I finally got to spend a whole day with a STEM Coordinator (one of their hats) from a school in the region. We talked about STEM/Maker ideas for them. We also spent a good amount of time getting them comfortable with their XTool laser and Cricut. They even made a retirement present for a colleague.

I also spent some time at another school in preparation for 3 days of PD that I will be doing with some of their teachers. I wanted to check out the space and we talked about all the stuff we will need for those days

Recently we did a couple of little things.

We hosted 55 6th grade students from Lakeview Elementary before they toured the Art Museum. Adam Scribner and I split them in half for two 45 minute sessions. Adam ran a STEM activity with them. I spoke with them about makerspaces and maker mindset and tools. They worked with the 3 cardboard tools (and kept cutting the whole time). I had a couple of 3D printers going and we lasered some medallions so they could see those machines in action.

The second thing was going to Unionville Elementary twice to help a class with 3D design & printing. They were using Tinkercad to create an animal for an Indiana ecosystem. Then they were going to build the ecosystem in Tinkercad. I also loaned my 3D printers so they could get all the animals printed.

Headed up to the east side of Indianapolis to work with four 4th grade classrooms. They had some recent discussions about inventions, so we thought students could design and prototype an invention of their own (in groups of 2 or 3, though a few wanted to work alone).
They mad drawings, then got some cardboard and other stuff (pipe cleaners, yarn, buttons, pom poms, straws, colored foam, craft sticks, skewers) and did some building (we had hot glue guns)

As with anyone new to designing, many had difficulty deciding what to make. Also, new tools are fun to explore (various cardboard cutters, geometry compasses), and some spent more time with the tools than with building.

We had a variety of ideas : car design, teddy bear, vending machine, house on wheels, dragon toy, toy for cat, basketball shoe, storage box, computer case…

We lasered some models of birdhouses (a glowforge pro file that MCCSC shared). Then went to Lakeview to help 3 classes assemble them. They also decorated them with some sharpies as well as some stamps and good earth tone colors. It is only a model of a birdhouse for several reasons : 1) it its too small 2) the hole is too small 3) the wood is too thin. We talked about that with the students and what changes they would need to make a good birdhouse. They also took a walk through the Nature Trail to look for birds and use the Merlin app to listen for birds. Different classes found a different number of birds

I got to spend the morning with 4 3rd grade classes at Eastern Greene Elementary. They are studying Forces & Motion and we talked about why things move or why they stop. They shared about pushes and pulls and gravity, I talked about balanced and unbalanced forces. We even got in a little bit about friction.

Then they made cars that rolled to explore those ideas more. I had precut cardboard wheels and 4″x6″ cardboard chassis. Cars are always difficult because something needs to spin in order for it to roll. I like using pieces of straw on the bottom and a wooden skewer through those as an axle. Then attach the cardboard to the axle. Often people glue the axle to the chassis.

The discussion took about 15 minutes, so they only had 30 minutes to build. Only a few got a rolling vehicle done. Hopefully they can finish in their classroom.

Unionville Elementary had their annual Earthfest celebration. Games, maker stations with seed bombs and potting a plant (& other stations), snacks, giveaways. It was great weather this year, warm, sunny, slight breeze. There was good attendance, over 100 kids and 50 adults.

We set up next to the STEM to Them bus again. They were making kites and buttons.
We were focusing on pollinators. We had some example of pollinator signs. One was sticker vinyl and paint on coroplast, one was a sublimated vinyl flag, two were sublimated aluminum. We had some bee & butterfly crafts. One table had cardstock butterfly wings, craft sticks, pipe cleaner pieces to put together with glue dots. The other table had laser cut wood bees and butterflies to color and turn into a necklace. The butterfly was small enough to be an earring.

A school wants to do some Oobleck & slime, so I thought it was time to play with recipes
(oobleck works pretty simply, 1 cup cornstarch, about 3/4 cup water)

Slime has some variations with glues and activator.
I purchased Elmers Glue All multi-purpose Extra strong formula (white){$5 for 16 ounces} and Elmers Washable Clear Glue {can’t find the one i got on website, but I think it was $4 or $5 for 9 ounces  }.
I also got Sta-Flo liquid starch {I think $4 for 64 ounces} and Elmers magical liquid slime activator {$6 for 8.75 ounces)

The first recipe was 4 ounces (1/2 cup) white glue and 2 teaspoons slime activator. I had to add another teaspoon, then another to get it all to work, though still a little sticky.

Next is 4 ounces (1/2 cup) clear glue and 2 teaspoons slime activator.Again, needed to add more activator, 1 teaspoon at a time, til 4. I liked this consistency eventually, Until adding more activator and working it/kneading it, it really stuck to my fingers

Time for the StaFlo liquid starch recipes. I went with 1/3 cup of glue and 1/3 cup liquid starch. It is too much starch, so I had to add some glue. Should start with a 2:1 ratio (glue to starch), then add more starch if needed. This was very stringy. But after sitting in the baggie for awhile it came together, but it wont roll into a ball, You can fold it, but it is just flat.

The clear glue worked better, but still too much starch to begin with (go with that 2:1 ratio to start)

Finally, I did what many recipes call for. I diluted the glue with water, 1:1.
I did 1/3 cup of white glue and 1/3 cup of water, then started with less than 1/3 cup liquid starch (& added more). This works pretty well. It turns out better than not diluting the glue

I was able to help with a teacher PD workshop about Artificial Intelligence. AI Goes Rural is a 3 year project at IU School of Education about co-designing curriculum for MS/HS STEM teachers. They have done several teacher PD’s, been in the classroom, and had a summer camp. This is the last workshop before the grant money runs out

There was a lesson about training google teachable machine to distinguish between 2 options, then making that cause things happen on a microbit using a “bridge” { https://ai-robots.glitch.me/ }. We used neopixels as the output (display a color based on what teachable machine sees)

After lunch the teachers split into 2 groups. One did an AI lesson focused on Math and Art. The other Science and ELA. The core of the Sci/ELA was using a generative AI to rewrite a short story based on an existing SCIFI movie/book. (or write from prompts). Then give it more instructions, like what vantage point to write from/for (“science teacher” , “scientist”, “elementary student”) and compare. Then the idea was to look at the science involved in the story and “determine” its plausibility.

There is much that can be done with AI.I think the brainstorming help and comparison discussions are good.  Everybody has to remember, the AI “answers” are only as good as the database. One difficult part for schools is that most of the AI services are age 18+. Some are 13+, some are 13+ with parent approval.

Helmsburg Elementary in Brown County had a Community Night for their school. They had outdoor games, a guitarist and singer, and a cookout. I was there to provide some #STEM activities. WE had PVC construction (random parts for random build, stomp rockets, battery & bulb, coffee stirrer & pipe cleaner construction, and 3D printing demonstration.

An interesting thing that happens when I have PVC construction as well as PVC for a specific purpose (stomp rocket launcher, catapult) , the kids decide to build their own from the random PVC parts.

There was lots of action with the rockets and PVC and lots of interest in the 3D printing demo.

I finally got around to making some pop bottle rocket launchers. These don’t have any special safety features, one student holds onto the bottom of the rocket and launcher while another student pumps. They might get a little wet, but not as much as you would think.

Parts :
5′ of 1/2″ PVC (cut into 3 pieces)
2 – 90 degree elbows
1 – endcap
1 – valve stem (they are different heights)
PVC primer and glue
{pvc cutter, drill, channel locks)

The size is arbitrary. I went with 3′ tall.
You need to drill a hole in the end cap and pull the valve stem through til it seats.
(I used channel locks to grip the stem and pull)
I needed a 1/2″ hole.

Because I didnt have a vise, I worked my way up to 1/2″ through several bits.
I did use the channel locks to hold the end cap as best I could.

The most expensive part is really the bicycle pump (to get a good one).