Orange County has a “Manufacturing Day” where they take 8th graders from the 3 schools to tour some local manufacturing facilities to see some STEM and career opportunities. This year they decided to add a couple of hours to get some more up close/hands on experiences like you might have at a conference vendor hall…. Read more »

We set up 5 stations for 8th grade STEM class to get a sampling of STEM tools. They recently got 3D pens for the FabLab and some micro:bits. I tweaked my ” micro:bit intro ” slides tutorial. We also had a Tinkercad station, some had already intro’d Tinkercad, so they didnt follow my beginner tutorial…. Read more »

I will be doing an activity or two at Orange County’s Manufacturing Day for 8th graders. I thought if I could make some rubberband cars, they could race them and experiment with how to make them go faster/further.  (I also plan to have a geodesic dome building table and of course some batteries and bulbs)… Read more »

I got to work with some Kindergarteners to build a model of a playground that would be the center of their “community” learning. It was literally, the center of the map of their community. They talked about what was next to, nearby and around their community. They had to describe “where” the nearby things were… Read more »

Makevention is a celebration/showcase of makers in the Bloomington area organized by Bloominglabs, a local makerspace. There were over 2 dozen exhibitors. We had several things for people to choose from. We had a 3D printer going and were instructing people (kids & adults) on how it works. We had a butterfly making station (cardstock… Read more »

I headed to Unionville elementary to work on some computer science concepts with the 4th grade. We had 4 days of about 45 minutes each. Day 1 & 2 were screen free, then 3 & 4 were with iPads. We started with “graph paper” programming and how you would instruct someone to shade in the… Read more »

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… Read more »

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… Read more »

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… Read more »

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… Read more »