Here’s a cool project that takes an old standby, the diorama, and adds a little Maker flair to it. The diorama incorporates a MakeyMakey, laptop and Scratch programming environments to turn a stand alone display into something interactive and easily modified. I developed this project for my school’s eSTEAM Fair (environmental, science, technology, engineering, arts,Continue reading “The Home Makerspace: The Museum Display (Dioramas To Win the Science Fair)”
Category Archives: Maker Project
This Week in the Classroom: DIY Wood Covered Lab Notebooks
This fall, I opened the classroom with a very simple (sort-of) multi-media project for my students. Last year, I piloted a number of different end-of-project reflection formats (long form, short form, written and typed) as well as online and offline versions. I lacked a reasonable and effective in-process journaling format. This year, I wanted toContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: DIY Wood Covered Lab Notebooks”
This Week in the Classroom: 3D Printed Pinhole Camera
Last spring, I had the opportunity to teach one of my dream units: Light and Waves. We completed three projects during this time: camera obsuras, cajon drums and a pinhole camera. This 3D-printed pinhole camera combines three centuries worth of cutting edge technology. First, the body follows the basic design of a camera obscura andContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: 3D Printed Pinhole Camera”
This Week in the Classroom: Cajón Drums
Cajón drums are wood drums native to South America with deeper roots in the Africa. The cajon is a wood rectangular prism, with two thin faces. One of the thin sides, usually the back, has a large hole to allow sound to travel out. The front face can be struck with the hand, mallets orContinue reading “This Week in the Classroom: Cajón Drums”
Making A Makerspace: Top 10 Tools in a Maker’s Classroom (2012)
This year was a big year in the STEaMworks (STEM focus, art driven, work/project centered: the STEaMworks), my self-styled Maker classroom. We (and the Math/Sci Team) built a lot of projects: rockets, rocket cars, derby cars, catapults, simple robots, box-making, bench-making, bridge-building, sail-testing, music making, spirographs, pendulums, 3D prototyping, CAD models, Arduino projects, Alice computerContinue reading “Making A Makerspace: Top 10 Tools in a Maker’s Classroom (2012)”
Come Build the Simple Bench!
Are you in the Houston area? Ever wanted to get started woodworking? Maybe you just enjoy benches as much as I do? Join me for the Wood Workshop at TX/RX Labs on Sat. & Sun. May 26th & 27th (5/26 & 5/27) from 9am-12pm.
This Week in the Classroom: The 2×4 Shaving Horse
In preparation for a walkin’ cane project, I built a dirty looking 2×4 shaving horse. It ain’t named Trigger, though I might name it Jimmy Stewart. Whenever I think of the description “long face”, I think of Jimmy Stewart. I’ll walk you through my build after the jump…
This Week In the Classroom: Quadracycle In Progress & DIY Wood Bongo Drums
It’s that time of week again – I’ve had some personal living arrangements wetness and have been living out of a dufflebag and a smile. Reminds me of college, but at that time I didn’t have two in diapers… At the home workshop, I’ve been banging away. So, in one project, my segmented tube experimentsContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: Quadracycle In Progress & DIY Wood Bongo Drums”
This Week In the Classroom: New Tools and Old Tools In the Shop (It’s Not What You Think)
Just got the best new, free tool in the woodshop today. It looks like this: It’s a printed out (thank god the paper-waster nazi wasn’t around) version of the ENTIRE trilogy of Mission Furniture and How to Make It published by Project Gutenberg via Popular Mechanics from 1910. The students flip through it and findContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: New Tools and Old Tools In the Shop (It’s Not What You Think)”
This Week In the Classroom: Progress in 2011
What a student-driven, project-based learning can result in: The joints look remarkably tight in this photo, and the stain quite even, but don’t be fooled. This is about as rough as work gets. (Not including the Clock, which may be finished and rejected this week…) It was the first attempt at an entire project likeContinue reading “This Week In the Classroom: Progress in 2011”
WSC Designs 