STEAM Project with Y7 and Y8 - Week 2

Today for the STEAM session, Robyn supplied the students with long dried pasta, tape, marshmallows, card and 3 paper cups.
Their challenge was to build the tallest tower.

After a quick review of what they learned last week about triangulation, the students got into their groups and made a start.

I gave them a "top tips" session ..

We talked about which one was the most stable and why, and the fact that they can include the triangle as an overall shape not just an add on to another shape.

I did a little bit of help as they went along, by building some structures myself to show them some different ways of thinking about the problem.

At the end of the session Robyn went over with them what had gone really well - 

The team work, the discussions and talk in the teams, the trying of new things, the willingness to fail.

We also talked about what they could consider for next week's challenge, which was looking at and thinking about the usefulness of all the materials they are supplied with.

I gave them two new words to think about before next week - tie and strut.

STEAM Project with Y7 and Y8 - Week 1

Before the last school holidays, Robyn Anderson from Panmure Bridge School talked to me about an exciting STEAM project she was planning with her Year 7 and 8 class and asked if I wanted to be involved. I see her students every Friday for their Technology lessons at Tamaki College so I was very keen to have some more fun with them.
The project Robyn wanted to do was catapults so we say and brainstormed some ideas together and decided on a plan for the term. I am going to go through to Panmure Bridge School every Monday afternoon as I don't have my own classes then and we will work on the project for the rest of term 3.

After our brainstorming session, Robyn put a great planning doc together and we started on practical investigations this week. Last week they did research.

Here is some of the planning doc showing what they are doing this week and what research they did last week in preparation for the project.


Wk 1
LI: To make connections to the history and design features of catapults

History of the catapult
What is a catapult?
What are the different types of catapults?
Find an image and attribute
Use the summary scaffold to write a short summary that explains each design
Compare and contrast using SOLO map 

Wk 2
LI: Practical build challenge to introduce triangulation

Challenge 1:
Use cardboard/split pins to replicate meccano to construct a square
Use the iPads to photograph the process
Apply pressure. What did you notice?
Construct a square with an additional piece of card diagonally across the middle
Apply pressure. What did you notice?
Define triangulation
Where have you seen triangles used in construction locally? In the world?

Create a DLO to explain your learning - must include images of process

Robyn started the lesson asking them, questions about the catapult research they did last week to remind them. She then took them through the practical methods they were going to use to make their card structures today. The students were working in project groups.



I then took the group and we did experiments to do with triangulation. They built their shapes out or card and split pins and tested what happened to the shapes when you apply a force.
We then had a challenge and the groups had to work out what was the minimum number of extra pieces it would take to strengthen the shapes I drew on the board. The conversations in each group were great to listen to as they were working these out.  Lots of problem solving and explaining to each other.
We talked about where they saw triangles being used for design and strength happening in everyday life. They worked together on this in their groups and produced diagrams together.

It was a great start to the project and I had a lot of fun.
I can't wait for next week!

ISTE 2018 - Day 4 - STEAM to the Future: 50 Years in 50 Minutes

Link to website

50 years is a long time in tech development.
The gps satellite system did not exist 50 years ago but people working on similar things could see it coming.
1968 - 32k memory 8 thousand dollars.
The revolutions is more than about stuff - cultural changes
Fabrication
Everybody is able to make stuff due to 3D printers etc.
You can make your own products for re is one on the space station so they can print tools they need.
A connected world means you don’t have to do stuff alone. Things are taken from the net and improved.
The 10 year vision is happening now. The longer vision is the digital revolution.
Neil Gershenfeld - compute to fabricate.
Programmes that rearrange atoms.
You can make mistakes with small parts that fir together as one small part doesn’t matter. If you make big parts, they are critical.
Machines that can make other machines are coming.
Parts that make parts. These fit together to make systems. A lot fewer errors.
Material ecology.
Grow things rather than assemble them.
How does nature organize itself to build something. How can we copy this.
Buildings that are living things that react to the environment.
Diybio.org
Synthetic biology.
Can we should we bring extinct animals back to life.
Open insulin project.
Igem- school based content for students x synthetic biology
Science standards need to change to fit the way developments are moving.
The scientific method does not apply to the designing of products. It is a testing process so room needs to be made for the new science.
The end of Moore’s Law
It has held true for 50 years.
The physical limits of transistors has been reached.
Bio is the new digital.
DNA sequencing is doubling just as fast.
AR and VR
It is becoming just another interface and is more and more commonplace.
Tilt brush
Live design
Robots
Doing things that are not safe. Will they steal jobs?
Robots are getting much smaller. Power of the swarm like termites.
AI and machine learning
You have to ask what intelligence actually is.
Stephen Hawking says AI can spell the end of the human race.
Silicon will not cut it soon and biological components will be needed.
People can change their minds. AI can’t do this yet.
Ethics is an important factor in this AI argument.
Google AI experiments - video
Scratch 3 has an AI experiment add on.
Internet of things
Exist on the net by themselves - like a car that texts you when it needs things.
Soon the machines will be able to order the stuff they need from the internet when it needs them. Like your printer ordering its own ink when it runs out.
Algorithm bias and ethics
How do the machines make the decisions? They are designed and made by people.
We cant let the machines make the decisions then blame the algorithm when we don’t like it.
How will the person writing the code for a self driving car decide how important things are?
Don’t forget the M
Maths has been frozen in time for a long time.
We focus on calculations, which machines can do, because of the tests that are expected.
Woolfram Alpha
Woolfram Language - video
More natural language is needed for maths in the future.

Faster, better, cheaper, bigger, smaller
Get the middle men out of the way. Let people do it themselves.

STEAM Education Summit 2018

I went with members of the Technology, Maths and Science departments to the Conferenz STEAM Education Summit at the Crown plaza in Auckland over the last two days.
Link to the summit information here.

Link to my notes here - these are as I wrote them at the time with no editing.

Link to folder of photos taken of the presentations here.