i like pie: club d-bot at Panther

hey gang. i had fantastic participation this week with panther teens trying out programing the led's. the pie website is the inspiration i've needed, and if you present the activities just right, they can take off. "nite lights" went great, but i only have time to blog about the week before, so i'll get to that later. for now, here's our success with light sensitive doodle bots, but i'm gonna try a new version of blogging. i've got a copy of john's outline and i think this method may make the blog run a little smoother and read a little easier for future staff...

activity/cycle title: "club d-bot"
dates: monday, april 4th and wednesday, april 6th 2005
big idea: get kids once again familiar with cricket technology in a familiar but fun, new way
groups participating: panther
attendance: about 8 on monday with gabe coaching and 8 on wednesday with myself and gabe coaching, plus about 20 kids invited into the presentation of our work at 5:45pm
materials:
hardware: cups, markers (at least 30), tape, rubber bands, lego motors, motor connecting legos so lego arms could attatch to motors, flashlights
software: 4 laptops, transfer wires and transfer crickets, crickets, lights sensors, stereo
other: snacks and juice
associated skills: programing light sensative crickets, constructing a sturdy doodle bot that will not only stand but also perform its task of drawing
associated concepts: to learn that having patiece to program leads to entertaining outcome, gaining confidence in programing and design of one's d-bot
best part: giving high fives when i shined a flash light on a kid's d-bot and it came alive
hardest part: getting the kid's intially motivated to try activity, which i overcame by assigning them tasks for the club including DJ's, light technitions (flash light holders) and bouncers (including sunglasses i brought to wear) and an invitation designer
culminating event: club d-bot (which turned into "club jazz n' tay" (named after jazmine and taylor) where patrons could only attend by invitation only. we included music and snacks for those present
for next time: i would make a bigger deal about introducing the artists, like having them stand and point to their piece for the audience, and even have them name it. i'd also like to bring more flash lights for more of the audience to get involved in making the bots dance. furthermore, i learned from gabe the best way to attached the motors to the top of the cups was by attaching long, thin legos to the bottom of the motor that protruded over the rim of the cup. then use a rubber band and wrap it around each marker and then up to the protruding legos. and as a final suggestion, when programing, make sure the light value you program at matches the dance floor. in our discotech, most of the d-bots danced the whole time because we didn't measure the light reflecting off the white paper dance floor.

i added the "for next time" catagory because when trying an activity there's always something you find out you could have done differently and better. so if these outlines are filled out before the activity, i think a follow-up like this is neccesary to include to learn from.
hope all is well with all,
myles