Category Archives: Education

March 20, 2013 · 12:19 am

Community Watch: Sustainable Living Fest of Houston, TX

This weekend I got the opportunity to enjoy a some beautiful weather & check out Houston’s Sustainable Living Fest held at Market Square Park.  Houston might be the epicenter of the oil & gas industry, but it has a wonderful green and sustainable environmental underground.  There’s a lot of cross-pollination too.  For example, the Galveston Bay Foundation raises salt marsh grass in donated space inside a NRG power plant.  The City of Houston has a number of big corporations headquartered here and its also funds the Houston ReUse Warehouse.

Lots of companies, non-profits and government agencies were represented yesterday.  Hope to see you there next year!

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Make it safe & keep the rubberside down this weekend.

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March 1, 2013 · 10:38 am

This Week in the Classroom: Pantographs

My school spends a lot of time, energy and financial resources on project-based learning.  In my experience, teachers use project-based learning as a catch-all term for anything from make-it-take-it projects which last twenty minutes to inquiry-driven, rubric-graded, long-term explorations.  Calling the former project-based learning is lazy and misdirection.  Creating incredible experiences for students with the latter definition is exhausting and rewarding.  Most of the time, a teacher must follow a middle course.  This is one of those projects.

We started off by designing and building pantographs.  If you don’t know anything about pantographs – check out the video below.  Also check out http://www.peter.com.au/articles/pantograph.html for instructions on how to build a professional-quality pantograph.  This site contains a java applet which allows students to digitally explore a pantograph’s mechanics before use.  I’ve included a Sketch Up model in my section of the 3D Warehouse.

Afterwards, my student’s worked through a number of percentage problems based on their pantograph’s working results.  I don’t include a lot of variety in the type of problems, but you can modify the problem sets to reflect your curriculum needs.  If this series of projects interest you, feel free to use them in your own classroom.

Make it safe & keep the rubberside down this week.

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December 27, 2012 · 10:30 am

This Week in the Classroom: Rulers & Frames

Applied Math Made Easy, a hands-on, application-heavy curriculum designed by a pair of teachers from Wisconsin, has a number of great math labs and activities.  Using worksheets to convey directions and learning, the curriculum utilizes a conversationalist tone and “interactive reading” (their term, not mine) to let students learn middle school to high school level mathematics – about a 9th to 10th grade range.  I’ve co-taught with teachers who’ve used this curriculum and I can say this:  it works.  Incredibly well, when your students can read, understand and follow instructions at a high school level.

I don’t teach those kids.

So here’s what I do:  I take a look at the lab and find a focal point.   For example, reading rulers.  The act of reading a ruler supports numerous mathematical standards and the act of building a ruler provides a concrete experience for the student.  In this activity, students use 3/8″ lengths of pine to create thick “rulers” – they split the ruler into sixteenths using string.  They can then label each division they make – so along the way, the see how a whole can be split into parts and further into more parts.  Number sense, division, and differentiated learning all in one.  I had some successes, and some near successes.

A near miss. This student can split his work into eights, but loses his way splitting things into sixteenths. In context of his neurological differences, this is consistent with his mathematical competency - somewhere between third and fifth grade.

A near miss. This student can split his work into eights, but loses his way splitting things into sixteenths. In context of his neurological differences, this is consistent with his mathematical competency – somewhere between third and fifth grade.

After building these rulers, we built picture frames.  Again, an exercise in measurement and utilizing fractions.  In between the ruler project and these frames, my students spent a lot of time manipulating common fractions – into decimals, adding fractions with like denominators, measurement and more measurement, both in real world situations and abstract number problems.  Eventually, we built these pieces.

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My guys improved tremendously.  All read their rulers correctly, to the eighth.  They  were less successful with their calculations, getting about 1/2 to 3/4 of the problems correct.  Way better than their 12.5% to 25% they answered correctly in the pre-unit activities.  Next project: the try square for our interactive display at Houston’s Mini Maker Faire.

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Make it safe & keep the rubberside down this weekend.  In the shop, I have a new apprentice – my youngest brother-in-law is spending his holiday break building frames with me.  Seems you can take the woodshop away from the teacher, but you can’t move the teacher from the woodshop.

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December 11, 2012 · 3:59 pm

Courses: Fall 2012

At TX/RX Labs:

Woodworking: Create a small hardwood box using router, planer, bandsaw, handplane/jointer, table saw or miter saw (also known as the Tea Box Project)

In the School Classroom:

Computer Applications: CAD

In this course, students will create and build physical and digital representations of the world around them.  The act of drafting, whether on paper or computer, engages a student’s visual-spatial skills and connects intimately with their understanding of geometry.  Students will also engage in a semester long product development course which will support their mathematics course work.  Computer Assisted Design is the use of computers and specialized software to create digital objects whether animations, skyscrapers or the interiors of engines.

Computer Applications: Video Composition & Production

This class is an instructional, hands-on course in the art of production.  Students will learn industry concepts, the pre-production process of video production, camera angles, lighting, composition, how to film a documentary, and the post-production process to create a finished film.  Students will play with concepts such as stop motion animation as well as various effects and transitions used to sweeten the visuals of a film.  – This particular description actually written by my co-teacher in the course.  I’m the technical geek, she’s the production powerhouse –

Scientific Method: Environmental & Life Sciences

In this course students will journey from the microscopic to the macroscopic, examining and drawing comparisons between natural systems and their mechanical equivalents.  Students will begin in the single-cell and cellular processes and end the year discover the interplay between numerous global systems.  Projects will consist of research, modeling and experimenting with various biological and environmental systems, such as the circulatory system from electronics or the heating and cooling systems using solar water heaters.

This course will place a premium on utilizing the scientific method as a vehicle for learning.  Students will participate in numerous scientific labs and construction projects.  Students will learn proper laboratory and woodshop safety, formulate hypotheses, design experiments and communicate their results to the wider world via Web 2.0 publishing tools.

Middle School Mathematics & Technology

This course is designed to take students on a middle school journey through mathematics via minds-on, hands-on and computer-based projects.  Students will practice and improve their numerical fluency, create and measure geometric physical and computer models, interpret and manipulate graphs and equations and extend their knowledge of probability and statistics.

This course is designed for students to progress through specific math targets informed by the Core Curriculum Standards.  Students will utilize physical and computer manipulatives, construct learning aids and progress tracking software and tools to inform their learning.

Integral to this course will be a technology component.  Mathematics & Technology will be held in the “Steamworks”, Monarch’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Lab – this allows students access to computer-modeling software,  blogging and other media creation software & basic productivity software access.

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December 1, 2012 · 7:07 am

Community Watch: It’s Build a Box Day!

Today at TX/RX Labs, I’ll be leading a class in building a few of these tea boxes.  I’m sending a box to one random contestant on WoodshopCowboy Facebook page, just in time for Christmas.

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Remember to like WoodshopCowboy on Facebook!

And remember:

Make it safe & keep the rubber side down this weekend.

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November 20, 2012 · 9:31 am

This Week In the Classroom: Sketch Up Projects at the Middle School Level

In support of my Mathematics and Technology and Computer Applications: CAD courses, I’ve offered a number of Sketch Up projects for students to complete.  In Mathematics and Technology, my students created eukaryotic animal cells while in Computer Applications the students created square, triangle and hexagon – based tessellations and designs.  Two resources I used heavily in the design and implementation of these projects:  Google Sketch Up 8 Hands – On: Student Coursework and the GeomeTrick series both by Bonnie Roskes of www.3dvinci.net.

Ms. Roskes projects have a real wow factor in the classroom.  My students would shout my name to show off their work, get frustrated during transitions away from the computer and talk incessantly about how awesome the class is going during lunch.

You can see some results of modified projects below.  She wrote her manuals in a clear, concise and picture-heavy style suitable for high-school and collegiate level work.  My classes skew to the younger range, about fourth through seventh grade, of reading comprehension so I found them less useful as step-by-step guides.  I mainly used them for my own growth as a CAD draftsman and a source of inspiration.

Enjoy the student’s work!

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Make it safe & keep the rubberside down this week.  Eat some turkey.

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November 10, 2012 · 10:28 pm

This Week in the Classroom: Try Squares

My new “little” project obsession:  try squares.  These guys mark boards square.   That’s it.  All they do.  The try, not tri, comes from the act of “trying” an angle to see if it’s square, not three, or tri.

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This slideshow punctuated by a few of my favorite song titles, puns and lyrics in no particular order.

These tools come together quite easily.  First, I rip a 2×4 into 1/4″ or 3/8″ inch thick strips.  Then I flatten one side of the strip using a hand plane.  After checking each strip for flatness, I rip the piece again on my table saw, creating 1″ wide strips.  A few flicks of the wrist (on the table saw or at the miter-box, depending on my location) and the pieces become square.  Glue three strips together, leaving a space for the blade.  Once the stock dries, I attach the blade using a thick, square speed square as my reference.  Clamp that up for an hour and the tool only awaits embellishment.

I’ll be giving these away at TX/RX Labs at my woodworking class.  Visit (class is FILLED!) on Dec. 1 and see if you can get one!

Make it safe & keep the rubberside down this weekend.  Remember to like WoodshopCowboy on Facebook!

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October 25, 2012 · 3:44 pm

This Week in the Classroom: Gottshall Block Project

I’ve heard before from others in the “making” or woodworking communities I’m a little behind the times.  I make cigar box guitars when they were totally two years ago.  Or I teach developmental woodworking in manner more suited to a different century.  So of course, I discover a sweet little hand tool project about a year too late.  Good thing great projects don’t age.

The Gottshall Block is a small project – just a few cuts and nicks with a chisel.  It takes about three to five forty-five minute sessions to complete for a student at about the third grade level.  The students learn the basic skills in cutting and cleaning up a dado, gain (stopped dado), rabbet and mortise.  I do the layout on the first run through.  I just ask the students to cut and pare.  Second run through, I will be having the students learn how to layout with a few shop-made squares.  I do expect them to have a difficult time managing that task, but I welcome the chance to improve their measurement skills.

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To check out the original source material, why don’t you follow this link:

Making Antique Furniture Reproductions: Instructions and Measured Drawings … – Franklin H. Gottshall – Google Books.

Make it safe & keep the rubber side down this week.

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October 2, 2012 · 11:15 pm

This Week in the Classroom (and the shop): Time Lapse Photography or Filming Rigs

In my second period this semester, I’m moonlighting as a video producer.  I don’t get to do any fancy music videos or full-feature movies, but I do get to make a documentary.  We’ve got the backdrop ordered, the lights rigged up and a the interview stool picked out.  I even have a low-slung directors chair that I talk to when its empty.  I pretend my boss is sitting there.

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In the woodshop, I made this little rig to support my students.  This is just a prototype.  I’ll be working on a second rig  which will find a permanent home in my woodshop when this gig is up.  I expect to be making movies which look something exactly like this.

or this…

Make it safe and keep the rubberside down this week.

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August 8, 2012 · 10:52 pm

Why I Do This: Well-Being

This is why my school approaches the whole child, stressing social connections for students with neurological differences as well as academics.  You can’t have one without the other as an adult.  Having approached my students like this for three years, I know this:  I won’t teach any other way anymore.

A study published this week in the Journal of Happiness Studies shows how children and adolescents get this well-being as adults.

In short, social connectedness massively overwhelms academic achievement.

The study mined 32 years of data from the New Zealand Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, which followed about 1,000 people from birth to adulthood. About every three years, the study measured nearly every psychosocial goodie you can imagine, including measures of attachment to parents and peers, self-perceived strengths, socioeconomics, club and group participation, language development and academic achievement (among many others). At age 32, the study measured well-being.

Surprisingly, though psychologists have spent careers asking what in childhood leads to bad stuff like psychopathologies, nobody had asked what in childhood leads to good stuff like well-being. Authors Ollson, Nada-Raja, Williams and McGee changed that. (Note: the fourth author’s first name is Rob – apparently feeling good is not, in fact, good enough for Bobby McGee.)

The factor that most pointed toward adult well-being was social connectedness as an adolescent (0.62 correlation, if you’re into that sort of thing). Academic achievement was a much weaker predictor of adult well-being, at 0.12.

via 32-Year Study Shows How Geeky Kids Become Happy Adults | GeekDad | Wired.com.

Make it safe & keep the rubberside down.  And remember to like WoodshopCowboy on Facebook!

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