Integrated activities for grades K-5 from my classes at @MarymountNYC’s #STEAM camp. #edtech #MakerEd

From June 22 – July 24, I led technology projects at Marymount’s Summer STEAM Camp in the awesome FabLab Makerspace at their 5th Avenue campus. It was quite an experience to gather, develop, and run projects for campers with varying skill sets in grades K-5 for five weeks. Also, each grade level had a different and unique theme almost every week, and I challenged myself to plan integrated projects that correlated with their themes.

Thankfully, I regularly attend lots of professional development events including meetings, workshops, and conferences. Plus, I have a pretty big network of people generously willing to share ideas, so the hardest part was to research different options for each week’s topic and narrow down the choices. Blessedly, Nancy Otero (@LeSheepo) was there for the final week of camp to help with crafting automata and laser cutting gears. She’s an amazingly gifted engineer and design thinker who also leads wonderful learning opportunities at The Beam Center (@beamcenterNYC) in Brooklyn and beyond.

I created a GoogleSite of resources and topics which I shared with teachers and parents for the summer. Below is a summary of topics covered, and here is a link to the full site: https://sites.google.com/site/mmtsteamcamp2015

** Inventors and Explorers 1 and Inventors and Explorers 2 **

IE1 and IE2 in grades K-1 were the youngest campers I worked with. They met the least frequently for one or two 45-minute sessions per week. I had a set of iPads available, so after some brief instructions and examples, kids worked independently or in pairs to explore a variety of coding, building, and learning apps including Kodable, Hopscotch, Scratch Jr., Blokify, Tinkerplay, and PrintShop.

** STEAM 1 and STEAM 2 **

STEAM1 campers were in grades 1-2, and STEAM2 campers were in grades 3-4. I saw them for a combined 6 or 7 hours or so during the week in 45-minute and 90-minute blocks to explore:
— Stop-motion videos with the Stop Motion Studio iPad app
— Paper circuits with great instructions from @Exploratorium
— The Toontastic iPad app
— 3D printing with the MakerBot PrintShop and Cubify iPad apps
— MakeyMakey pianos, LED light up plush toys with a sewn-in battery pocket
— Cardboard automata with laser-cut gears and 3-D printed bearings with another set of great instructions from the Exploratorium: http://www.exploratorium.edu/pie/downloads/Cardboard_Automata.pdf

** STEAM 3 **

STEAM3 campers were in grades 5 and met for about 5 hours a week in 45-minute and 90-minute blocks. Topics explored included:
— DNA with origami and by making LED cuff bracelets where kids’ initials correlated with the color schemes of amino acids
— MakeyMakey pianos and other instruments made with cardboard, conductive materials, and Scratch programming
— Rube Goldberg machines with materials found all over the lab (I showed them Audri’s viral enthusiastic video and OK Go’s This Too Shall Pass music video for inspiration — see below)
— 3D printing with the MakerBot PrintShop, Cubify, 123D Design, and Morphi iPad apps
— Making interactive endangered animal maze games using Scratch programming environment
— Cardboard automata with laser-cut gears and 3-D printed bearings with great instructions from the Exploratorium

Stop Motion animations inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches in 6th Art with @oharebros. #artsed

Katelin O’Hare (@oharebros) teaches 6th art and was interested in doing an end of year tech project. Katelin led a stop-motion unit with 8th grade in the fall, and she considered trying it out with 6th grade as well. I suggested using Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches as inspiration, since 6th grade was finishing up their unit on The Renaissance: Romeo and Juliet in English, debates about Galileo and Copernicus in Social Studies, Golden Ratios in Math, etc…

We had the students locate hi-res images of da Vinci’s work on Artstor.org, as Columbia University offers a subscription to their community members, and we are allowed to download files for educational purposes. We had a spirited discussion about copyright, terms of service, and fair use.

Students created a storyboard using post-its on a large sheet of paper in order to detail the key frames of their short film. They were tasked with shooting a minimum of 10 seconds at 10 frames per second (100 frames). They used brads, string, sticks, and wire to make the tiny movements of their paper cut-outs. Some of their finished shorts are below. Enjoy!

Lots of fun with 8th graders & their stop motion animation projects in @oharebros’s Art class.

Katelin O’Hare, an Art teacher at The School at Columbia University,  gave me a heads up weeks ago that she was interested in offering a stop motion animation mini-course. We split the preparatory work. She researched iPad apps while I looked for iPad tripod mounts and clamps so kids could film with the iPad either facing a wall or facing a tabletop.

Katelin settled on Stop Motion Studio Pro for $4.99. This app does all the editing in-app so no need to export and edit anything unless necessary.

I bought a few different models of iPad mounts and clamps to beta test:
Cobra Clamp by Snake Clamp for iPad 2/3/4 for $59.95
Cobra Clamp by Snake Clamp for large adjustable tablet for $59.95
Grafiti Nootle with video pan head for $40
iPevo Perch Podium stand for iPad for $129
I still want to purchase a Joy Factory Tournez clamp mount for $159.95

Can’t wait to see the finished products!