Quinceañera – Las Florecitas

by | Aug 27, 2018 | MakeFashion Edu

Emily Cao, Alice Xiao, Amy Luo, and Winnie Gu are a mixed grade-two/grade-three team from Shen Wai International School in Shenzhen, China.

Together they have designed and created a dress spotted in flowers; LED lights are then used to accent each flower.

Each of the 26 flowers were handmade by members of the team before being attached to the dress.

Challenges the girls said they have had to overcome since the start of the project include:

  • synthesizing the large number of ideas they had at the onset
  • working together as a cohesive team to finish their project
  • learning how to manipulate the electronics involved
by Nick Shriner

Animal shapes adorn the skirt

LEDs are strung around the back and front

LED flowers were made for the dress top

Razor Wings

by | Aug 27, 2018 | MakeFashion Edu

Here is one of my favorite projects from the MakeFashion Edu STEAM Runway! This is what you get when you ask a rough and tumble kid to create “fashionable wings”. Razor Wings! Here is Nick Shriner’s report, media producer at the 2018 event:

SAIS classmates Amy Hu, Angela Shan, Coco Wan, Lily Zhou, Lincoln Stahle, and Maria Reyes have worked in close proximity to each create their own wings.

Sighting steps from the design process, from initial concept to implementation, as each having its own challenges, they have given and received inspiration from their peers to each arrive at their own unique conclusions.

Enthusiastic to share about the materials, tech, and nuance in each of their own pieces, a general feeling of satisfaction comes through after all of the hard work that has been put into each project.

Oliver Child

by | Aug 22, 2018 | SteamHead Residents

Oliver came down for a full month’s residency in August! We will be posting some of the projects and events he hosted. He created a HUGE wall drawing machine, he coached primary school students in 3D modeling, he developed a MakeFashion Edu flashy badge template, a 3D modeled and repaired our projector screen holders, and a more!

Oliver was great to have a resident, as a university student he is in a prime position to take super complicated machines and programs (because uni students are willing to put in the brain power) and simplify them for the rest of us!

Here is an introduction from his site, OliverChild.com:

I’ve been a maker for longer than I knew what a maker was and have made several things you can find scattered over the internet. One of my biggest achievements is writing this article for Chalkdust Magazine about machine learning and matchboxes.

I also go to Hacker Camps such as EMF and CCC and I have participated in several Hackathons at the University of Bristol. I’m a member of the Bristol Hackspace and still occasionally turn up to the Brussels FabLab if I’m around.

GitHub
https://github.com/ollyoid
Instructables
Scissor Jaws!,  Glowing Jelly, Cell Phone Video Rig

Monetary Policy: Ledgers in a Classroom

by | Aug 15, 2018 | JamesEd, SteamBeans

Using a classroom economy to control student access to craft materials can be a useful tool for teaching financial literacy and encouraging responsible behavior. James, Twila, and Elisa implemented this technique in their STEAM summer camp by using poker chips from one set of poker chips as a form of currency during the first week, and a public ledger to track student balances in the second week.

The public ledger usage was inspired by Bitcoin, and though we did not mention cryptocurrencies to any of the students. What would please me fantasically is if: 5 years later a student heard an opinion about fiat or crypto and was able to join in on the conversation referencing their experience as a youngster. If one of them thought of summer camp and then said something even approaching a comment like “Wait, does the Federal Reserve have a ledger? Can I see it?” I would probably pass out from intense feelings of pride. If I die and get the magical ability to observe all of time and space at my infinite leisure, then having taught what I believe in is going to give me a lot of fun things to try to find.

One of the pros of this system is that it helps students understand the value of money and the importance of budgeting. By requiring them to pay for materials using their chips, students learned the concept of “spending” and had to make decisions about how to allocate their funds. When we moved to a public ledger it gave students a sense of ownership over their finances and allowed them to track their spending and saving.

Another advantage of this approach is that it can help promote positive behaviors such as honesty and responsibility. In James and Twila’s summer camp, there was almost no cheating despite initial concerns. This may be because students were invested in the success of the economy and did not want to jeopardize it by engaging in dishonest behavior. It was a novel “game” and they wanted to preserve it.

However, there are also some potential drawbacks to using a classroom economy. One is that it can be time-consuming to manage, especially if the teacher is responsible for tracking balances and approving transactions. In addition, some students may struggle with the concept of money and budgeting, which can lead to frustration and difficulty participating in the economy.

Overall, James and Twila’s experience using a classroom economy in their STEAM summer camp highlights the potential benefits and challenges of this approach. While it can be an effective tool for teaching financial literacy and promoting positive behaviors, it is important to carefully consider the logistics and individual needs of students when implementing a classroom economy. Maybe there will be classroom crypto tools in the future to help us out!

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