David Ryan’s Notes for March 12th

I. Review of Caine’s Arcade video from last week: This convinced adults to create

makerspaces, which are spaces for people to innovate and create their own

solutions to problems.

II. 5-minute gurus:

A. Dr. Twiss: nearpod.com: It is free; helps make interactive lessons: such as

powerpoints that the teacher can control and allowing kids to write an answer to a

question

B. Logan: Go Noodle: allows students to take a break from schoolwork and dance and

sing; can provide activities for recess, class lessons, and strengthen cooperation; there

is a free version but Go Noodle plus provide extra perks that cost money

III. Announcements

A. Copy and paste “Lesson Plan Template” from Blackboard under Syllabus & On-

Going Course Links/Documents to the Final Project (the Lesson Plan)

B. Warning: Tech companies use your information: example: If I text “I want new

shoes,” Google sees it and pops up tons of ads on shoes because they know I want

some.
 C. Discussed that learning about school statistics is important, such as the percentage

of students of color and the percentage of students on Free and Reduced Meals.

This helps you know who your audience is in your lesson

IV. Makerspaces

A. Went to www.digitalharbor.org which discusses an afterschool program that

allows students to use makerspaces

B. A lot of makerspaces are out of school, but many are growing in school libraries

C. Goal of makerspaces is to have a “maker mindset.” (Some goals of a maker

mindset include becoming hackers and rebels, preparing for a creative economy,

making deep connections between ideas, and becoming problem-solvers)

D. Catch-22: Paradox that kills innovation because of contradictory rules. Example:

How can I get experience in a job if employers won’t hire me because I have no

experience?

E. Innovation: creating a new device or process of doing something. Makerspaces

want to promote this

F. Design Process:

a. Empathize with people who have a problem

b. Define the problem

 c. ideate (brainstorm ideas to solve the problem)

d. prototype (create a design for what the product or method may look like)

e. test the product (does it work or does it not)

TIP FOR REMEMBERING: think EDIPT

V. Interactive Game-Making (Man, I sound like the Jigsaw Killer)

A. Got into groups of 5, created a game out of paper plates, coins, straws, tape,

coffee filter, toilet paper roll, scissors, plastic utensils, cups, napkins.

B. We got to play other people’s games

C. Get to another group: talked about what worked and what didn’t

Homework:

1. Blog 6 due 2/25

2. Go to Twitter and learn how to use it