Local teacher with questions

[Andrew Saltz]

Happy Saturday,

I'm a teacher at a small public High School in the city.  I have recently been appointed the Teacher Technology Leader (TTL) at my school. I have a fledgling technology club, a lot of old computers, and the desire to do more Maker stuff.

Here's the barriers:
1).  I'm not qualified to be a TTL.  I mean, I'm the most qualified in my building, but I'm also the most qualified to do the Olympic pole vault - it's still not a good idea.
2).  I'm above-average with computers, and I'm willing to try things.  But I'm definitely a beginning Maker.
3).  I don't have any money or tons of space.

So I'm wondering if anyone has ideas for beginner, low cost Maker projects.  We have a ton of old computers to work with, some great kids, and a Principal who prefers I ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.

Thank you,
Andrew Saltz
The Paul Robeson High School for Human Services

[Christalee Bieber]

Hey Andrew,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I needed a couple of days to think this one through. Having no budget is tough - maybe you can put the word out soliciting some loaned/donated equipment, or run a fundraiser to cover some start-up costs? (Is there a need in your community for tech repair/classes?) Asking for scrap materials can also help with inspiration; cardboard, straws, coffee stirrers, fabric, and wire have fueled many a found art project. (I hesitate to suggest judicious trashpicking to students, but that's traditionally been part of my process.)

I'm curious about what definition of "Maker" you're using. Here's a couple of low-cost activities that come to mind:

- If you can fund some 9V batteries, clip leads, and LEDs, you can have a lot of (messy) fun with squishy circuits: http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/apthomas/SquishyCircuits/

I use this to introduce or re-teach circuits, or bridge "normal" circuits with other forms, like sewable/paper circuits.

- Are these computers machines you want to use or machines you want to salvage for parts? If they're usable, do you have a set of computer/programming activities already? Your students might enjoy exploring with Scratch, App Inventor, X-Ray Goggles/Thimble/Popcorn, or dive into P2PU. If memory/older processor makes performance an issue, maybe it's time to install Linux?

- If the computers are ready for scrapping, investing in a set of small electronics screwdrivers and a multimeter means you can open them up and learn about what's inside. Or, cobble together a new computer from spare parts - that's an ambitious group project that will teach you a lot!

- Relatedly, sometimes we buy jewelry findings and make earrings, pins, necklaces, bracelets, etc. out of dead electronics components. If you want to skip the findings, concentrate on knitting/crocheting/knotting colorful wire (a la friendship bracelets). Pliers, wire cutters, and wire strippers are helpful here.

- Nonprofit Technology Resources at 16th & Brandywine is also a great source of cheap electronics for projects or scrap. Older radios and non-computer electronics sometimes have through-hole boards which are easier for people to identify than the surface-mount PCBs.

- Magnets + wires + batteries = motors! Or pull some out of the computers, and build little cardboard go-karts for them.

- Origami + coin cells + LEDS = light-up origami!

- Knitting is sometimes described as "human computing", in that the knitter basically compiles the knitting pattern into a warm, fuzzy executable.

- Besides the Instructables, Adafruit, and Sparkfun blogs, which you've doubtless already seen, I've been getting a lot of inspiration recently from the Tinkering Studio at the SF Exploratorium: http://blogs.exploratorium.edu/tinkering/

They have a lot of kid-tested activities, some of which are low-cost, including the paper circuits (which use copper tape and cheap LEDs).

Do some of these ideas sound like what you're looking for? If you have time to stop by some Thursday evening, we have Project Night from 7-9pm, and we could talk more in person. I'd love to hear more about your students and what they're interested in.

Cheers,

Christalee

Program Coordinator

The Workshop School

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[Timothy Bieniosek]

Hi Andrew,

If those old computers are operational, how about an introductory programming class making games with Scratch? Scratch is a graphical programming language, so it involves arranging colorful shapes on a screen rather than typing complicated commands.

You can download it for free at http://scratch.mit.edu and I'm pretty sure there are course materials there as well.

Good luck!

Tim

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[MaryBeth Hertz]

Hey Andrew, nice to "see" you on here!

We are working on building a Makerspace at SLA@Beeber. I invested in some sets of Makedos: http://mymakedo.com/ and I have been collecting cardboard like it's my job. Hoping to use some Caine's Arcade imagery to inspire kids. 

As for the computers, it might be cool to take them apart, like Christalee says, to see how they work. Take 'em apart and put 'em back together. 

Scratch can actually run off of a browser now (even a Chromebook!) so you don't need a lot of memory to run it. I have tons of resources for teaching Scratch. I've done a lot with it. 

Mary Beth

[Andrew Saltz]

Very helpful.

Thank you, all.

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[Maxim Popel]

I can second Scratch. I would also recommend looking at Kodu, 

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/kodu/. I teach a roving after school program and we use these programs to explain video game design and development. Both have extensive resources for educators and helpful communities. Scratch is also the basis of several more flexible tools, such as BYOB, http://byob.berkeley.edu/ or Stencyl, http://www.stencyl.com/.

BEAM Bots are also a cheap option. We juryrigged some vibrobots from dollar store electric toothbrushes, coin batteries, and electrical tape. We modified these instructions, http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Vibrobot/. It is a good way to describe how very basic circuits work.

- Maxim