Cheer Them On #students #edchat

An interesting thing happened to me today. I was waiting under a bridge along a 10k course waiting for a friend to come through so that I could cheer him on. I arrived at this location, which was a little past mile 5, about 5 minutes before the lead runner came through. I applauded of course as he past.

I am not sure he heard me. I then saw the second runner and applauded him too. Soon, runner after runner began flowing by. I kept cheering them on. I am a runner myself and I know what it feels like to be near the end of a race when your energy is flagging. The end of a race is also where you find the fewest spectators. I kept cheering them on. I was not sure if my hands would hold out. My friend is like me. We usually finish in the top two thirds. In a race of 2000 people, we will finish around 1500th place. I kept clapping, smiling, and cheering the runners on. They were slowing down. As I persisted, I started hearing whispered thank yous. I started getting requests for high fives. The crowd began to thicken as the middle of the pack approached. I started to wonder if I could keep it up but I did, even after I found my friend.

When I was student teaching, I had two mentor teachers. One interacted with and laughed with students. The other explained this to me about assessment. "You will get a bell curve for every test and quiz. This is expected. If you get too many A's, your test was not hard enough." I took this to mean that I could expect students to fail every test and that the class as a whole, should have grades that fit the bell curve. In the first semester of my second year of teaching high school, I experienced this. I had a bell curve and thought, this was normal. However,  I noticed was that the students had grown to expect to be in those spots on the bell curve. They knew where they should fit and they seemed comfortable with this. I was shocked. The grades were non-motivational. Of course extra credit would be meaningless because the students knew where they should fit. In the following semester, at a faculty meeting to discuss standardize testing procedures, another teacher jokingly yelled out that grades were arbitrary. I thought, that's right they were. Assessment and grades meant nothing to students. I began to struggle with motivation. I could lecture and test them and the curve would not change. My mentor teacher would have been fine with this. I was not.

I started exploring ways to find motivation for students. By the time they reached high school, the students had expected their place in the bell curve. I felt that excellence was achievable for all students. It was my job to cheer them on. It was their job to struggle through and learn how to persevere. Keep cheering them on because the bell curve is not enough!

Exploring the Fourth Dimension

It seems that I have been tied to education in one form or another for most of my life. My love of learning began early on with science and art classes at the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History, in Texas. Science provided reasoning skills and art added the details to build a life centered around discovery. I understood that school was where I gained tools to use to derive understanding. I followed my interests into geology and paleontology where I began digging in the fourth dimension and piecing together the past. Science became more about sharing that about holding on to the truth for me. In the National Park Service, I shared the past with visitors. In junior college, I introduced tools to students giving them the ability to explore the past as well. In 2002, I entered the classroom and began working with high school and junior high students. For me, an understanding of science has always been about action. Activities filled the classroom and students drove the curriculum. Discovery lights up faces. I introduced them to the tools they needed and they became explorers. In the Fall of 2011, I became a STEM Instructor with the Science Center where all the activities are student driven. In January of 2015, I became an instructor of educators. Student driven exploration in all areas is possible. To quote Seymour Papert, author of Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas, “I am convinced that the best learning takes place when the learner takes charge.” Join me on this journey into the fourth dimension.

A photo with my daughter Elizabeth at the Very Large Array in New Mexico placing knowledge in her hands.

#STEMIntegration #3DPrinting Is Not Just About Design

STEM Integration: 3D Printing is Not Just About Design

3D printers are showing up in schools at an increasing rate. I recently gave a workshop at a STEM Integration Conference called "We have a 3D Printer, Now What? Integration Across Subjects" with the hope of attracting teachers who had 3D printers but no idea of how to use them. Before I began, I took a simple poll, "How many of you have 3D printers that are still in the box and have no idea what to use them for?" A majority of the teachers raised their hands. My hunch was correct.

I believe that 3D printers belong in every classroom and that someday they will be as common place as laser printers are today. The cost is coming down and the versatility is improving. Through sites like Thingiverse.com, people around the world are sharing what they make for anyone to print. When I contact these Makers and explain how I am using their models to inspire teachers and students, they are overwhelmingly enthusiastic. They share because they want to make a difference. I am often asked about design. The using preexisting models provides the gateway step to design. The number of uploaded designs increases daily. Thingiverse reports that users have uploaded nearly 500,000 designs. Many of these designs have applications as models to be used in the classroom. 

Here is one of my favorite examples. While browsing Thingiverse, I found the model of one of my favorite authors, Cory Doctorow. I printed it and, knowing that he is active on Twitter, tweeted this picture to him:

Here is the conversation:

I know he was kidding, at least I think he is kidding. He knows these models are available. He even has an account on Thingiverse and a model of this bust is on it. He is also a strong advocate of Creative Commons. I made contact. I referenced his work, "For the Win," in another workshop and Tweeted how I made this book a focus of STEM in Literature Integration. He replied that he was honored. 

What if a student, who had difficulty reading printed something about the book or an author and sent it to the author and the author replied back, what would this do to the student?  Although I have never met Cory Doctorow, I now feel connected to him. 3D printing makes the intangible tangible. Connecting our students to the work we are asking them to do, builds ownership and passion. Give it a shot. Try it for yourself. If you have access to a 3D printer, what can you lose? Just go for it.