Prototyping with Class IV at @BrearleyNYC using @TinkeringStudio’s Open Kit for tinkering with balance. #STEAM #MakerEd

The Exploratorium in San Francisco is “a public learning laboratory exploring the world through science, art, and human perception.” Within the Exploratorium is The Tinkering Studio. Per their website:

“The Tinkering Studio is an immersive, active, creative place at the Exploratorium where museum visitors can slow down, become deeply engaged in an investigation of scientific phenomena, and make something—a piece of a collaborative chain reaction—that fully represents their ideas and aesthetic.

In The Tinkering Studio, visitors are invited to explore a curiosity-driven exhibit, chat with a featured artist, or investigate a range of phenomena with staff artists, scientists, educators, and others by participating in a collaborative activity. A large, eclectic assortment of materials, tools, and technologies are provided for people to use as they explore and create.”

https://www.exploratorium.edu/tinkering/about

The Tinkering Studio freely shares projects and open kits, and I chanced upon one called, Tinkering with Balance. My colleague, Mary Potter, expressed interest in exploring balance with her Class IV students. In advance of this session, I gathered or assembled the following materials:

1. Six bases so that her 20 students could work in groups of 3 or 4. In my school’s Carpentry studio, I formed these bases using scrap plywood from the recent sets built for the Upper School Winter Musical performance of “Singing in the Rain”
2. 3 round dowels that were 1″ in diameter and 3′ in length — I cut these in half lengthwise so they were each 18″ long
3. 6 square dowels that were 1/4″ on each side and 3′ in length
4. A variety of shapes (there are PDFs of shapes linked on the activity’s website) out of cardstock and abandoned manila folders for the students to affix to their square dowels (if we’d had more time, students would have used markers to doodle on the shapes and add color to their sculptures)
5. Wooden clothespins for affixing the shapes to the square dowel
6. Six sets of three different fulcrums — each fulcrum had a channel built-in that fit the 1/4″ dowel. One fulcrum had a round base, one fulcrum was an obtuse triangular shape, and the third was an equilateral triangular shape. These three ranged from easiest to hardest to balance. I used Tinkercad Code Blocks to design these shapes, and then I printed them on our Ultimaker 3 Extended printers. I uploaded these three files to the Thingiverse here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5902952/files

Initially I was going to locate some triangular blocks from a tangram or Math manipulatives kit, but these would have had to be glued onto the square dowels. I liked the idea of students choosing where their fulcrum should be affixed to the dowel, and I liked the idea of them experimenting with having the fulcrum closer or farther from the dowel’s center as an additional design challenge.

After spring break, two Class I teachers are interested in exploring this activity as well! I think I will offer them the rounded fulcrum and the obtuse triangle fulcrum only. I also might limit the number of shapes for them (acrobats, spirals, and open circles maybe).

Designing and lasercutting Chanukah menorahs with the MS Jewish Affinity Group at @BrearleyNYC! #STEAM #MakerEd

I am the Faculty Advisor to the Middle School’s Jewish Affinity Group at my school. The group is called Bonim Kitanim. Bonim is Hebrew for “builders” and Bonim is also the name of the upper school Jewish Affinity group. (Our school mascot is a beaver — a builder — so Bonim is such a great name!) Kitanim means “little” so the middle school group’s name means “little builders”. 😻

Bonim Kitanim gathers about once a week for lunch and to chat about family traditions, holidays, or other topics decided upon by the Class VIII co-heads. At a recent session, we talked about the upcoming holiday of Chanukah, and I mentioned we could design our own Chanukah menorahs — also called a hanukkiah — that could pack flat and wouldn’t require actual fire (so they’d be great for traveling or for keeping in their room safely.

Students made sketches with a marker on white paper, and I used the Trace feature on the Glowforge lasercutter to scan and cut their drawings. I also mocked up a stand (see prototypes in the last photo of the Gallery above) to hold their hanukkiahs upright. We used hot glue to affix velcro onto their candles and their hanukkiahs. Maybe next year, we could use magnets… I love the variety of their designs and how they decorated them!

Prototyping a wall mount for alligator clips to hang in the @BrearleyNYC #CoLab. #MakerEd @ultimaker @thingiverse @tinkercad

In the CoLaboratory, we have a large bin marked ALLIGATOR CLIPS that was becoming a bit of an organizational nightmare with 5th graders struggling to free a wire from a tangle of metal-tipped tumbleweeds. I figured a wall-mounted solution might be helpful, and I asked my 5th graders for their opinions and suggestions.

My first physical prototype was a scrap of cardboard affixed to the side of a shelving unit with a large binder clip. Then, I mocked up a simple comb-inspired design with Tinkercad and later added perpendicular bits to the edges of the tines (like a rake) to keep the wires from slipping out. I belatedly noticed we have alligator clips of different thicknesses, so I also made another version with wider spaces between the tines.

I posted the STL files to the Thingiverse here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5547674

Hoping to prototype with bioplastics in @BrearleyNYC’s #IdeaKitchen this trimester! #STEAM #MakerEd #ArtEdTech #scichat #elemaker

Corrine Takara (@CorinneTakara) has been sharing her explorations with making materials rather than buying materials. She’s launched inspiring projects with mycelium, kombucha leather, and other bio materials. In late September, I took a workshop at the Textile Arts Center in New York City that sounded equally appealing and practical, Textile Futures: Bioplastics upcycled with Sheri Shih-Hui. You can follow Sheri on Instagram at @chi_Sheri.

Here are some photos from the workshop:

After, I considered ways of cooking and using bioplastics with children in different grade levels. Maybe students could make their own disc (with unique colors and/or bits embedded in the mold) and hang it from a class mobile? Or they could make jewelry (medallions or earrings)? Or maybe they could preserve an object or drawing in a sustainable mold – rather than use resin or plastic or something non-biodegradable? In turns out that the bioplastic will melt if exposed to heat or water, and there are ways of making it last longer. One trick is to rub it with beeswax to make it a little more water-repellent.

We just started a new trimester, so I have a great batch of girls signed up for our “Nailed It” afterschool class. We’re going to use our bio-plastic to mimic bits of glass and used in a modified version of a Tiffany lamp. The girls will design art for each side of a four-sided lantern (since it’s an easy shape to construct), then we’ll cut out their designs with our Cricut Maker, cook up bioplastics, and piece their “glass” into the walls of the lanterns. Possibly due to time constraints, we’ll just use a flameless LED tea light in the center of the their lantern… Stay tuned!