catchin up

So I have a little catchin up to do, but I think I can get it done all in one entry. Here we go. We'll start way back at the ending days of our successful "light cycle". On Wednesday, April 20th, I gathered all the light sculptures the kids had created including the light lanterns, the homemade flashlights, and the night lights and organized a gallery space in the teen room at the panther boys and girls club. Then I had jazmine craft fliers to pass out to all the kids, inviting to the first annual DesignIT "glow in the dark gallery night", snacks included, opening at 5:15pm. We dimmed the lights and had a sizeable crowd gather to view the pieces. And a total coincidence hieghtened the art gallery experience when Mrs. Mays, the panther art teacher, closed the gym that afternoon to have a regional boys and girls club art show right next door. So not only did I get to view some work other kids had done in the art rooms around the metroplex, but art teachers from other clubs got to view our program's work, and they loved it. Among our sculptures, I included an eye-catching static electricity ball from the museum to draw a larger audience and encourage hands-on participitation. I also had our kids stand behind thier pieces and discuss their inventions with curious onlookers.

The gallery night at panther was so successful, I decided it was unfair for our museum staff not to be able to see our work in person, so the following Wednesday, we took the kids and their artwork to the museum. I spent some time handing out fliers of my own to staff around the museum to come see us on their way out of work. We set up a table just like our gallery at panther just inside "kid's stuff", and I had four of the eight kids present man the tables, while the others checked out the gallery, then they switched. Not only did staff have some questions for the artists, but visitors attended as well. The interaction between our kids and visitors was really neat to watch. Marcus and Dominic did a great job. Both "gallery nights" were a blast as far as final culminating events for our light cycle.

We did try one more light cycle activity on Monday,April 25th that Gabe and I discovered would be fun and could not be left out, and was included at our museum "glow in the dark gallery night" on the 27th. Here's the breakdown...

Activity 1: "Cricket strobe lights"

Big Idea: Continue educating kids on how to program l.e.d.'s in a fun, new and challenging way

Dates:Monday, April 25th

Groups Participating: panther boys and girls club kids

Attendance: 4 to 6 kids

Materials:
Software: laptops, transfer cables, transfer crickets, crickets, motor cables, l.e.d.'s
Other: stereo and music

Directions: Each participant has a laptop and l.e.d. setup. By using the cricket program listed under the "light" activity under "things to try" on the pie network website(www.pienetwork.org) one can make the l.e.d.'s blink in rhythm and with certain strength. to make it a game, simply turn on a song and see who can match their l.e.d. to the rhythm the fastest

Associated Skills: l.e.d. programing, rhythm skills

Associated Concepts: confidence in programming, competing with peers in a fun, safe, educational way

Best Part: Bobbin' your head tryin to match your "strobe light" to the kids' favorite songs

Hardest Part: Matching the strobe's rhythm to the music. Its tougher than you think!

Culminating Event: Museum glow in the dark gallery night

Improvements: Not so much on this activity, but on the order of activities during the entire "light cycle". If I could do it over again, I'd do it in this order...

1. Kid's love cutting and stripping wire. I know its more of a circut cycle activity, but I'd start with the "homemade flashlights" using holiday lights.
2. Next I'd use the flashlights to constuct "magic lanterns"
3. Moving into l.e.d. programming activities, we'd play the "l.e.d. races" game to teach color programming.
4. Move into the "cricket strobelight game" to teach rhythm and brightness programming capabilities
5. Finally finish with the "nightlight" activity.

The month of May began a whole new cycle, which, due to never attempting any of the activites before, hit a few bumps in the road. So, when reading about the next cycle, look for descriptions of where improvements could be made. After a few strike out days, Gabe and I had an epiphany of how to teach our kids i.r. through a few fun and challenging activities that led us into an extremely successful end of the year. May's cycle I entitled "intro to i.r.". When I blog next, I'll hit on the following points...

May 4th-failed "cup guitar" activity
May 9th-"chirping" display of i.r. at work, and handed out "wave discussion" questaire
May 11th-trip to museum where 8 girls were introduced to i.r. through "wave discussion" questionaire and the first two cricket i.r activities. first they made crickets talk to one another by beeping, even when reflecting in a mirror, or not beep if obstructed. then they made two crickets beep at differant times depending on signals sent from a third cricket.
May 16th-had 8 girls teach a friend the same intro activities for a reward
May 18th-began nasc-i.r. building, fought through some forgotten materials
May 23rd-successful nasc-i.r. construction at museum
May 25th-new contestants built their own nasc-i.r.'s while others put final touches on theirs, and at 5:15pm on "Wednesday! Wednesday! Wednesday!" we began the 2005 nasc-i.r. races at Panther Courtyard Speedway!