabric (image by Inventables) Heat Reactive Materials Heat reactive materials change state, shape and/or color when exposed to temperatures above ambient. thermochromic materials Materials 101 As the name indicates, electrotextiles are textiles with electrical properties. I've learned that there are 3 main challenges in working with soft circuits.
Motors: A Guide to Give Your Projects Go! – Kid Makers When writing this post, I really wanted to incorporate some pun on “making your head spin,” but it just wasn’t working out. Nonetheless, today’s post will provide the briefest introduction to the world of motors. Motors are an important part of our daily lives that shows up even where we least expect it. We notice that motors are in cars and ceiling fans but they even show up in computers for DVD-drives, phones for vibration, electric toothbrushes, vacuums, and more! First, I should clear something up, people often use the terms engine and motor interchangeably; however, there is a slight difference between the two: Motor – Something that provides motion Engine – Something that converts thermal (like heat) energy into mechanical work So what? The most accessible kinds of motors are electrical so we will be focusing on those in this post. The three types you will mainly using are DC, Stepper motors, and servos. DC Motors An example of an inexpensive DC motor DC motor diagram Servo Stepper Motor
SD Times Blog: Fifteen toys, games and tools that teach programming There have been a lot of toys and games popping up that secretly teach kids programming basics and how to code, but why is it so important to teach programming skills to our kids? Well first off, there is a huge demand for computer science and programming skills. According to Code.org, there will be 1.4 million more computer science jobs than there will be people to fill them by 2020. Secondly, learning how to program teaches kids skills that they can use in everyday life, not just programming. With fun tools like the ones listed below, teaching your kid how to program can be fun, and some of the tools are for all ages! Alice Alice is a 3D programming environment that introduces object-oriented programming and teaches fundamental programming concepts in the context of creating video games and animated movies. Blockly Blockly is a visual programming editor, similar to Scratch. #! About Christina Mulligan Christina is the Online & Social Media Editor of SD Times.
Young Inventors Share Your Cool Ideas! Email your photo to mydesign@roominatetoy.com and we’ll post it in the gallery. Or upload a video to Youtube to be a part of our Young Inventors channel! Make sure to include Roominate in the title. Check out Roominate on for more Inventor videos! Inventor Hall of Fame Gallery