The Showcase day - Dec.15, 2004

Gaggle

THe chain reaction work was truly phenomenal! The groups worked incredibly hard to get their links built and working as they had envisioned. Each group had ideas that were very original, and some that had to be redone - case in point, one group wanted to build a catapult but wasn't able to make it work so they reevaluated on the showcase day and come up with other ideas for moving a ball instead of launching it. THe teamwork is growing here - this group of students worked hard to help each other out, not only in the chain reaction process, but also in the realms of teaching each other how to program crickets, make switches, learn how to use power tools, and see other people's ideas come to fruition. A few of the groups used their time very wisely and were able to realize their intricate vision, as evidenced by the photographs below. The chain was run 4 times that day, and even though we never got through the whole thing without having to help t along from time to time, the work done was impressive to the students and to the visitors. Crowds of museum visitors came to watch each running of the chain, as well as museum staff. Some of the students even took to helping explain what was going on to younger kids - that was really great to see. The students evaluated each other's work, and those sheets are being processed now. A report on that is forthcoming.

Murder

Today was to be the showcase of the student films. Each group had worked hard on a storyboard for their movie, and the groups were given the option of doing stop motion animation, or video, or both if they wanted. There were six films made, and two of them were finished. THe groups that completed their films according to the specifications given used their time very wisely, making the most of the working and filming time given. Some of the students hit a creative wall, so to speak, when they realized that what they wanted to do they were not able to make happen, for various reasons. I want to express thanks to Megan for being such a great encouragement to the kids here. I must comment that the film made by Joey, David, and Melanie was done in an amazingly creative way - costuming, special effects, even outtakes were filmed! Very impressed here! THe students were given the task of evaluating the stories being told using the elements of a good story given earlier in the year. We wanted to see if in the final works the students could identify plots, characters, settings, and these forms are being processed now. A report on this is forthcoming.

Staff

THe Design IT Studio staff is truly amazing! I want to express my thanks to Myles, Gabe, Nick, Megan, Bill, and Karie for their incredibly hard work last week! I can't thank you enough for truly making the day great for the kids and for me. I"m looking forward to January!

JONATHON

one of the most intricate links created - front and back, switches, balloons, crickets, dominoes, marbles - amazing work!

the length of the hall - the chain reaction from the end

The beginning of the chain - from marbles to crickets to dominoes.

Final day tinkering on the chain reactions by the ALA students.

Megan offering some encouragement to the movie makers!

Student Films almost done!

Finishing the student Films - Dec. 15

Hard at work on the chain reactions!

prediction or hypothesis? 

balloon and motor madness! 

Gaggle member busy creating.... 

make cool stuff

Hey gang. Been a while since I blogged, but since then many positive things have occured both with my gaggle group from ALA and the panther crew. To briefly summerize with highlights here and there, we started the month with the concept of making sure these kids gained the skills of provided power tools by utilizing a tool check-off card. Operation was a success. While at the museum panther kids became focused when provided with a goal. By the end of the week nobody was using drill bits to try to screw, trying to manually hold wood to cut, or stripping screw heads. It was obvious the confidence they gained in using the jig saw and sander as well. One rewarding moment included encouraging taylor to use them although she was terrified to do so, and fifteen minutes later was operating them by herself. For future improvements on the card, Jonathon and I would like to impliment a three-step learning system before checking each kid off for tool compitence called, "see one, do one, teach one." Basically they watch a tool being used properly by us, use it themselves under supervision, and finally teach another designit member what they learned. Couple more highlights with panther included playing with the gang on the museum school turtle while waiting to be picked up from the museum and gabe doing such a great job on continuing open studio on friday nights. Also I learned to go with the flow at open studio when one teen became disinterested in building and began crochaying. I decided to sit down next to her and have her become the teacher. We spent the next ten minutes laughing and chatting as she taught me to crochay, and in the meantime deepening our relationship. Another moment I felt to be the most inspiring was seeing one of my kids at CiCi's with his family over the weekend, and the next day he became comfortable enough to share personal hardships he was going through. I realized through time and trust we are building strong relationships with our kids as important as what we teach. Finally, the progress with the gaggle is going strong. I would have liked to impliment the cards in that group as well to focus thier skills, particularly so we know who is competent and who isn't for their sakes. However, it seems when it comes down to it they picked up on what they wanted to and focused on it quite well. I enjoyed working with one teen who was determined to build a working catapult. He actually went online, found an image, and is now in the process of successfully building an exact replica for his chain reaction component. I'm excited to see the final product of this cycle and I think our groups gained the skills we hoped them to.

December 8 - ALA

Wednesday December 8 was an incredible day for all our ALA students. We truly saw some amazing work being done, as is evidenced by the pictures i've posted. The Gaggle groups began construction today on their sculptures for the 15th. The objective here is to take all the skills they've learned over the past few months and put them together into one long chain reaction. They are using marble runs, dominoes, crickets, switches, motors, and any materials we can provide to create this piece of moving art. The technology has come easily to the group, as they have taken to the crickets and circuit making with amazing interest! The students are teaching each other how to do everything, once we have given them a little know how in the programming and building department. The students are truly making this their own work! A few notes on the gaggle groups - one of the most amazing moments we've seen so far came today as a few of the students were learning how to use the power tools. I took aside two of the girls to show them how to use the jigsaw, belt sander, and drill press. After they watched me demonstrate, then they practiced with me watching them. I then learned that Erica did not know how to use the saw, and about 5 other girls didn't either. At that moment i called over the two girls that had just learned how to use the machines. I told them that we would be working on the "see one, do one, teach one" system. They had seen the machines, used them, and now it was time for them to show the others. I stepped back and watched from about ten feet away, and the girls began to teach the others what to do. It was truly amazing to see them all so engaged, and helping each other out. 7 students and Erica learned how to use the machines right there, and all i did was show two of them. The students took the responsibility for the rest. THe work being done on these sculptures is very good, and very creative, and i can't wait to see how it's all going to play out on the 15th.

Murder group - the filming continued, and a couple of the groups are going to be ready to edit on thursday the 9th. Gabe will be out at the site for that, as well as cricket programming for the gaggle groups. THe films are turning out to be very creative, and i'm very impressed with the ways that some of the students have found and used to do some special effects. THe showcase for their films will also be on the 15th. Most of the teams seem to be working well together, and i still think they are trying to get used to having a bit more freedom to work.

Jonathon

Notes From Erica - December 8

I helped out on Wednesday morning with the ALA gaggle group 1. Today they began constructing their chain reaction sculptures. Many had come up with ideas to put into their sculptures last week and now were able to test how their ideas worked. All of the students worked very,very hard today. One group especially impressed me today. None of the members were here last week, so this was their first day to think and build their sculpture. The group worked well together and were just as far along as the other groups who had a bit more time to think about their sculpture. I learned how to use the jigsaw today! One of the girls taught me how to use it (safely) and I cut my first piece of wood with it. The teens have quite a bit of interest in using the power tools. It's nice to see an environment where the girls can use the tools just as much and just as well as the boys. In my observation of the last two weeks, I have noticed that this is an environment where there is no gender bias or discrimination (always a big thing for me, as I was one of the few women programmers in my high school and college courses). I can't wait to see their finished products.~erica

An amazing marble run takes shape!

Switch making skills at practice

Working hard to fix that marble tube!

The Chains begin!

Hands on education at work!

ALA notes from the week of Nov 30-Dec 3

Tuesday of this week the gaggle group was introduced to cricket programing and finishing up soldering practice. The Murder group finished up their storyboards so that the filming could begin the next day. The gaggle group took to the crickets well, experimenting with making music and motors run, as well as learning how to make everything happen with the use of a light sensor or alligator clips. The programming language seemed to be fairly easy for the group to pick up.

Wednesday
The gaggle group was broken up into their working groups for the rest of the semester to create their chain reaction links! The groups have time to build for the next 2 weeks, and each group must start their link with a switch, end it with a domino throwing another switch, and incorporate crickets, motors, sensors, and balloons. The entire group of new students will be joining all of their links together on Dec. 15 for a massive chain! the students were also given time to become proficient in the use fo the powert tools, and still others chose to do more with crickets, learning how to program and make more music with them. (MIDI will be introduced to them later.) THe Murder group began the filming of their stories this week. The storyboards are done, and the films must be at least three minutes long. THey will be working on these films until the showcase day Dec. 15. THe groups are doing pretty creative work, and i can't wait to see the finished product.

Thursday
The murder group worked on their films today.
The gaggle group worked today with Gabe as the leader teaching them how to use their soldering skills and newfound knowledge with crickets to make sensors on their own. Gabe did an amazing job leading the groups to do this, and we will follow the same pattern on tuesday. Hopefully the kids will use the sensors they make in their chain.

Finishing up the semester is going to be fun, watching the teamwork, seeing the creativity, and the products made. The kids are becoming wonderfully skilled in the use of the tools, the crickets, and the materials to build from - the murder group is becoming equally skilled in the use of the video cameras and filmmaking techniques. The next two weeks are going to be amazing!
Jonathon

Wow moments and Not Wow moments

Wow moments

• On Tuesday, I walked into the Club, and faces lit up. I instantly had help unloading the car.
• Lazaro spent over an hour programming crickets with tricolor LEDs. He made orange!
• I asked Lazaro what he wanted to be when he grew up, and he said either something with electricity and computers (he didn't know exactly what that would be) or he wanted to work at the Museum!
• Aaron came to the Museum and had great success programming crickets.
• When I went to the Club on Friday to apologize to Lazaro, he told me, repeatedly, that it was no big deal, that it was fine that he didn't get to come. He said, "Don't worry. Nothing is ever, ever going to stop me from finishing my project. I'll do it next time. I'm never going to give up." To you, Lazaro, I say, "Please don't ever give up."

Not Wow moments

• I left Lazaro at the Club on Tuesday. We left without him. I was the only one who knew that Felipe, who works with younger children, had asked him to do a favor, and I left him...
• Michael Garcia, one whom Mr. Joe warned me to keep an eye on, was trying to learn to program a cricket, but things kept happening, and I never sat down with him and spent the time to show him. I should have made the time instead of looking for different wire.

Thursday=Noisy Northside

On Thursday, I went out to the Club to round up my invested Tuesday kids who are likely to want to come to the Museum. This really is an important step now since Mary can't justify being short a staff point person while Mr. Joe drives the kids over if we have fewer than eight who are coming. I go out to the Club and lock eyes with the kids, reminding them that it's Thursday, that it's Museum day, and that they need to call their parents if they didn't know that they'd be out a little late.

We got to the Museum and headed upstairs to the studio. I let the kids have a few minutes in IAP before we began because I knew it was the first time a couple of them had come this semester. Salvador came into the studio immediately, ready to begin. A couple of other kids trickled in quickly, too, and began imagining and building structures for their chain reactions.

I had liked the feel of Tuesday at the Club enough that I tried to recreate it. I had the room set up with all of the different kinds of supplies that we'd been using out at Northside over the last several weeks. I had a table with simple switch materials and soldering irons. I brought out the large domino blocks and the marble run boards. I set up a table with laptops and crickets. The kids, too, had easy access to various power tools, craft supplies, and lumber.

It didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. I don't think I communicated my vision for chain reaction sculptures as well as I could have. Some of the kids, new this year, had not spent a great deal of time with crickets and, while very engaged in programming them, didn't see immediately how they could be used in their reactions.

Nick spent much of his time helping kids with power tools while I focused on the kids who were working with crickets. Perhaps it could have been more fluid.

Michael (not Garcia--short Michael), who always spends most of his Tuesday afternoons with us at the Club, came to the Museum for the first time. He was incredibly involved in making a marble run. We were working together, and he asked if we came to the Museum every Thursday night. I told him that, yes, we bring the DesignIT kids every Thursday, and he replied, "oh, good. I'm definitely coming from now on!"

Aaron (latino Aaron) really ran away with the cricket programming. He'd had some experiences with crickets that we'd taken out to the Club pre-programmed, but he'd never gotten behind the screen before and worked in Logoblocks. He was really interested in the hex displays. After much experimenting (he worked with the crickets for nearly two hours), he programmed the cricket so that when a domino fell on a light sensor, the hex display would run a countdown from 10 to 1 and then start a motor! How cool is that?

Josh was a bit disappointed in himself because he couldn't remember anything about programming. Except for the first night, which wasn't content-driven, he hadn't been out to the Museum since spring.

It was a good night, except for my leaving Lazaro at the Club! I'm positively sick with myself over it...

Blog Points From Erica!

I helped out with the 9:40 group since Saafir is out this week. They were very excited about beginning their chain reaction sculptures. Because there was not enough pegboards for everybody to start building, Jonathon approached this day as a design day. The students didn't quite understand what we meant be design. After getting into their groups, most sat around. Some prompting helped them get started in the right direction. The parameters were introduced at the beginning, but the groups will probably need to be reminded of them at each session. The students were more interested when they were made aware of the materials. Some of the groups had some unique ideas about how to use some of the items. A few students practiced using the drill and saw and others started hot-gluing items for their sculptures together. A group of girls were very interested in programming music into the crickets. They were working together to try to figure out notes and rhythm. Towards the end, the teens were a bit more distracted being social than working on their sculptures. I wonder what would happen if the groups were instructed to brainstorm or list ideas before being exposed to the materials and tools. The balloons became a distraction near the end, so maybe the balloons should be limited. Also, I think some more materials would help the students be creative. The day seemed to go well. From the outside, it looked like chaos, but the students were coming up with some great ideas that will help them next week.

ALA Gaggle Group 2

Myles and I spent time with the second group of this year's newbies this morning at the Museum. We worked with them on their visions for their chain reaction sculptures and on their proficiency with the various tools they'll use in creating it.

After dividing them up into groups, we gave each of the kids a piece of blank paper and a pencil and gave them about ten minutes to brainstorm/sketch/describe two different ideas for their creation. I almost think we cut their brainstorming time short! I think some of them could have kept drawing and designing for ten or fifteen more minutes!

We didn't have enough pegboards for marble runs for all the groups to have one today, so we focused on planning, drafting, and prototyping designs instead. I truly believe this was better because it helped them think more deeply about how they wanted their sculptures to work and to behave instead of simply jumping into the same old pattern of pegboard marble runs. That's a comfortable thing to do, so I hope this will help some to think beyond what they've done before. How wonderful would it be if our kids made amazing sculptures and chain reactions that didn't even use the pegboards?!

Myles checked many of the kids out on using the power tools while I spent most of my time working with kids and crickets. Omar has big plans for motors, light sensors, tricolor LEDs, and hex displays. Every "hole" on the cricket had something plugged into it. Eddie and Daniel and Kristen and Caitlin all got incredibly involved in writing music to incorporate into their plans. The morning had a nice feel to it. The kids were engaged and focused on projects that interested them!