Paper Circuits

This Is prettyy neat.
I would love to do this kind of thing with students.
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/12/a-tiny-speaker-made-out-of-paper

Paper Speakers

http://www.wired.com/design/2013/12/a-tiny-speaker-made-out-of-paper

I am really looking forward to trying this with kids.

Schools as makerspaces?

MAKE | Is it a Hackerspace, Makerspace, TechShop, or FabLab?

This article made me think of something I have been churning about for a long time - schools as maker spaces.

I mean this in two ways.

The first is that I think that making if all kinds - arts, crafts, robotics, etextiles, welding, etc., should absoltely be in schools.

I also mean it in the sense of schools as places where people make deep understanding for themselves.

In a very real and practical way, I believe the two are intimately connected, and that these connections are essential to actual education reform.

MakeyMakey and Twine Sunday

It's Sunday, and since it's the last Sunday of 2012, I felt it was time to do some playing. Today's toys: Makey Makey and Twine.

Let's start with Twine.

Here is what the folks at Supermechanical say about Twine:

Your experience as a Twine owner begins with the setup (at twinesetup.com), when your device gets connected to your network and, bam, you are ready to go. Twine comes loaded with sensors: temperature, magnetic, and position. It also comes with a breakout board that allows you to add other, external sensors. 

Once you have set up your sensors, you can establish "rules" that allow actions to happen in response to certain criteria.  Here's an example rule I made (after connecting a light sensor). When darkness falls, the Twine sends me an email saying, "Hey, turn on the lights!"

The Twine is monitored via a web page, which provides rapidly refreshing displays of the data collected from your Twine. 

I didn't get very far, but this device is very cool.

Device #2 is the MakeyMakey. The MakeyMakey folks' video says it all:

So far, I have been able to do some typing, some game-playing, and some music making. Sadly, I am out of bananas until the next shopping trip, but look forward to creating my own banana-piano.

The coolest thing about this cool device is that it is Arduino compatible, and thus truly "open." 

I am looking forward to bringing both devices, but especially the MakeyMakey into my classroom.

The app may be the thing, but what about being app makers?

The great blog Mind/Shift has an article about a new app for the iPad which embraces Shakespeare's The Tempest.

We spoke with (Notre Dame professor Elliott) Visconsi about transforming Shakespeare for the 21st century and why the intensely social experience of the app is what, in essence, the humanities have always been about.

I am sure the experience will be a great one for readers of The Tempest, and may even deepen users appreciation of the play.

I was left with one nagging question -- wouldn't this be a great project for students to do for/by themselves? I can imagine a Shakepeare class where this is a culminating project. Sure, it would be different than this, but wouldn't that be something?

Tinkering

Thanks to Cory at Boing Boing, here's a video of a presentation by Geever Tulley on his work. He teachers kids to make things. He even has a book, 50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do.

Check it out: