Check out the slideshow of video and photos below or visit the Flickr account here.
- Kristin
Can you tell it is spring break and the Michigan Makers are catching up? We have a lot of people who are asking about the photos we take in our makerspace, so we've started a Flickr account so you can download the photos and video you like best. Check out the slideshow of video and photos below or visit the Flickr account here. - Kristin
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The Michigan Makers have had several activities to choose from for the past few sessions. The big hit from a couple weeks ago was a hands-on, low-tech, craft project: making gift bows out of magazine pages and wrapping gifts, with a wrapping challenge issued for strangely-shaped objects.
We demonstrated the procedure for making the bows, which involves cutting a magazine page into strips of different lengths, twisting the strips, and layering them. Then it was time for the Makers to create their own from a pile of old magazines. They quickly discovered that brightly colored and boldly patterned pages make for the most interesting bows. While this activity takes a bit of time (especially when several kids are sharing just a couple of glue sticks), we noticed that the Makers were able to use this time to converse and get to know each other. Some groups shared insights as to how to twist the strips “just right,” and others just chatted about school and their weekend plans. And that’s a big part of makerspaces-- sharing, collaborating, and hanging out as a community. The Makers came back together as one group and we demonstrated some “best practices” for wrapping presents, using a simple box for the example. Then we issued a wrapping challenge. The kids could choose to wrap a regular box, cylindrical tubes, a stapler, a closed-up umbrella, or a woven straw cornucopia basket (naturally, this was the most highly-coveted object). The Makers practiced their geometry skills in deciding how much paper they might need, and practiced their problem-solving skills when they started wrapping with too much paper. All of the objects got wrapped successfully, and we discussed the challenges of wrapping objects without any right angles. It was great to see how well the kids responded to a low-tech activity, and to see how they are broadening their perspectives of what a makerspace can be! -Jessica Every week, we have alumni from East Middle School come back to join us for Michigan Makers. They provide helpful leadership, ideas, and feedback to our group, and last week they demonstrated a new tool that they use to design their own games! During their game design pitch, they showed off their flash prototype and demo-ed the unique functionality of the StencylWorks tool. Needless to say, the whole group was excited to learn new ways to turn their game designs into a reality! If you are interested in trying out this tool on your own, check out Stencyl or find more game design programs on our resources page! Today was our first opportunity to dig into projects at Michigan Makers--if last week was for getting to know you, this week was about setting the tone. Due to the large number of student participants, we decided to split the group into two and send half to learn about game design, and the other to work with circuits. This also meant splitting up our Michigan Maker mentor team.
I got to be part of the group who had a blast working with Squishy Circuits today. Using an analogy about making your way through a middle school hallway, Sam introduced us to the concept of an electrical current. Electricity always, she said, likes to take the path of least resistance. Then she brought out the conductive and non-conductive dough, and things started getting exciting. She demonstrated how to light up an LED using the dough and a battery pack to create a circuit, and she also explained the difference between series and parallel circuits. Then, in pairs, the makers got to try creating their own circuits. Most students began with mimicking the same circuits that Sam made, but once they learned that their circuits could also light up the LED, they started getting more adventurous. I saw Squishy Circuit turtles, snakes, a Christmas tree, a hot dog, and more. While most students seemed to grasp the concept of a circuit, their understanding became most evident when their creations didn't cause the LED to light up. I found that most pairs of students could articulate what the problem was when asked to diagnose on their own: "Ohhh," one student said "I bet it's not working because the two colored pieces are touching and the electricity is sneaking out!" Playing with the conductive and non-conductive dough also gave them a very hands-on sense of the difference between series and parallel circuits. As we had students take pictures of and label their circuits using iPads, I heard one student say, "This was fun, but now I wanna make really cool stuff next week!" -Ellen G. |
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