by Mapet | Nov 24, 2021 | Maker Education, Twila
We’d love for you to get to know the SteamHead team better. In this series of posts, we ask the great people behind SteamHead some questions about the organization, the pandemic and their hobbies!
Next up is Twila Busby.
What’s your favourite student project and why?
I can’t remember the project piece, but I will always remember a young designer telling me that the MakeFashion Edu Runway Show was the “best day of her life”! I think kids do not have enough opportunities to create something wonderful and share it with others (besides their class and teacher). So when they can show and talk about their work with adults who are interested, I think that is very motivating for them.
What’s the best part about working in SteamHead?
The community and the support to do good things with kids.
What are some things you’d like people to know about SteamHead?
1) Send money so that we can extend our reach and spread the word!
2) We try to be intentional in what we do, even with projects that seem whimsical.
3) We love to learn and are never satisfied with the status quo.
What do you miss the most that you weren’t able to do during the pandemic?
At first is was just not being able to travel and gather together and see students in person, now it is not being able to see their faces because of the mask wearing.
What is one positive thing that came out of the pandemic?
The chance to slow down and prioritize. Using Mozilla Hubs as an exhibition venue.
How has the pandemic affected the way things in Steamhead are being done?
Much more remote work and thinking about two tracks of curriculum; virtual and in person.
What’s one topic that you could talk about for hours and hours?
K-12 Education and Learning
What’s your favorite season and why?
In Tucson, it is fall because the weather cools down a bit, but it isn’t cold. Other places it would be spring when everything starts blooming.
What show/video/thing are you bingeing on right now?
Just finished Netflix’s Baking Impossible, where a baker and an engineer are paired up to use edible ingredients to create something that passes stress tests, such as shake tables, obstacle courses, floating. I like shows where people demonstrate great skills.
Learn more about Twila by reading her profile here.
by Mapet | Nov 11, 2021 | Carrie, Maker Education
We’d love for you to get to know the SteamHead team better. In this series of posts, we ask the great people behind SteamHead some questions about the organization, the pandemic and their hobbies!
Starting it off with our co-founder, Carrie Leung.
What’s your proudest SteamHead moment?
Hard question, it’s like asking what’s your favorite movie! If I really had to say one thing, it’s that I know we created lasting change in the education community of Shenzhen that can be evidenced today – still going strong and continously evolving on it’s own (without us being there). The SteamHead community as a network has put makerspaces in schools, carved out roles for educators in the Maker Movement, celebrated student work at the School Maker Faire and MakeFashion Edu Runway events, inspired teachers and students (and these can be anyone – moms to grandparents to students) through opensourcing our methods, playbooks, resources and just simply by getting people into the same space. I experienced first hand through all the challenges and successes, that a group of people with a shared vision can definitely make a lasting difference.
What’s your favourite student project and why?
The first season of MakeFashion Edu left an immense impression on me. The season one cohort was magical for all of us. We felt like we were a team, we felt like our individual stories were being heard, we felt like each challenge made us stronger, we felt like our academic learning had relevant real world meaning behind it. Lucas, loved design, hid his talent for the fear of ridicule (bc boys shouldn’t like to design clothes) became an essential go to for help among his peers. Hayle, HATED math, started applying it to get her runway piece off the ground (by season two she conceded she needed math). Angela, Amy, and Lily learned not only to code and solder, but also finding their voice to speak about what their piece symbolized and why it should matter to all sorts of adults inlcuding the media. Coco became our engineering guru – helping everyone (including boys and older students) with their pieces. Peers that weren’t friendly before were now on the same team. While all of this magic was happening on the classroom level, the same was going on with the adults. It was a multi-school effort and the teachers, parents, and experts came together to share, learn, and put on the extravenganza. Socio-economic walls were broken down and a lot of great memories were made.
What’s the best part about working in SteamHead?
Hands down the people. Without the students, parents, educators, industry leaders, researchers, media folks there would be no SteamHead. SteamHeaders span across the globe, topics, skill sets, age, backgrounds and we support each other as needed. We are all moving in differenent ways toward the common goal of making relevant education assessible.
What are some things you’d like people to know about SteamHead?
1) SteamHead runs 100% on volunteers donated time, expertise and resources.
2) Until 2020, we operated with no exchanges of money. It was a thoughtful decision to help us and those who want to engage with us to focus what was important. This takes an immense amount of work and time to faciliate. In 2020, we decided to take money donations and exchanged our expertise for income in aid of emergency situations in schools in a timely manner.
What do you miss the most that you weren’t able to do during the pandemic?
I miss the SH makerspace in Shenzhen. I miss the SteamHead residents that come and stay for months at a time. We learned so much from each other. There are so many fond memories of that open space of meeting folks from all walks of life. We’d tinker together, ponder change together, and if things were aligned sprouted actions together. So many great things came to be with just being in an often hot and crowded space and some tools create together.
What is one positive thing that came out of the pandemic?
So much of what we do is hard to articulate. The world often wants metrics and evidence to prove things are achieved. I understand that. But there are so many things we do, our goals, and our vision – how does one accurately measure it? How do you measure the impact a teacher has on a student just by believing in them? How do you measure the agency a child develops by being allowed to run their own project? How do you measure the affect a mother has on her children as she starts to understand project based learning folds in a plethora of under valued critical skills for her kids? How do you measure the pivot to- one of understanding and questioning- instead of fear and insecurity when a student is posed with a challenge or a person that is unfamiliar? The most important takeaway from the pandemic is that it showed what we are doing at SH works. It proved to me that the things we build, teach and share whether tangible or intangible makes us positively contributing human beings. We acknowledged the situation and tried one solution after another. And when I say we I mean everyone in our network. I had young students confidently step up to the challenge of being head of household because their parents were essential workers. Citing the project management skills came in handy! I had students asking for help because they become local community leaders while their guardians worked. There were teachers sharing methods and resources. We had experts like Mike Shaw spin up a quick video on how to maximize online tools to help teachers that weren’t technical. We had a business donate a car so we can deliver kits to schools kids stuck at home. All the skills and mindsets we advocate at SteamHead, yea, it was utilized in full force in 2020.
How has the pandemic affected the way things in Steamhead are being done?
We’ve always had a “cloud community” our network being loosely connected online – this is now stronger. Support in the form of materials and tools are now donated with money equivelants. We believe a degree of online learning is here to stay forever, we have reallocated a bulk and time of resources in bringing our content online for free. This in fact has creately positive affects due to the fact we can reach more teachers and they can build on our materials. Our events like the School MakerFaire and MakeFashion Edu runway shows have pivoted us into the realm of the metaverse and virtual reality. It has been really fun and having a timeless showcase is a great way to share. This will be a component that SH will keep forever as it has the same positive affects of putting our content online for free.
What’s one topic that you could talk about for hours and hours?
History, humanities, and current events through the lens of economics and finance. I feel economics, monetary protocols, etc are a huge contributing factor in how it has shaped us as a species – I can talk about this forever! (People just glaze over when I start, and my friends kind of roll their eyes at me lol)
What’s your favorite season and why?
Oooh, I know this isn’t an answer, but it really depends on where I am. For example, if I’m in SF then it’s during Indian Summer Sep/Oct/Nov. If I’m in Shenzhen then Fall or Spring. Dry season for sure if I’m in Costa Rica. Wet season if I’m in Thailand.
What show/video/thing are you bingeing on right now?
Inside Job. An adult cartoon on Netflix. If you like Ricky and Morty – this tracks!
Learn more about Carrie by reading her profile here.
by James | Nov 11, 2021 | James, MakeFashion Edu
SteamHead has been accepted to the Digital Learning Accelerator which is supported by the US Department of Education. It is a 4 month program, and we have three educators that will share and develop the MakeFashion Edu program’s focus on advocacy. In a MakeFashion Edu season, students identify issues that they personally care about, research them, and then build fashion tech outfits to represent and call attention to their causes.
This research, which occurs primarily online, of varied topics within a single classroom, is of particular interest to the Department of Education. SteamHead is joined by 9 other organizations that are approaching the issue of digital literacy from different angles for individuals from primary school to adult ages.
The recent propagation of digital sources of information as primary motivator for the opinions and actions of American citizens has gained attention during the COVID pandemic, and SteamHead is proud to researching and developing proposals, and sharing our experience in the arena of digital literacy.
From the U.S. Office of Educational Technology
Goals of the Digital Literacy Accelerator
The Digital Literacy Accelerator has one overarching goal — to identify interventions that have a pathway for improvement and success in the school driven digital literacy space. The interventions should target one of three user groups: Grades 6-9; Grades 9-12; and Adult Learners.
The Digital Literacy Accelerator hopes to accomplish this goal through these specific aims:
- Surface innovative ideas and strategies that support learners in evaluating and combating misinformation and promoting civil discourse in digital spaces, while allowing the most innovative ideas to start a path to success beyond the Digital Literacy Accelerator.
- Provide diverse teams with an opportunity to develop and demonstrate a “proof of concept” of these ideas, by providing teams with access to convenings, experts, and resources to strengthen their skills in design thinking and early phase development.
- Provide tangible early proof points of success in either of two forms: 1) either showing signs of promise for school-driven (in-school, after-school, or at-home) interventions or tools that can move the needle on learners’ digital literacy or 2) key learnings for future iterations for improving skills related to digital literacy.
- Engage and motivate a diverse cadre of postsecondary students and young professionals to address issues related to digital literacy and pursue work in educational technology.
by Mapet | Nov 4, 2021 | MakeFashion Edu, SteamHead Productions
Say hello to the newly updated MakeFashion Edu website!
The team has worked hard to give the website a fresh and modern look and at the same time highlight all the important aspects that make MFEDU a roaring success. Photos of designers, mentors, runway shows and behind-the-scenes give the visitors an in-depth look at what MFEDU is all about.
The clear and easy navigation allows visitors to quickly see the highlights of the initiative. There is a dedicated menu for all the runway shows. The runway show galleries showcase the amazing pieces created by the designers and their models on the runway.
Another important part of the website is the Run the Program section. This is where we share more information and guidance to educators, mentors, makerspace facilitators, school leaders or anyone interested how to get the program running and its benefits. We’ve included additional resources like videos, posters, and social media posts to get them started.
At its core, MakeFashion Edu’s goal is for student makers to learn design thinking, technical skills, practical building skills, and most importantly using these skills to express themselves and tell stories for themselves and their communities. We hope that this improved website makes it easier to send this message across to visitors who are looking to make great things.
by Avery | Nov 2, 2021 | Uncategorized
Avery Kuo is a high school senior (Class of 2022) from Pleasanton, California. One of her close family members was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Having witnessed the impacts of cancer personally, Avery aims to use her strengths, computer science and mathematics, to better women’s health.
More About Avery's Projects
In the summer of 2020, Avery extensively researched the correlation between menopause and different diseases. The loss of estrogen during menopause leads to a sensitive hypothalamus, which increases the risk of cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease.
Memory Device for Bags
Avery reached out to groups of women in menopause to learn about their greatest side effects. The overall consensus was that they would most often forget the location of personal items, such as keys and phones. With the guidance of Carrie Leung, Avery’s mentor, she designed and prototyped a small device, featured in virtual reality at the Maker Exhibition in February 2020, to assist women with short-term memory loss. When the bag is moved (tilt sensor activated), the device checks its vicinity for the items connected to it. If the items are nearby, the LED lights will turn green, otherwise, they will turn red.
Phytoestrogen Diet Tracker App
In addition, Avery created an app that records meal histories and their corresponding phytoestrogen levels. There is a database in the app with different foods and their phytoestrogen levels. Users can record their meals, and they can access their previous meals by entering a specific date. The app will also inform users when they meet their phytoestrogen level intake each day.
Bra Design
Avery designed an affordable bra the would pair with the app by taking the temperature of the user to track hot flashes, inform the user if they have met the threshold for phytoestrogen intake, and noninvasively test the user’s estrogen levels.
Social Media Work
As the social media outreach intern, Avery curates posts for MakeFashion Edu accounts. She promotes the MakeFashion Edu mission by sharing the works of student makers across the world.
Other Passions
When Avery is not researching, learning about and creating wearable technology, she is either training at her Taekwondo studio or teaching self-defense in her community. She represented Team USA at the 2018 World Championships in Argentina, provided free self-defense lessons to children in her community during the pandemic, and is currently the Co-President of the Amador Valley Self-Defense Club at her high school.
