STEAM

Review of New littleBits STEAM Student Set !

/ gravescolleen / 2 Comments

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Ayah Bdeir just announced a new kit at SXSWedu today, and I’m excited to share my thoughts on this awesome new STEAM Student Set from littleBits.

There aren’t any new Bits, but this collection has some of my favorite Science/Space kit bits from littleBits and some great accessories for building some simple inventions. Lots of cool sensors, the new updated DC motor that makes building cars easier, pulse, an inverter, fork and more. See the full set here.

My favorite thing about the kit though is the AWESOME book that comes with it. It is evident that littleBits has listened to educators and our ever-pressing need for clear instructions.

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Yes, the maker movement is all about tinkering and playing to learn, but sometimes, you just need basic instructions! I love the larger sized manual and the extensive section on learning how each bit works.  When I did my synth workshop (Thank you, Chad Mairn!!!)  at the beginning of the school year, I followed Chad’s footprints, sharing how each Korg littleBit worked, and it really helped the students focus on learning what kinds of sounds we could make. Plus, it helped us understand what is inside of a synthesizer and how some of our favorite music has been created.

The Manual

The Student Set manual has great instructions for how each bit works that will really help students slow down and learn about the functionality and usefulness of each component in the kit. I loved the theory my 7 year old had while playing with this section learning about inputs and outputs and how the “button” works.

“When I let go (of the button) the electricity is stuck, but when I press on the button, the electricity is not stuck and it goes through (to the fan).” We went on to talk about how this functions sort of like a gate, allowing electricity to move and keeping the electricity from moving.

I’m all for letting students tinker and play to learn, but I’ve seen quite a few high school students that did not grasp the “input” vs. “output” coloring system as quickly as a younger more playful student might. Instead, they gave up on the littleBits concept and tried something else in our makerspace. I’m hoping these instructions will allow students to tinker and learn with less guidance from an adult.

Real World Analogies

My other favorite thing about this manual is the “real world analogies” section for each Bit. This is another example of a connection that we, as educators, usually “hope” student make as they tinker with littleBits. However, not all students draw these connections while tinkering, so being included the manual is just bonus awesomeness for me.

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Temperature Sensor

When my daughter started playing with the temperature sensor, she immediately thought it would be cool to see if she could change the temperature reading on the numberBit by blowing on the sensor. Again, it’s important to note that littleBits are not new around my household, but the instruction manual made her see littleBits in a new way and unlocked some of that magical curiosity we love to see in our younger students.

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Prototyping Tips

I love, love, love these prototyping tips! Some of my students often get caught up in perfection and their first idea and they don’t try enough different prototypes to really understand the invention cycle.  Thank you for these tips! Can I have a poster for my makerspace please, littleBits?

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Projects

I like that littleBits has put together real steps for making specific projects. Again, I am all for students creating and inventing on their own, but it always helps to follow some basic instructions first. Especially when you are learning how something works. Too many times, if a student doesn’t understand basic concepts or how each littleBit works, they cannot create an amazing invention. Following a few projects is a great way to help students learn the language of Invention Literacy (something I learned about from Jay Silver) and demystifying how things work. Personally, I’ve been learning to use Arduino the last few years by following and completing projects written by others. I’m only finally to the point now after 3 years where I feel confident enough to create Arduino projects based on my own ideas (3 wearable Arduino projects coming out in my new book!)

The”Invent a Self-Driven Car” is a super cool project, but I wish the kit included the wireless receiver and wireless transmitter so we could invent our own remote control to drive our car, but I guess that is included in the Gizmos and Gadgets kit. Other project instructions in the kit include an art machine, a throwing arm and a security device.

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Inventing

After learning in depth about the bits and making the first project, my 7 YO was ready to start tinkering and seeing what else she could create. She quickly pulled out the forkBit and added a few inputs and outputs. She said, “Mom, why isn’t this working?” When I pointed to the placements of inputs and started to explain, she said, “Tricked you! This only works if I press this button AND move this slide switch.” Wow. My 7 year old just explained AND gate logic? And after just 30 minutes of playing? That’s pretty awesome.

 

Open Challenges

I love the last section of the manual as well. There are 4 open challenges encouraging students to “Hack your Classroom”, “Invent for good”, inventing a Rube Goldberg like contraption, and lastly a “hack your habits” challenge. I’m hoping to institute the “Invent for Good” challenge at my own library and see if my own students can “invent a product to make a difference in someone else’s life.” My students came up with some pretty cool stuff during the littleBits Halloween Challenge.

Issues

My 7 year old and I still had issues mounting littleBits on the mounting board (this has always been a pet peeve of mine), but its time for me to look into the other mounting solutions offered by littleBits and now that this manual has a full description of each, hopefully I’ll find a new preferred method!

UPDATE: My set was a sample set and luckily littleBits is already on the mounting board case! The new STEAM sets will come with new MOUNTING BOARDS! Lucky you! These look pretty cool and I can’t wait to get my hands on them. I like how they somewhat resemble a PCB Breadboard.

Lastly, the box says it ideal for 3-4 students, but I would expect to use this as more of a partner activity with no more than 2 students per set.

Last but not least….

I just found out from Diana Rendina that the Teacher Guide is available for free! So go check it out and pre-order your new littleBits STEAM Student set today!

Disclaimer: This review consists of my own opinion. littleBits sent me a complimentary student set for this review, but otherwise I am receiving no compensation for this write-up.

 

 

Robotics in the Library – Webinar Wrap Up

/ gravescolleen / 3 Comments

Edit 1/28: I replaced the link below with the original “register” link for SLJ and you should be able to register and watch the webinar!

Today I presented my thoughts on integrating robotics into library programming for a webinar presented by SLJ and ISTE.  You may still be able to register and watch the session starting tomorrow.  Here are the slides I made in Canva for the session:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

To be honest, I’ve often said, “My students don’t do”full” robotic projects.” Then when I show other educators what my makers are doing in the library, they reply, “That’s a lot of robotics!”

So I think the term may need rebranding.

This conversation brings me back to this particular Twitter chat from the summer, where I said, “Oh we don’t really do that.” Then proceeded to show like 40 different robotic-type projects my students made…..

Robotics is not necessarily a team of afterschool students building a bot component by component and then battling in an arena (think Robot wars.)

Instead, I think it’s important to look at what we mean when we say “robot.” In 123 Robotics Experiments for the Evil Genius the first section tackles the ever changing definition of “Robots.” Here are some consistencies:

  • it is a mechanical device
  • it is programmable
  • it is a machine that is mobile
  • it is sensory
  • it sometimes mimics human behavior

Once you put it like that, then yes, my students at Lamar last year did many robotics projects with littleBits, Hummingbird robot kits, and of course even made their own simple machine vibro-bots.

Following this broad definition of robotics, I think working with pre-built robots like Sphero and Dash not only count as robotics they focus on one of the most important aspects – programming.

I like using these pre-built robots to teach my students the literacy of coding. I think it’s important that kids learn the language of coding because coding builds our apps, our webpages, and the many, many microcontrollers hidden in our electronic gadgets.

But another thing I love about robots are the open-ended challenges. Last week, I had BLAST students in for a design challenge with Sphero. The students were tasked with creating an obstacle course and then had to attempt programming Sphero to drive through their course. On top of that, we decided to make the entire exercise collaborative BETWEEN classes. So the first class designed the basic course, and the next class came and started adding dimension with cardboard and other recyclables. Some students even used littleBits to make “smart” obstacles.

Here is the beginning of the designing and thinking for this group project….

The next class of students really wanted to keep using the table (lower right picture in the above Instagram) as the starting base, but wanted a more secure ramp for Sphero. They built this, but it was too fast:

The last class wanted to fix the speed and still get Sphero to jump out of this cardboard tube, but they were having a problem with Sphero landing “safely.”

“J” was in this group and he said wanted to build something to “swing” Sphero down to safety. Just as a sidebar, “J” is in the library makerspace everyday. He comes quite often and helps others build things, but I hadn’t seen him take charge and build his own invention until he was introduced to this challenge.

He spent about 45 minutes working on an idea with K’NEX and I have to say, this 1 minute video below might’ve made my whole year.  In fact, here is my reaction I posted on Facebook later in the evening:

“This. So much THIS. This is why having a class come in and attempt to solve a problem or complete a design challenge is AWESOME. The kid who made this Rube Goldberg-like invention out of K’NEX, comes in all the time and “messes around in the makerspace.” Today, the problem of building an obstacle course for Sphero, challenged him to think outside of his normal making routine. He decided to make a “swing” so that Sphero could safely come out of this crazy ramp. He spent his entire lunch working on it. AND IT IS AWESOME and simple and it works. Unfortunately, I did not capture the video footage of him shouting, “Yes! YES! I did it! I made a contraption and it works! After so many fails!”

 

This is where we can really start talking about the impact of robotics and makerspaces at school. How does this type of learning engage students? How does it help them learn to problem solve? How does it help them become innovators?

Without the problem created by the other students of incorporating this table base and ramp into his group’s design, would “J” still have made this invention?

Plus, the next day, he came to the library early and showed his other friends “his invention.” He practiced the “blind driving” exercise his teacher assigned because he wanted to be the best at communicating and driving his own course. Then all of his friends (who are not in the BLAST class) all took turns driving the course BEFORE SCHOOL EVEN STARTED!

I shared this story during the webinar and I loved Sharon Thompson’s take on it. She spoke about “J” wanting to persevere and complete this project, even though his designs kept “failing.” She spoke about the secret power robotics and coding possess by teaching our students to persevere. Her idea is that students do not get frustrated when they write the wrong line of code and get an error message. When they build a robot that fails they do not take it personal. It isn’t the same as a “red mark” on a paper. I tend to agree. Plus, I love seeing this group of kids excited about learning and excited about thinking! (I could write about this all day, but I’ve got to save some of it for the ABC-Clio book the #superlibrarianhubs, Diana Rendina, and I are working on!)

Links pertinent to my presentation:

Early Childhood- Middle Grade Robots

Upper Elementary to Middle School

Middle school to High School

Other Maker Resources