For several weeks, our first graders have been exploring concepts like “balance” and “spinning” by building toys. Their making combined experimentation, observation, engineering design, and design thinking. And it went something like this: Building a Balancing Crayfish Calling it a “crayfish” is sorta killing me, being from Louisiana (down there, it’s a “crawfish”), but I guess out here…
Our 4th graders have been hard at work making benches, to close out the school year. Awesome work, guys!
Our kindergarteners are some of our biggest makers at Lighthouse. They make year-round, usually with sewing and woodworking (using handsaws, clamps, drills, and hammers). Now, they are in their second week of testing out a programming unit, and so far it looks like it’s going pretty well. You may recall my Turtle Art posts from several months back. This new…
Maker Faire came and went. It took months of planning—an entire year, for those of us who began thinking about it at the close of last year’s faire (which does not include me)—scheduling, rescheduling, last minute panics, and many headaches. But it came together really nicely in the end. How would you describe Maker Faire?…
Project: Van de Graaf Generator Makers: Gilberto C., Arya B., Martin R. At least from my perspective, this is one of the bigger and more complex of our student projects being worked on this year for Maker Faire. A Van de Graaf generator is a machine that builds up an electric charge inside of a metal…
Maker Faire prep is coming along. While the Creativity Lab staff is hard at work getting t-shirts ordered and schedules planned (and more—trust me, there’s quite a bit of work involved), students are working to get their projects wrapped up. I’m dedicating the next few weeks to previewing some of the projects that students will be showing…
We are all focused on getting ready for Maker Faire right now, which has kept me busy and gotten me behind on this post. Next week I’ll begin posting previews of students’ projects for Maker Faire, but, while it’s still fresh, I thought I’d share a making project that our middle school students just finished in their making elective, since…
Prototype Faire is our own miniature test-run of the Maker Faire. Students from each grade level showed off their own making projects that they’ve been working on, many of which they will take to the Maker Faire next month.
I’m writing to you all from a lovely cafe in cloudy Portland, OR, a city that has welcomed me with its overcast skies, colorful parks, and nippy winds. It’s a nice change from good ole Hegenberger Road. With Lighthouse on Spring Break this week, I’ve taken it upon myself to settle in here with an Italian dark roast and…
Scribble machines are quick projects that combine arts and crafts with the basics of circuitry. They’re incredibly open-ended, making them a great exercise in creative design and persistence. The idea is to build a robot that draws as it moves, and we typically don’t give students any further instruction after this prompt. This usually creates some frustration, but also…