Science Unleashed: Making Motorized Cars

I'm super far behind on my blogging. I've actually already had the third Science Unleashed lesson, but I've not written about the second.

After the first night, I was very excited to get back to the North Shore (without the wrong turns this time!) and see what Chris had in store for us. When I walked in, there were a variety of some really cool things on the table: motors, cardboard, propellers, battery packs. This was clearly going to be a fun evening.

We were again working in partners and our task was to make a vehicle that moved. We had a certain amount of time to build our first prototype and test it, with very little direction - except for the basic concept of the car and how we could potentially make it. My partner and I quickly discussed what we wanted to make and divided up the tasks. We made our vehicle quickly and when it didn't really go, we looked at the problems - the wheels were a bit sticky and not turning easily, the motor didn't have enough power - and decided how we would modify it.  We made smoother wheels and added a second battery pack (some may say this was cheating, but I'm not among them).

Here's a video of how our test worked out at this point:

Afterwards we had the conference like we had the week before, but instead of just discussion what we could potentially test and change, we came up with a plan of who would investigate what. We ended up looking at whether or not weight made a difference or if more power made a difference.  When we tested these as a group, ours went quicker than everyone else's - most likely because of the extra battery packs.

Again, we had a discussion on how we could improve our vehicles.

What was interesting today was not necessarily what we did, but how our scientific community evolved from week to week. We learned from our mayhem the week before and became more organized in our methods, which led to us being more successful in coming to a consensus in the end. I'm going to give Chris the benefit of the doubt and say that this was his plan - get us to create our own community. I look forward to the last two sessions (spoiler - the next one was pretty good too!).

On Changing Schools Mid-Year

These past few months I've had to make a major life/career decision and it was difficult. I recently changed schools at the end of 2015 so that I could take on new roles and opportunities to develop both myself as a human being and as a professional. I chose my destination because I thought it would be a place where I would discover what I now know as my tribe.

However, due to unforeseen events, that was not the case. Don't get me wrong. I work with lovely people who are hard working and inspiring educators. But we are not on the same page. And that's ok. We, as teachers, are all finding our own way. I'm just at a different point in my journey than most around me. So I needed a change. When an opportunity presented itself to me, I felt as if I had to take it. As much as we teachers must care about our learners, we do need to remember to put ourselves first. A healthy and happy teacher is a good teacher. And this was a move that was going to keep me that way.

The unfortunate part of this whole thing is that the people most important to me, my learners, are missing out for the last term of this school year. I have been increasingly feeling both guilty and sad as my last day approaches. As a group, we have come a long way. They have clearly grown as can be shown in many of the different things I've shared about them. I've learned lots by working with them. I just worry that, in my absence, all the good and amazing things they have developed will be squashed once again. I hope that I've taught them to look at learning in a new way and to always improve.

This week has been especially jarring as it has involved the slow transfer of my things from classroom to home. Yesterday was perhaps the worst. My lego. All 15000+ (estimated) pieces disappeared from the class, making it less colourful and less fun. The children were good about it, helping me unbuild everything and sort it. I spent money on that lego, but money so that my learners could have some opportunities and experiences that I never had. I hope that they remember the 3 terms we had and that they continue to push to ask questions and figure things out on their own. Even right now as I write this (and they're writing their own things) they continue to impress me with their curiosity and wonderment. It's a good sign that I've done something right.

Tomorrow is my last day. I'm not sure even what I'm going to do. Leaving like this is not something I've ever done. Word has clearly gotten out as many children outside of my classroom have been asking me and expressing their sadness. As have parents. Sometimes life is hard and it forces you into choices that are difficult, even though they may seem obvious. I know I have made the right decision, but I hope that the negative consequences of it are not felt by the people I've been charged with guiding this year.

So to all my Smart Sharks, I need to say thank you. You have been the majority of my life since February. You've frustrated me at times but you've also amazed me every single day. It has not been easy, but I wish I could get you to see how far you've come and realize how far you can go. I will miss you.

Update: The above was written before I left and said my goodbyes. Before I published, I wanted to go through the process and then share how I felt afterwards.

My last day was full of emotional highs and lows. It was both an exciting time and a sad time. We spent most of the day doing regular things with each other. It was only until the last 30 minutes of the day when things got real.

I wanted to leave my students with some life advice before I left. The problem was that I immediately started to tear up when telling them this. Which led to a lot of them tearing up at the same time.  I thought perhaps I should share the advice I gave to them in our last hour together:

• There's not one right way to do anything. Don't let anyone tell you there is.
• Always question authority - they might be right, but you should still ask why.
• There's always someone better off and worse of than you are, so don't compare yourselves to others.
• Make the world a better place than what it was before you came into it.
• Smile at strangers - you never know the positive impact it can have.
• Always assume the best in people - not the worst.
• Do what you love and find a way to make money doing it.
• Don't take no for an answer.
• Sacrifice for your friends, but don't be friends with anyone who only asks you to do the sacrificing.

Yes, they are a bit cliched, but I wanted to make sure they heard these things from someone. Also, I should add:

• It's ok to cry - even for boys.

Afterwards we went outside to play on the parks. I wanted to have some fun with them so that they would have some positive memories of me (and I of them). After a few minutes of this, a couple of children were sitting under some of the play equipment, visibly upset. I went over to talk to them. This meeting slowly grew until it was the whole class, most of whom were crying. One of my students said something that, while it made us both sad, was actually a positive reflection on me and my practice. She said: "You gave us choice. No one has ever let us choose before." So there's that. When time was up we went back to the classroom, had our goodbye hugs and the bell went to end the day. 

One of the parents remarked that they have never seen a whole class leave the room in tears. I am torn about that. On one hand, it's good to know that we all had something worth crying over. On the other hand I feel terrible for putting these children through something like this.  At the end of the day (or the month) I do feel that they will get over it. They will move on and they will be happy. At the time, something like this is difficult, and it is not something enjoyable. But in life we have to realize that when we start something good and positive, it will have to end, one way or the other, eventually.

I'm glad we had our time together and I'm glad we said what we wanted to on the last day and we had fun and danced. I had actually been very depressed all day, but a close friend of mine had sent me a text, reminding me to have fun with them (she's definitely a keeper) so we could enjoy our last time together. I certainly did. The tears were tears of joy, not sadness.

Hosting a #digitaledchat for #MakerEdNZ

Recently, I was give the opportunity from Stuart Kelly to host a #digitaledchat on #MakerEdNZ. I was very nervous about this proposition, but was also excited about the chance to not only run a major, international chat, but also to learn from others and start the conversation.

It was very difficult to set the questions as I wanted to encourage lots of rich discussion, but I also wanted to make sure that the talk was accessible. I initially made a few too many questions, so that I could whittle them down to the best ones.

In the end, I settled with the following 6 questions. None were earth shattering, but I felt that they would direct the discussion and help bridge the gap between the early adopters and those who were just learning about maker spaces for the first time.

1. What is your experience with makerspaces?
2. How would you define a makerspace?
3. What barriers have you had or do you have in getting a makerspace in your school?
4. What are the benefits or disadvantages to letting learners make or create whatever they want?
5. How much direction do you think should be given in a makerspace?
6. What are you going to do to either add to your makerspace or start one?

I wanted to focus on building the base and getting people motivated to start trying these things, which is one of the main reasons I started #MakerEdNZ

The chat went fairly well, and we had some good discussion. A transcript of the whole thing can be found here.

One of the first things that came out of the discussion was actually what a maker space is. Many schools probably have such a space and do maker activities, but they wouldn't necessarily call it that. Perhaps this is one of the realizations that we need to encourage in NZ schools so that educators can start thinking in terms of building on what they already have, rather than having to start a new thing that they've not heard of before.

We even came up with a new word: Thinkering, which given the mix of thinking and tinkering gives a great description of what learners would do in a makerspace - both expanding their mind and using the materials they have to create something.

Many of the barriers to makerspaces starting up were ones that we have heard before: time, money, space, a dedicated staff member, leadership buy-in. These are all things that need to be addressed, though one of them was seemingly discussed as an easily solvable problem. Maker spaces do not need to be full of expensive equipment. Many schools get by with using completely recyclable things, which are very easy to get within the community. Other barriers will need to be given a bit more time, but another purpose of MakerEdNZ is to help get through these.

Many teachers saw providing maker spaces as a positive way to encourage creativity, problem solving and to provide open ended problems. Some worried about wasted time and wasted resources. I've certainly cringed when I've seen my students spending hours on something, using a whole roll of tape in something that won't likely turn out to be useful, but the process of this does hold some value in my opinion. Thought it is tough to see all that wasted tape. Some other teachers echoed this sentiment during the chat as well.

Most teachers agreed that as little direction as possible would be best, though there is a need for some up front direction so as to keep children safe and to provide them with a starting off point. This has shown to be key for me and my learners and after some initial difficulty with the freedom of choice, they were able to become independent and self-directed quite quickly and easily. It's that getting lost or stuck that promotes real, authentic learning.

The actions that teachers are going to take are varied. Some were going to start using the term maker space, while others were very specific in their ideas going forward. Several wanted to get donations of materials for their spaces and find ways for learners to start making.

All in all it was a great conversation, and one that I hope to help continue. It definitely clarified what a maker space is for some and it got others starting to share with each other - an activity that will be key to growing the movement here in NZ.

I look forward to the next chat that I'll be able to host, whether it takes the same format or it pushes a bit beyond. Either way, this was a valuable experience and an important step forward in the #MakerEdNZ journey.