Lake Tahoe Launch … Messy and Worth It – The Short Version
So after last week's debacle ... we learned to be patient and wait for better wind conditions. Here's the short version of what happened. We inflated on the beach at DL Bliss State Park: Paddle boarded the balloon out where the clear water of Lake Tahoe was...
Messy Balloon Launch – Failure is a Teacher
I've been "Tweeting" out from time to time lately about our latest "High Hopes" balloon launch. This balloon launch is different from launches we've done in the past in that students are not directly involved ... but this flight is really all about getting students to...
3D Printers – Where Will It End?
I've known about 3D printers for quite awhile, but only though news reports and the occasional conversation. So once I got involved in building my own ... then of course they were on my radar and I constantly notice them and hear about them ... and acquaintances that...
Ball Chain Inquiry – STEM
Yeah, I know. Ball chain inquiry? Ball chain is that chain that keychains and the like have been made out of for years. I'll bet some of you have seen this before - there are several videos online and "Mythbusters" included it in an episode. ...
Story of a 3D Printed Whistle
Pavel Solin is an associate professor in the Applied Mathematics Department at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the founder of NCLab, an open public cloud computing platform that provides free web browser access to open source software related to computer modeling...
A Quick Point About STEM
I'll be heading out this Tuesday to New Orleans for the NSTA STEM Forum. On Thursday I'll be presenting: "STEM What Does That Really Look Like In A Classroom." It's a presentation I've done a number of times in various versions. Basically I share examples right out of...
Even Saturday Afternoon We Are 3D Printer Building
Yes, we we're back at it today. Not everyone could make it, but there we're 14 - 3D printers under construction today. A few folks even finished and got theirs printing. Some of us have missed possible work days so we are a bit behind, and next week I'm off to New...
What Better Way to Spend A Friday Evening? – 3D Printer Building
Last week I missed the Saturday class and 4 hours of time to work on my 3D printer. Fortunately they offered some extra time Friday night to work. So about 6 of us showed up and spent 3 to 4 hours. This all takes place in the University of Nevada, Reno,...
Parent Won’t Allow 10 year old to Blog – Wants to Protect Their Child’s Intellectual Property Rights
A teacher that recently started a class blog in 4th grade (9 - 10 year olds) informed me that a parent had declined to sign the "permission slip" allowing their child to blog because, "They want to protect their child's intellectual property rights." My first reaction...
Update: Rethinking School District Social Media Policies for Teachers / Students
One of the challenges of my job as STEM Learning facilitator for 6 counties, has been that some of those counties (school districts here are by county, so every county is it's own school district) have very restrictive online access policies ... meaning they block...