Rainbows and Unicorns
Day 3 of the summer MAET program in East Lansing
First isn't always the best!
Being first is usually a good thing. First place in a competition? Yes. First person to answer a question correctly? Yes. But first student selected to be the content curator for our MAET summer session? I'm not so sure about this, but here it goes!
Rainbows. She promised rainbows.
Today we started off with Mary (one of our fabulous instructors shown to the right) showing us an overview of a project we will be completing towards the end of our two weeks on campus. She aimed for this overview calming some nerves and clarifying misunderstandings about upcoming assignments, but her good intentions backfired. She ended up fielding even more questions and clarifying again and again until she was forced to promise us that "in the end there would be rainbows". She promised.
First Activity of the day? The Quick Fire
Our task was to create an inquiry-based lesson plan that used a Maker Kit to enhance the learning experience. We were split into groups and sent to work. Although, most of us got off to a rocky start, trying to meld together the different grade levels and curriculum, some majorly creative lessons came out of this Quick fire! All of which, did a great job of using the technology to enhance the inquiry-based lesson and not just focusing the lesson on using the Maker Kits. Once the presentations were complete it was easy to see that each group struggled at some point with this fact. How do we integrate technology, such as Maker Kits, without allowing them to take over the lesson? Here is a great example of how.
Squishy Circuits
Alan, Becky and Hayley created an awesome lesson for first graders where the students worked on their addition as they traveled around a game board watching lights from a Squishy Circuit Maker Kit light up when they answered correctly. Here is Becky's blog post describing their lesson and experience.Here's a TEDtalk about more ways to use Squishy Circuits for teaching!
MSU's Very Own Maker Movement
We had the amazing opportunity to meet Terrence O'Neill, who talked with us about the Maker Movement in the MSU library and showed us all of the fantastic resources available there. MSU has made a commitment to the Maker Movement by constructing a new Maker space where students, faculty, staff and the public can come to collaborate and experiment in a space built to inspire, advance and facilitate Making. MSU is also promoting creativity and innovation by offering 3D printing. For more information about MSU's part in the Maker Movement click here.
Maker Space
This is a computer rendering of what the Maker Space at MSU will look like. It was designed to foster collaboration!
Maker Bot
Dave and Alan watched a 3D feather being printed by the Maker Bot. You can have virtually anything printed as long as it can be formatted into a .STL file.
Maker Millenium?
Laurie found a Millenium Falcon that had been printed. I'd love to know how that could be integrated into an inquiry-based lesson! Any ideas? #MAETEL1
Terrence showed us some canine jaw bones that had been printed for the Veterinary College so that the students have more affordable options for owning their own bone sets to learn their anatomy.
We learned a little about websites where you can design your own 3D image to be printed. We played around with tinkercad.com. Dave went above and beyond with his awesome bird house- fit for any spartan bird watcher.
So many amazing possibilities! @MakeAtState @STATE
We are all Makers! An inspiring TEDtalk by Dale Dougherty
After having our geeky little brains jammed full of creativity and innovation, we gathered back together after lunch for a great Tedtalk that reminded us how America is a country of Makers. As our reading from Making Matters! How the maker movement is transforming education, tells us, "we are all modern MacGyvers, driven to invent solutions to problems."
Learning from the Pros
We then had the opportunity to meet two student's that completed CEP811 last year. They came in to share with us their Maker Kit lesson plan experiences. We saw first hand how integrating a Maker Kit (or any technology for that matter) into an inquiry lesson can spark exploration and enhance engagement of the learner. This was evident in the YouTube video we watched, where a 3 year old daughter of one student jumped up and down when she touched the correct animal signifying a letter in the alphabet. The animal connected to a Makey Makey kit, typed the letter onto a computer screen. She explored with other letters and words, getting more excited as she went!
Content Curration
Liz took a moment in the afternoon to explain a new project that was starting and running throughout our two weeks together. The Content Curator. The title of curator will be taken on by each student, and we are tasked with evaluating, preserving and drawing connections from the activities, experiences and student work that occurred during an assigned day. I was listed as the lucky first curator for our summer session... good thing I snapped pictures all day!
Here come the rainbows!
At the end of the day, we were all a little frazzled and worn around the edges, but we made it through our first 1/2 week of the MAET program! WooHoo! Mary and Liz told us that we could use the remainder of the day to work on anything we need to, get an early start on the road- for those who commute, or stick around and take a look at Mary's Augmented Reality tools that she brought with her.
We all Chose Augmented Reality
Not only did Mary blow our minds with all the capabilities of augmented reality, she shared the ways that she and other teachers incorporate it into their classrooms to engage and excite students. Even after spending only 20 minutes with the materials, I can say that it was an experience like no other and our brains were spinning at all of the classroom capabilities. Dave, a high school chemistry teacher (pictured below), is hooked! Some of the tools we used were Daqri, Aurasma and Crayola Color Alive.