This is part of a short series of posts where I reflect on the inaugural Intel Education Visionaries meet up in Santa Clara, California in October 2015.
On one of the evenings we had dinner at the Tech Museum of Innovation. Before dinner we had a chance to play with some of the exhibits and I was impressed with the hands on practical nature of what we saw.
As you might expect with an international audience Google Earth on an immersive surround screen (powered by Liquid Galaxy) proved to be very popular and also useful to find out exactly where everyone one lived!
The software that the museum was using was the free Liquid Galaxy software from Google and although you might not have five plasma TVs at your disposal a couple of years ago I did manage to rig up a pretty neat experience using a few projectors and a couple of white sheets to create a (very rough around the edges) immersive room.
Another of the exhibits that was available was ‘design your own roller-coaster’. Here you used software to design a roller coaster and then after scanning your ticket you could ride the roller coaster in the simulator.
As well as teaching about design and physics what was nice about it was that if your design was unsafe then your ticket wouldn’t scan and you had to go back and modify your design.
Some nice key messages from the museum as well. I especially liked, Imagine, Invent, Connect & Collaborate.
This is part of a short series of posts where I reflect on the inaugural Intel Education Visionaries meet up in Santa Clara, California in October 2015.
Intel’s Global Headquarters in Santa Clara has a museum (well, why wouldn’t they?) it is free for the public to access and we managed to get a quick tour while we were visiting.
I like museums and I enjoyed the short amount of time that we had to explore Intel’s history.
But, what I liked the most was how they had a classroom at the centre of the museum and all of the local schools are invited to visit with their students. A simple but important initiative for one of the original companies of Silicon Valley.
There were a few fun exhibits hidden away in the museum as well – such as elements from the periodic table scattered around the floor (made me think why we don’t just to that as standard in Science departments in new school builds?)
The museum was pretty interactive as well and uses a number of simple demo to explain key concepts of computer science and chip manufacture. I liked the one with the foam balls the drainpipe to simulate bandwidth and network speed (I think I’ll recreate it back at school).
I also liked the visual display that showed you how big a nanometer was.
Then there was of course the obligatory ‘Bunny Suit’ demo.
Finally, I was quite taken by this quote from Robert Noyce (one of the Intel founders), “Don’t be encumbered by history. Go off and do something wonderful.”– it is pretty good inspiration for schools as well.
Recently, I came across Circuit Scribe from the NoTosh Learning Facebook Page. I was instantly taken by the idea and can see a real place for technology like this in the science and / or technology classroom. Circuit Scribe allows you to draw circuits (yes, draw circuits!). There is no shaking, no squeezing, no goop, no smell, no waiting for ink to dry. Circuit Scribe draws smooth lines with conductive silver ink and allows you to create functioning circuits instantly.
You can Invent Circuits Instantly and Circuit Scribe is for Makers of all ages and skill sets.
STEM Education: Circuit Scribe was made for project based learning. Young people and those young at heart can build circuits and switches in their notebooks and use those concepts to get creative!
Low-Cost High Quality Electronics: You can build a circuit with nothing but a coin battery, paper clip, and LED, or build out complex circuits with multiple components.
Flexible Electronics: Draw your circuits, cut them out, and stuff them into your inventions - instant robot guts.
Goodbye Breadboard: Breadboards add a level of abstraction and annoyance to circuit building. With Circuit Scribe you can draw exactly what you want, no wires or breadboard required.
Open-Source Hardware: You can use Circuit Scribe with Arduino, Makey Makey, and many other electronic platforms.
The
project comes from the brain of David
Mellis a first year PhD student in Leah Buechley's group, High-Low Tech, at the MIT Media Lab.
“The
DIY Cellphone is a working (albeit basic) cellphone that you can make yourself.
It can make and receive phone calls and text messages, store names and phone
numbers, and display the time. It builds on the hardware and software in the Arduino GSM Shield but
extends it with a full interface, including display, buttons, speaker,
microphone, etc. The source files for the cellphone are hosted on GitHub (hardware, software), which also
includes an issue list where you can file bug reports or request enhancements.”
Unlike
the Bigshot
Camera there is no kit available for the DIY Cellphone but you can get all
the parts from various websites and the instructions of how to do this and how
to build the phone are well documented over on Mellis’s MiT
Site.
I
would like to have a go at building a few of these with students – I think they
would be fascinated by the idea and concept. I also like the idea of them
creating their own 3D printed cases as part of a wider project.
It is a camera
that you buy on bits and then have to make before you can use it. The idea
behind it is to show children how things actually work and not just what they
can be used for.
It has been well
thought out as an educational product and comes with an interactive guide that explains
all the science behind the different camera components.
I
like the philosophy of the Big Shot cameras
creator Prof Shree Nayar as
well, ‘It's about getting kids' hands dirty. In an age when software rules I
want kids to know how to build hardware”.
They are not
available in the UK yet but I think I’ll be getting one to have a play with
when they do appear on this side of the pond.
This
is the last of a series of posts that talks
about a few things that schools could invest in to improve and enhance
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math’s) Education. They each contribute to the bigger
picture of making schools challenging, fun, exciting and desirable places to
be.
I’ve
been quite overwhelmed with the response to the posts and the amount of hits
they have generated – which indicates to me that this is a pretty hot topic. As
a result I intent to add a further five posts some time in the new academic
year.
One
thing that I did want to give a quick mention to is the Raspberry Pi. The Rasberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools.
These little bits of kit have got huge potential
and it would be great to see them being used more in schools. I would also be keen to hear from any school using them as part of the curriculum and not just as an after school or computer club.
This
is the last of a series of posts that talks
about a few things that schools could invest in to improve and enhance
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering
and Math’s) Education. They each contribute to the bigger
picture of making schools challenging, fun, exciting and desirable places to
be.
I’ve
been quite overwhelmed with the response to the posts and the amount of hits
they have generated – which indicates to me that this is a pretty hot topic. As
a result I intent to add a further five posts some time in the new academic
year.
One
thing that I did want to give a quick mention to is the Raspberry Pi. The Rasberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools.
These little bits of kit have got huge potential
and it would be great to see them being used more in schools. I would also be keen to hear from any school using them as part of the curriculum and not just as an after school or computer club.
This is part of a series of posts that talks about a few things that
schools could invest in to improve and enhance STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Math’s)Education. They each contribute
to the bigger picture of making schools challenging, fun, exciting and desirable
places to be.
In this short post I want to talk a little bit about introducing
young people to computer coding and programming with a specific focus on
computer games design. Before I do that I want to go back and re-visit some of
the history of IVT and Computing in UK Schools.
ICT vs. Computing
As educators and
school leaders, our challenge is a simple one. How do we integrate technology
into learning and teaching and how do we make sure that all members of the
school community, from the policy makers to the classroom teachers, understand
that technology is important?
To help us achieve
this, it might be useful to think about how technology is often perceived and
sometimes retrofitted into schools. At the core of the problem is how ICT is
often mistaken for computing and vice-versa.
There was an intense
focus on ICT, both in the UK and many other countries, during the first part of
the 21st century. This was, at least partly, to equip young people with the
skills they would require when moving beyond school to the workplace and, as
such, many of the courses taught office-based administrative and productivity
skills (e.g. Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint).
In doing this, schools
fulfilled their statutory requirement to teach ICT to young people, but this
was often to the detriment of children learning real computing or programming
skills. The result was a whole decade of children who were unable to code,
build and create things digitally; this at a time where many countries were
also trying to move from a traditional manufacturing age to a digital
manufacturing age. In short, for the
last decade we have created a generation of content-consumers, rather than
nurturing and developing a generation of content creators.
For evidence of how
much of an issue this may be, you only have to look at the UK visual effects
industry. Visual effects is the fastest growing component of the UK’s film
industry, and the video games industry is the largest entertainment industry in
the world, with global software revenues exceeding $50bn (£32bn) per annum.
Unfortunately, in a
growing market, the UK is slipping down the global games development league
table and the UK’s visual effects industry is reported to turn down millions of
pounds in business each year.
Ian Livingston, author
of the UK Government’s NetGen Report, states that “A very big part of the problem,
common to both industries, lies in their skills gaps and shortages. We simply
cannot hire enough computer scientists and this seems madness at a time of such
high youth unemployment.”
The political response
to this emerging problem in many countries (including the UK) has been very
interesting. Almost overnight schools have been instructed to teach ‘real’ computing again. In my opinion,
this was the main message from the Minister of Education, Michael Gove, during
his 2012 BETT keynote speech. Further pressure has been put on UK Governments
following Eric Schmidt's (Executive Chairman of Google) MacTaggart Lecture. Where he said, "Education in Britain is holding back the country's chances of success in the digital media economy". These remarks were mainly based on the facts that computer science was not a compulsory subject in UK schools.
While no one can
really argue that the problem needs to be addressed, the sudden switch in
priority from ICT to computing also brings with it a number of challenges. Most
importantly, children still need ICT skills, particularly those connected with
productivity. Second, many within our teaching workforce do no have the
professional skills to teach children to code. Indeed, ICT and computing have
become so blurred during the last decade that many computing teachers come from
an administrative or business background rather than a technical or computer engineering
one. Many primary teachers who come from a variety of professional and academic
backgrounds will also admit to feeling slightly out of their depth.
Do children
actually want to code?
Following Mr Gove’s announcement at BETT
2012, there has been a renewed interest in the teaching of computer science,
and specifically computer programming, in schools. This is something that has
quickly gained the support of politicians, university computer lecturers and
industry specialists. However, many naively thought it might also capture the
imagination of young people. The reality is, of course, this is easier said
than done. Why would young people be interested in computer programming? Just
like any subject on the curriculum, you will only get the majority of learners
interested if it is taught in an interesting way. To many young people, computer programming remains an abstract and
irrelevant skill.
How do I get
children interested?
There is one way that
I am absolutely convinced will get most young people interested in programming,
and that is to use the context of computer game design.
Before I talk more
about some of the game design tools available to schools, it is worth
mentioning that the production of a video game makes a powerful cross-curricular
project. Projects like this can help break down the subject silos that exist in
many schools, promote interdisciplinary learning and develop the essential
skills of collaboration, communication and teamwork.
The production of any
blockbuster computer game needs market researchers, storywriters, graphic
artists, character designers, programmers, marketers, communication teams and
even people to design and make the packaging. Then you need to work out at what
price the game will be sold, how it will be distributed, and possibly
translated into different languages.
There is no reason why
a holistic computer game design project cannot be successfully linked to almost
every subject on the curriculum. The project will also provide a real and relevant stimulus for students.
Now, let’s look at two
of the free tools available for teachers (and another that is on its way very
soon).
MIT Scratch
Scratch has been
developed by the Lifelong Learning Group at the MIT Media Lab (Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, USA). It is a platform (Mac and PC) that promotes
mathematical and computational skills as well as creativity, reasoning and
collaborative working.
Scratch can be used to
make a number of multimedia applications such as games, animations,
simulations, stories and art.
Every object or
character (sprite) used in a Scratch project can have one or more ‘scripts’
attached to it. These scripts add behaviours to sprites and allow them to act
in anyway the user feels suitable in the context of their project, i.e. move,
speak, etc.
The scripts are made
up of building blocks that are grouped by category; such as control, motion and
sensing. There is very little keyboard input required by the user as all the
script blocks are dragged to the scripting area with the mouse and ‘clicked’
together like Lego.
All sprites and
backgrounds can be created by the user with the built-in paint editor. However,
Scratch also allows users to bring in content from other sources. For example,
images you have scanned, photographed or taken from the web. It also comes with
a library of sprites and backgrounds to get you started quickly.
Music and sound
effects are just as flexible. Either use the built-in sounds, record your own
from within Scratch or use sounds you have created with another program.
Microsoft Kodu
Kodu is an exciting,
easy to use and free software package for game design and programming. You can
use it to create elaborate 3D landscapes and build complicated, immersive
games.
Kodu is available for
the PC and for the Xbox. The PC version of the game allows you to use the
keyboard to program the characters and landscape. You can also plug an Xbox
controller into the PC version of the game, which is very popular with young
people.
The most recent
version of Kodu (version 1.2.38) adds a new storytelling feature (ideal for
supporting literacy) and a new web-based support community.
Kodu programming
involves selecting visual tiles for a condition (WHEN) and an action (DO) –
i.e. when this happens, the character does this. It is very simple and
intuitive to use. It is a great way to get young people interested and
developing a passion for programming and making things.
What do Scratch and Kodu
help you teach?
Scratch and Kodu
introduce the logic and problem solving of programming without complex syntax.
It demonstrates that programming is a creative medium.
Scratch and Kodu
are objectorientated and introduce conditions and sequence.
Scratch and Kodu
are great tools for narrative creation and storytelling – providing an
interesting environment to create stories.
Scratch and Kodu
allow you to change the in-world variables, making it easy to introduce
scientific and mathematical concepts.
Scratch and Kodu
build real world essential skills by challenging users to analyse a problem and
structure their solution.
Getting started with
Scratch
Don’t re-invent the
wheel. There is lots of support available online to help get you started with
both Scratch and Kodu.
Scratch can be used for free (scratch.mit.edu). There are also lots of Scratch
tutorials available on the same site, and you can also view other games that
users have created.
Scratch is
really popular with schools and each year there is a World Scratch Day
(day.scratch.mit.edu).
Getting started with Kodu
Kodu can be downloaded
for free (kodugamelab.com). There are also a number of Kodu tutorials on the
same site.
Kodu in the Classroom
is a set of resources that I wrote a few years ago to help you
introduce Kodu as either a one-off experience, or as a sequence of lessons. The
UK Kodu in the Classroom series is available to download from the Microsoft
Partners in Learning (PiL) Network (pil-network.com).
Remember, you don’t have to be able to code yourself; just
point your students in the direction of these resources, sit back and see what
they create.
Players use the Microsoft Kinect and SmartGlass to
build environments with mountains, rivers, and towns in part using voice
commands. The player can also create events, like inter-character battles.Created Items and objects are able to be shared with other players.
Players choose whether to start from a blank map
or a pre-designed level but always
have the tools to customize the topography, add plant and animal life, and
program behaviors for specific objects, such as a rock that bounces when a
player is nearby. Similar to Microsoft
Kodu, the topography is modified by pushing and pulling the earth,
digging through surfaces after changing the view to adjust a wall or create
holes in it.
In his interview at E3 2013 game designer Claude
Jerome said that "the game is all about giving players options",like the ability to add a single flower
versus a field of flowers just by resizing the flower paintbrush's size. He
added that the game is also about "sharing and playing with the
community", and that the difference between Spark and LittleBigPlanet or Minecraft is the core ability to customize the
game down to the minutiae of the in-game object actions, which lets the players
tell more individual stories.
Key Message
We must help educators understand that computing is science and therefore a STEM Subject.
----------------------------
Please note
an earlier version of this article originally appeared in Teach Primary
Magazine.
This is part
of a series of posts that talks about a few things that schools could
invest in to improve and enhance STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math’s) Education. They each contribute to the bigger picture of making schools
challenging, fun, exciting and desirable places to be.
In this post I want to talk about 3D Printing...
Now in recent times
3D printing has been given a very bad press – mainly because someone went and printed a fully
working gun and then published the plans on the Internet. The plans were
downloaded over 100, 000 times before they were removed (but of course most people know it is almost impossible to delete
anything from the Internet). Despite this reckless, un-thought through and immoral
act - 3D Printing is actually a very, very cool thing. Particularly when you
use it as an output for creativity and for making purposeful objects rather
than weapons.
“3D printingis a process of making
a three-dimensional solid object of virtually
any shape from a digital model. 3D printing is achieved using
an additive process, where
successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes.3D printing is
considered distinct from traditional machining techniques,
which mostly rely on the removal of material by methods such as cutting or
drilling (subtractive processes).”
Over
the last five years 3D printers have grown in popularity aided by their use in
popular culture – for example James
Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 that reappeared in the recent Skyfall Movie. As a
result the cost of a good 3D Printer is now affordable to most schools and you
can get a good one for under £1000. We have one in the Science Department at Grantown
Grammar School that was funded by STEM Scotland and they were introduced to
most Aberdeenshire Secondary Schools a few years ago.
There
are lots of ways that 3D printing can be used in schools. Teach
Thought suggests these ten as a stimulus to get you thinking:
Engineering
design students can print out prototypes
Architecture
students can print out 3D models of designs
History
classes can print out historical artefacts for examination
Graphic
Design students can print out 3D versions of their artwork
Geography
students can print out topography, demographic, or population maps
Cooking
students can create moulds for food products
Automotive
students can print out replacement parts or modified examples of existing parts
for testing
Chemistry
students can print out 3D models of molecules
Biology
students can print out cells, viruses, organs, and other critical biological
artefacts
Math
students can print out “problems” to solve in their own learning spaces, from
scale models to city infrastructural design challenges
Of
course, the actual application of 3D printing is far more disruptive than the
tasks and activities suggested above.
3D
printing is already revolutionising the confectionary and cake industry because
of 3D Printing with chocolate.
Edinburgh scientists have
also used 3D printing to produce stem cells in a technology that could
completely revolutionise the medical industry over time.
Then of course there is Markus Kayser’s Solar Sinter
Projectthat uses3D printing technology that runs completely of
solar power and prints glass models (and
other things) using sand as its only material.
In short, we are only just starting to see how 3D
Printing Technology is going to have a significant impact on how we live,
work and play. They have even opened a
large MakerBot 3D printing factory
opens in New York and it will only be a matter of time before you can get anything
printed from your local 3D printer store (and
eventually from your home). With this in mind it is also worth considering
that intellectual property will indeed become the ‘oil’ of the 21st Century.
So, isn’t it about time we started to use this
technology or at least teach some of the ethical issues
surrounding 3D Printing in schools?
If you’re interested in how you can link 3D printing
to the curriculum then this is a great place to start - http://curriculum.makerbot.com
This is part
of a series of posts that talks about a few things that schools could
invest in to improve and enhance STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Math’s) Education. They each contribute to the
bigger picture of making schools challenging, fun, exciting and desirable
places to be.
Yesterday I
talked a little bit about some of the many opportunities that Lego
offers to education particularly in the field of robotics. So today let
stake a look at a different type of modular Robot that also offers great
potential in the classroom – Cubelets.
Cubelets are quite
similar to Lego in that they link together to make shapes and structures. The big
difference is that there are not as many parts and that each ‘block’ has a different function that
when combined can do a sequence of activities / tasks.
This video explains
Cubeletsin a lot better way
than I ever could.
Any UK schools
using them yet? Or what experience do other parts of the world have of using
these in the classroom?
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