The Children’s Festival at Peden Farms is a big event for local elementary school kids, mostly preK-2. There is a little bit of a farm tour, but mostly a whole variety of exhibitors. The one across form me was an electrical company talking about power lines. Near me were some baby chicks. I heard an array of animals that were brought in, like a donkey. I didnt get a chance to walk around, but I did notice some tables full of various furs, some corn grinding, and a well pump.

We had a 3D printer printing a pumpkin tchotchke, the pumpkin piano (makey-makey) and some butterfly making with cardstock wings, craft sticks, and pipe cleaners (and glue dots).

Tinkerfest is a one day event at the Indiana State Museum.
They bring in a bunch of STEM/Maker exhibitors that have different interactive things for families to experience. Hundreds of families come, many of them Girl Scouts.

We had a 3D printer going, and many people had questions about how those work. We had our PVC parts to build with, some necklace/bracelets trinkets and beads, pipe cleaners,batteries & bulbs, and some catapults to build/launch.

Community & School Partnerships brings JH students from across Indiana for a tour so they can see a college classroom, dorm, and dining hall. We start their morning off with a book that mentions many key places around campus (“Good Night Indiana University” ) and a #Maker experience. This year we are going with kits from TeacherGeek and they get to take the kits back to the classroom. They can be taken apart and remade or made into something else.

My friend Kevin Honeycutt (https://www.honeycuttconsultinginc.org/   ; https://www.facebook.com/kevin.honeycutt  ; https://twitter.com/kevinhoneycutt ) is a lifelong educator that has been in the classroom and moved into PD & support & workshops & events for educators and students. He has much more information about this project than I do, as it was his baby.

He had  a big idea that would combine many of the things that he utilizes/works with.
The idea would involve elementary, junior high, and high school students and educators.
Randolph Eastern School Corporation in Union City, Indiana said “that sounds like a great spark for our students learning”.

Junior high and high school students would build a lunar colony on the high school gym floor with a variety of stations for elementary students to experience. They would use cardboard and plastic and dust tape and packing tape and makedo screws and fans and …

Day 1 was when the junior high and high school students built the colony. Not only would they build it, but they would be responsible for the learning experiences at their stations. They had to spend Day 2 working with the elementary students. The JH/HS kids took control. In addition to building the colony, they made the learning experiences. The stations that they ended up with were :
Art Lab
Planetarium
Greenhouse
Robots
Fitness
Writing Lab
Engineering (Tubelox & MakeDo)
Circuits
Living Quarters

Elementary grades came in for 45 minutes and students went to 2 stations. There was so much activity, so many smiles, so much learning. Sometimes it seemed  the JH/HS kids were having more fun building things. The night of Day 2 was community night. The parents came in to see “what the heck was my kid talking about”. They loved it. They loved seeing their child excited about learning. They loved seeing a big learning experience.

There is more than a short blog post can capture. Kevin has several videos and tons of pics (I only took 95). I can talk more if this interests you and can connect you with Kevin.

The stations could be anything you wanted them to get exposure to (culinary, 3D design, chemisray experiments, physics experiments, animals…)
This doesnt HAVE to be a lunar colony. It can be a boat, a colonial town, Rome…

This is a SPARK for more interconnected learning and more connections between the schools (you know the littles look up to the big kids). Now the teachers need to fan the flames.

(working on adding all my pics to slideshow)

The 4H held their annual Educator Leadership conference in Muncie. I attended to meet some more regional leaders, hoping to work with more than just Monroe & Crawford Counties. I did make a couple of more connections.

I also did a workshop about “Creating with Cardboard” 

They tried something new this year with an “after hours” STEM Gallery. There were some STEM partners inside, but I and a Purdue DigitalAg van were outside showing off things that we do

The Monroe County Fall Festival has an Education Day (morning into afternoon).
It is held at 100 S Park St, Ellettsville, IN 47429.
I did not get a chance to wander and see the other exhibitors, it was very busy – but I did see a firetruck.

We had several hundred kids stop by and explore some making.
Of course we had multiple things for them to do. Craft stick catapults to make and laser cut ones to launch. The ammunition (pieces of candy I dont like) quickly ran out (they didn’t pick them up). Battery and bulb of course.Pipe cleaners to build anything. Some laser cut fairies & gnomes to make a necklace. A 3D printer to watch. A new thing was a science lesson on sound… an exciter hooked up to a tiny amp (connected to computer for music). You can barely hear the exciter when it is right next to your ear, but if you put it on a piece of cardboard or plastic tote – now you have a speaker. Kids were amazed at the “no sound – yes sound” when you hold the exciter by itself then touch it to something

It is an excellent event for exhibitors and students.

I went to Shakamak Elementary to build and launch some pop bottle rockets with the after school crowd. There were about 20 kids grades 4-6 for 45 minutes, then 20 k-3 for another 45 minutes. I saved a bunch of 1 liter bottles (Walmart water), had some cardboard and cardboard scissors. They had the choice of hot glue or tape to attach fins. For the k-3 I precut fins on the laser. We used some modeling clay on top for some weight. We did not do nose cones.

I have my DIY launchers (some PVC and a valve stem) which requires you to hold the rocket on while a friend pumps. I also borrowed the launcher from P12 School Engagement (adam scribner) (a Pitsco Aquaport). I used both with the 4-6 crowd, some didnt mind getting a little wet. The K-3 only used the Aquaport.

They kids were excited and had fun. I had fun. We only put 3 on the roof of the building.

I hope to do more rockets

I went to Owen Valley High School during their “Patriot Hour”, a chunk of time in the middle of the day when they get to choose where to go. Amy, the Librarian, hosts different things for kids. This time she wanted to do vinyl cutting with the Cricut (they have 1 Cricut Explore). I took a couple of laptops and my Cricut Maker. We had 13 kids come for this.

The most difficult part of 2D design (vinyl or laser) is finding free, easy to use SVG’s. Many schools block most sites. I had the noun project on my computers (and my mifi), so some got to search there. Others were using their chromebooks, so they googled and were very careful to find an SVG (I find SVG’s just work easier). They kept the tab open on their chromebooks, and came to the Windows computers and got to the site and downloaded the file. Now, some sites download a zip folder with multiple file formats (EPS, PNG, AI, SVG…), so that is confusing for newbies. Also, some sites have lots of ads you have to wade through to find the CORRECT “download”.

I think it went well. Kids were working and helping each other. They seemed happy that they got their own sticker. One looked and said “oh, that is kinda big” (even though we talked about dimensions). But that is okay.

I will go back next week. This time I will bring the 6 laptops I have (hope the mifi can handle ) and the 2 Cricut Joys. After that, I hope I will be going back occasionally for vinyl and other things (like laser ; 3D printing I would have to leave the printers and we have not talked about that yet. But we could))

Actually it wasnt, but that was my fault. I made a big mistake. Or 4.
(a little knowledge is a dangerous thing)

I was helping a school get their 70 watt laser setup. We engraved a couple of little trinkets. Then we did a test grid for scoring/cutting and one for engraving. We engraved and cut a gnome image….but it didnt cut out (we used settings from the test grid. So we designed a ruler and tried to engrave & cut. But they wouldnt cut out. We upped the power for cutting from 50% to 60% to 70%. No change on the cut. Engrave looked fine.

Mistake number 1 —- “well, we didnt focus the mirrors”
Mistake number 2 —- “the manual and this one video says the laser has to hit the center of mirror 1
Mistake number 3 —- we didnt check the existing alignment with tape/pulse method before attempting to re-align
(put a piece of painters tape over the circle frame in front of mirror, send a laser pulse to see where dot is)
Mistake number 4 —- i vaguely remember the minimum power setting was lower than max, but had read that was alright for when the laser has to slow down at corners…maybe this was the only problem. That setting was too low.

Laser doesnt hit center of mirror 1, so I fiddle with the mirror a little, then the tube a little, I dont want to mess with the tube too much. Colleague finds other videos/sites that say “beam does NOT have to hit center of mirror 1”

Move on.
Mirror 1 to 2. Since I fiddled with mirror 1 already, beam is not parallel to axis. So I need to work on mirror 1 to get the near and far dots to line up (near is when mirrors are close to each other (top/left) and far is away from each other (bottom/left)). Finally get it

Mirror 2 to 3. This beam has to be in the center of the mirror and near & far dots must line up. fiddle, fiddle, shift, adjust….aligned but not hitting center. I need to move the mirror frame – but move it parallel. Well that aint gonna happen, it wobbles so much. After much back & forth I think it is good.

Mirror 3 sends beam down the tube to focusing lens
Put the nosecone all the way down on wood, send a pulse. Should get a dot, not a half moon, not a crescent. Also, raise the tube up an inch or two, then again, dots should be on top of each other. Crescent. We are hitting the tube. Fiddle, fiddle, adjust…back & forth back & forth. Not there.

Sleep on it.
Back up and make sure we are truly aligned from Mirror 1 to 2 to 3. Mirror 2 needs adjusted for alignment and moved to hit center. I take the nosecone of the focus tube to get a bigger are to see (also, mirror 3 has adjustment screws all the way lose). Put tape on the end, hit pulse…we are hitting the tube. Use adjustment screws to get “center”. Put the nosecone back and – a little off center (getting crescent). A little more adjustment and we are “good”

I think I finally got it

I hope I finally got it

Ran test grids again, got numbers (slightly different). Used new numbers and things cut out.
Lasered the gnome again, I think it looks better this time (and it cuts out)
(sorry, no pics)

Deeply Ingrained   (FB) is a woodshop on wheels. They go to schools and libraries around Indianapolis to bring woodworking projects to kids. After working out of their home garage for a couple of years, they now have a permanent shop at 150 Van Dyke St in Southport (SE of Indy, outside of 465).

On August 3rd they held a “Grand Opening” and “Back 2 School” bash with exhibitors, games and food. About 500 people attended, mostly elementary age students. I had a multitude of things available. There was a 3D printer going for people to watch and ask questions. They could try their hand at Tale-Bot, a screen free robot. There also was a wooden rubberband powered car (plotting how to do that as a build project), batteries & bulbs, beads to make a bracelet or necklace (and some Deeply Ingrained trinkets that I laser cut), a craft stick catapult to make and launch Good & Plenty, and PVC pipes & connectors to build anything. A good time was had by all