Tyler's Tech Tips
April 2017
FieldTrip Zoom, 3D Printing, Ozobots, Maker Items, Hands-On Trinkets
FieldTrip Zoom
This is a virtual field trip company that goes around the world and records various events that most students would never get to experience. These trips are then streamed to your classroom and you have the ability to interact with the presenter and ask questions.
To get your free account, go to http://www.fieldtripzoom.com/, click on the "Educators" tab, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the green "Register" button. Once you finalize your registration, go back to the Educators tab and enter the promo code. From there you can go to the "Program" tab and book your field trips.
Ozobots (Tiny Robots)
Ozobots are small robots that read hand drawn codes or codes created through an app. The Ozobot has 5 sensors on the bottom that read colors and lines 150 times a second. Students are able to learn how coding and programming works by drawing with markers on white paper. Students as young as pre-school have used these (programming may be tough at this age) all the way up to high school students.
To check out a classroom set for a week, please contact me at tylerl@huronisd.org and we can make arrangements. You must be within Huron County to take advantage of the HISD Ozobots.
REMC 10 Maker Items
- Bloxels
- LittleBits
- Ozobots
- Makey Makey
- Dash Robot
- Spheros
- Keva Maker/Bot Maze
- Strawbees
- Greenscreen
- 3D Printer
More details and signing up for any of these items can be found here.
My 3D Printing "Wow" Moment
After a while of using Thingiverse, I felt that my experience would be even better if I could create my own design. Through some research and training, I came across Tinkercad. Tinkercad is a very child-friendly site that allows anyone to create 3D designs. Using this program, I was able to design a house and print it right before my eyes. I have used this many times and have shown students at many grade levels how to use this program. 3D printing comes to a whole new level when you are the one designing your print.
Here comes the "WOW" moment. I am not sure how I figured this out, but I saw an app that said you could 3D print drawings that you drew on paper. After looking into this app called Makerbot PrintShop, it claimed that you could draw on white paper with a black sharpie, scan it through the app, and print it off. Through some trial and error, I printed off my first sketch and it was like nothing I have ever done before. I was shocked that I could 3D print my own drawings within a matter of minutes. I then realized that 3D printing is not just for the STEM classes, but this could be used with preschool students.
The thumbnail image is a picture of a red 3D printed fish hook that I hand drew on paper. The orange hook is the original wooden hook that broke. Instead of looking on the internet for a new one, I found it quite simple to draw and print it.
*This app only works with Makerbot Printers, but with some workarounds, it may be able to be used on other printers. See me for details on this.