It’s that time of year again, the confluence of CLMOOC with my planning for our annual kids maker day. (Our maker day is all-ages — we’ve had 2 year olds to adults — and has no technology involved.)

This year’s maker day is centered on flight. A tentative agenda is below.

There is one diversion from flight though, which is a marble challenge (though I do expect we’ll see some marbles in flight as well). This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, and we’ve had great fun (as well as design thinking and amazing learning) in past years with the Marshmallow Challenge and the Cardboard Challenge.

This week in CLMOOC, we’re designing games, and so I’ve been thinking about the marble challenge in this context. I have several ideas, and this is really a work in process, so I’d welcome suggestions. My general thought is to have some kind of specific timed challenge and then to move towards something more open-ended.

My general thought is to have students build some kind of cardboard pathway (maze? roller coaster? Rube Goldberg contraption?) under specific constraints and with a goal in mind.

Possible constraints: Fixed time to design and build; Set materials; Must fit within a given area (e.g. 4′ x 4′).

Possible goals: Get the marble to land in a designated area (4″ square); Cover the longest track possible (with no touching of the marble after the initial release); Stay in motion for the longest time (with no touching of the marble after the initial release).

My experience is that after going through a design challenge like this, youth learn a lot, and then immediately want to do it again, but with their own rules/constraints/goals. That’s the open-ended part of the activity.

I’d love to hear your ideas for other constraints, goals, etc.

As it relates to CLMOOC, is this a “game?” I think it is. Here are some ways I’ve thought about game elements for this:

Rules – Playing within the constraints of this challenge are the rules. (And these will be tinkered with and changed in stage 2.)

Actions – Players will build, test, and iterate.

Win – The goals will set up the “win” conditions. And again these will evolve in stage 2

The marble challenge also supports several Connected Learning principles: peer-supported (this will be done in small groups and debrief will be with the whole group), production-centered, and shared purpose. I think it also supports the values of equity, social connection, and full participation. The cross-age participation of the project also amplifies connected learning.

I’m excited to try this out and am appreciative for any suggestions you have!

Tentative Agenda

Theme: “Taking Flight!”

8:45 a.m. Welcome and Introductions
9:00 Paper airplanes (60 min.)
10:00 BREAK – with families
10:30 Tabletop hover crafts (30 min.)
11:00 Marble challenge (60 min.)
12:00 BUFFET LUNCH ON SITE – with families
1:00 Stomp rockets (60 min.)
2:00 BREAK – with families
2:30 Kites – weather permitting (60 min.)
3:30  Wrap-Up

Marble challenge links

(Send any more you have, and I’ll add to the list.)

http://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/2013/04/girls-explore-engineering-marble-run-challenge.php

http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2013/04/marble-track-instant-challenge-logic-for-kids/

http://www.centexeweek.org/activities/marble-rollercoaster

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CLMOOC takes place June 18–August 2, 2015 and includes six week-long iterative make cycles. You can sign up to get updates here. It is designed to be a collaboration rather than a course to which educators are invited to come in and participate during any or all cycles — the best way to engage is to sign up to receive the newsletter and jump in whenever you have time and interest.

You can see some of what happened in CLMOOC last year and what’s happening now in our G+ community or on Twitter.

I’ve also been brainstorming what might go into a great “maker box” for classrooms here. Add your thoughts!

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I am very excited to be convening the Passion-Driven Learning strand of the K12 Online Conference this year. This is an approach I believe deeply in.

We have an all-star line up covering vital topics such as genius hour, connected learning, and more. Several of these projects are ones I’ve been proud to be associated with this year.

Here is the schedule for the week. (Links will be added as the sessions air.)

Keynote Passion-Based Learning
Joy Kirr

Connected Learning Through Google Apps
Jennifer Bloomingdale

A Key to Interest-Based Learning
Paul Allison

Grab the MIC (Musical Integration Concept)
Kevin Cornell

Genius Hour Passion Projects
JoAnn Delaney

Connected Learners Need Connect Leaders
Donna Fry and Mark Carbone

Finding Your People
Cheryl Steighner

Trust and Transparency
Bart Miller

Moving From “Some Study I Used to Know” to Inquisitive Learning with Genius Hour & Passion Projects
Michele Haiken

Passion-Driven Learning in #clmooc–Supporting Teacher Agency in Making and Learning
Mallory McNeal and Anna Smith

An Introduction to Webmaker for Educators
Brendan Murphy

Web 2.0 Tools that will increase Creativity and Passion in Your Online Courses
Courtney Kofeldt

As always, all of these K12 Online sessions are open licensed and shareable and will be available indefinitely for you to view, use, remix, and share.

Thank you to everyone who contributed a session to K12 Online this year and for the good work you do all year!

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For a variety of reasons, this site is restricted to members only (feel free to join!) so I am going to cross-post the “makes” here as well. If you try this, please post a comment or picture with what you did, either at iAnthology or here. Have fun!

[cross-posted from iAnthology]

Welcome to the first iAnthology “Make with Me.” We’ll be doing the “maker” projects monthly, and there’s a lot of flexibility in what you make and how you do it, so feel free to diverge from our suggestions in any way you like.

This month, we’re going to make food — real food, not the kind that comes in a styrofoam carton or frozen in a metal tray. Think of something that you normally buy pre-made and try making it from scratch. You might just find that it isn’t that much extra work, and the results are not only healthier, but delicious….or you might come to appreciate even more the conveniences of modern life.

Here are a few examples of things you might try, ranging from simpler to more involved:

• Salad dressing
  Rather than using dressing from a bottle or a mix, try making your own. I like to start with a little garlic and dijon mustard and then whisk in some vinegar, oil, and fresh herbs. Here are some other ideas you might want to try from The Kitchn and Food Network.

• Granola
  I love fresh granola, and it’s not hard to make (and much healthier). Here’s one recipe. You can vary the ingredients quite a bit. No coconut, no problem. Any kind of dried fruit will work, including raisins. I also like to add chopped nuts, flax, or sesame seeds.

• Macaroni and cheese
  Mac and cheese is one of my favorite foods, and the powdery bright orange mix in a box kind can’t compare to homemade!

• Bread
  There’s nothing better than fresh made bread, and it’s not as hard as you might think. Here’s a recipe for my favorite fast French bread (you can leave the loaves in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours or skip that part and just let the loaves rise for an hour or so at that point instead), and here’s a lovely no-knead bread that takes a bit longer but is easy and so good!

• Cheese
  Cheese making sounds complicated, but here’s an easy ricotta recipe that requires nothing more than milk, lemon juice, and cheese cloth. Maybe others have different cheese making experiences they could share.

So, get making, everyone! We can’t wait to see what you come up with. Don’t forget to post a picture and a recipe or other information about what you made and how it turned out. (And remember, that we can learn as much from “failures” as from successes….I’ve have a lot of food disasters. I try not to let them discourage me.

The post Make with Me: Food! appeared first on K12 Handhelds.

This was a part of our local Heritage Days event, for which I’ve been helping coordinate a kids’ activity day for a few years.

The day was a great success. We had over twice the attendance we’ve had in past years (and this is in an extremely rural area), and the kids had a great time, as did Brad and I.

In part, I’d attribute the success to an open approach of letting kids decide what approach they wanted to take for each maker project (or even to decide to do other projects), being flexible about the schedule, allowing kids to work on things of their choice, and emphasizing self-directed learning and fun over everything else.

Lessons learned:

• Making is great! It’s educational and fun, and something a lot of kids don’t get to do enough of. (In the past, we’d done more presentations. None of those this year, and no one missed them.)
• Our general approach of loose, open, flexible, and let the kids guide things was perfect!
• Mixed ages work great. We asked for kids older than 4 (but had a couple younger) and set no upper age limit. We had kids from 2-19, and it worked great.
• We were happy to partner with an existing event. This was good for our event and the partner event and worked well for parents too.
• Market, market, market. You have to get the word out to attract people. Having done this for a few consecutive years helped too.

Planned activity list:

• Welcome and Introductions
• Make your name tag
• Make photos * Bring your own camera or use one of ours! (See notes on the photo challenge from last year here; this was the only activity from a previous year that we repeated. We were glad we did because one kid said “I begged to come just so I could do this!”)
• BREAK
• Make a mask
• Yoga for kids
• LUNCH ON SITE
• Cardboard turtle races
• Make a snack (smoothies)
• BREAK
• Make a puppet
• Make jewelry
• Wrap-Up

Supply list:

(Note: I don’t think I spent $25 on this outside of stuff I already had.)

• paper plates
• paper bags
• cardboard
• paper
• egg cartons
• cardboard tubes
• tongue depressors/popsicle sticks
• toothpicks
• lots of crayons, markers, colored pencils, pencils
• scissors
• glue
• glitter
• stretchy cord
• beads
• buttons
• old socks
• scraps of old fabric
• blenders
• smoothie makings (frozen and fresh fruit, yogurt, milk, juice, water, wheat germ, flax)
• spoons
• cups
• library books for inspiration

Anecdotes:

• Models – At the beginning, we showed kids all the supplies we had and told them what we’d be doing. We also put out a bunch of books with ideas of what kinds of things (masks, puppets, jewelry) they might make. We didn’t supply any step-by-step instructions. From there, kids took it and ran. They came up with things we’d never have thought of.
• Photo challenge – Kids just loved this. This year we also let them write their own challenges and share them, which was fun.
• Nothing we planned – One kid made a diorama of an Indian village. This was nothing we’d planned, mentioned, or even contemplated someone making.

  

• Peer mentoring – With kids of all ages, peer mentoring was natural,and we gave no instructions or guidance on this. There was one college-aged youth who came ostensibly to oversee her younger siblings. She started the day reading in the corner. By the end of the day, she was teaching all of us how to make sock puppets and jewelry.
• Design – This is a sketch of a marionette puppet plan. Design thinking was happening even though we didn’t prompt it.
  

 Pictures:

All photos in this post copyrighted “All rights reserved.”

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Making Learning Connected (#clmooc) is a MOOC, but in the best sense of cMOOCs — in fact, we’re considering it a massive open online collaboration.

Here are some details:

• It will run from June 14-Aug. 4 (6 weeks).
• It’s free and open, and anyone is encouraged to participate.
• It will focus on connected learning and making stuff.
• It’s being put together and sponsored by the National Writing Project and the Educator Innovator initiative.
• Participation is very flexible and will accommodate a variety of learning styles and inclinations. We hope everyone will make this collaboration theirs.
• You can sign up here.

We are also looking for a few groups around the country who might want to put together face-to-face cohorts to meet weekly while the MOOC is going on. We hope to learn something about how this affects participation in online spaces. If you are interested in this, drop me an email for more info.

We hope you’ll join us for the summer of making MOOC and help make it massive, in every sense of the word!

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