Thingiverse - 3D Printers for Creative Literature Analysis

The idea of a makerspace makes me feel excited about the many possibilities for instruction and discovery. “Makers are people who make things rather than simply use them. They apply digital and manual skills to solve problems and create items that address their needs” (Canino-Fluit, 2014, p.21). I enjoyed researching the many ways that makerspaces can benefit in STEM instruction, but the blog that stood out to me was from Edutopia and related makerspaces to English and humanities instruction. Problems exist in every field, and makerspaces can provide ways for creative solutions to even abstract ideas like literature analysis.


Makerspaces are natural fits for science, robotics and more, but how could a makerspace connect with English? The Edutopia blog offers suggestions! The blog at: https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-makerspace-english-and-humanities-instruction outlines how a 3D printer could be used to print book symbols. Students could create a 3D version of a symbol in literature and use a program such as Thingiverse to turn the symbol into a printed reality on a Makerbot printer. The education section of the Thingiverse website provides lessons and ideas that could be used in a library setting for different grade ranges, including higher education. While a 3D printer would be a significant investment for a Makerspace, reading about creative ways that a 3D printer could be used beyond STEM education made the cost seem more reasonable.


I am excited to continue thinking about ways that Makerspaces can be used in a school library setting. “Making is context-specific. What we make, and the tools with which we make it, are deeply influenced by who we serve and the goals we have for and with them“ (Fontichiaro, 2019, p.53). Every community has different needs, and librarians can address those needs in different ways. I’m excited to continue seeing different ways 3D printing and applications like Thingiverse could be used to promote learning and discovery to meet different communities’ needs.

Sources:
Canino - Fluit, A. A. (2014). School Library Makerspaces. Teacher Librarian, 41(5), 21-27.

Fontichiaro, K. What I’ve Learned from 7 years of the Maker Movement in Schools and Libraries. Teacher Librarian. 46(4), 51-53.

Combating Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying is an important topic to consider. The pervasiveness of the issue can be overwhelming, especially with so many different components. Based on the cyberbullying videos and readings, I was surprised to see that cyberbullying is prevalent in workplace culture as well as K-12 settings. I was not as surprised to hear the sobering statistics about K-12 bullying and cyberbullying, but the numbers certainly call for action. “In terms of cyberbullying in the K-12 sector, Cassidy et al. (2012b) found that 36% of students reported they had been victims of cyberbullying and 32% admitted to cyberbullying others” (Faucher, 2015, p. 115). The related “cyberbullying at university study found that about 25% of students and 25% of faculty respondents had been targets of cyberbullying within the last 12 months” (Faucher, 2015, p. 116). With these alarming numbers in mind, schools need to be especially vigilant in working to prevent such bullying behaviors.

There are many important issues to tackle in relation to cyberbullying, and they cannot all be addressed in one sitting. Social emotional health is one important factor to consider, as this is often damaged due to cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is often a continuation of bullying or harassment that is taking place in person as well. Many of the cyberbullying issues can be addressed through materials designed for bullying. I thought that several of the videos might be especially helpful to address these issues with students.

For younger students, this video could be effective in building empathy and showing the consequences of bullying. There is a lot of symbolism in the video which could also be incorporated in a lesson note even focused on bullying at all. It could be a useful video to use as a teaching tool in a performing arts class as well.

For older students, clips from this video would be really helpful. The video is longer, but it addresses many of the behind the scenes issues that result in bullying and the effects of the bullying. This would be a great video to use in order to show the importance of words, especially names.

I love Jon Orich’s article about high school students partnering with younger students to teach them about the importance of digital citizenship. This has wonderful benefits for the high school students, helping them slow down and analyze their perspective since they are sharing with younger students. This also gives them an opportunity to learn more about the topic. Teaching a subject is often the best way to learn about it. This is, of course, beneficial for the younger students as well since they will hear from the “experts” in the subject and have opportunities to learn in new ways. Using a digital format for the conversations is a great way to practice while learning. Depending on how school districts are set up, this idea may involve complicated logistics, but I think many schools would be willing to make this a reality. I am excited to try this!

References:
Faucher, C., Cassidy, W., & Jackson, M. (2015). From the sandbox to the inbox: Comparing the acts, impacts, and solutions of bullying in k-12, higher education, and the workplace. Journal Of Education And Training Studies, 3(6), 111-125.

Orech, J. (2012). How it's done: Incorporating digital citizenship into your everyday curriculum. Tech & Learning, 33(1), 16-18.

The Power of Pictures

I tend to enter conversations about social media with skepticism, wondering if there are really as many opportunities as some claim. However, the readings from this week were compelling and opened my eyes to some new possibilities for social media platforms as I sought out the best platform to use for my hypothetical school library at Central Forest Middle School.

I chose Instagram as a platform for several reasons. My primary audience for my library would be students, parents, and other community stakeholders. Instagram appeals to younger audiences but is accessible to adults as well, making it a reasonable choice to reach a broad audience. As Molly Wetta points out in “Instagram Now,” it also integrates with other platforms making social media management easier. I would like to use this platform to highlight new materials in the library and also to share some of the happenings in my fictional media center. I aim for the platform to share enough information about the media center to spark interest among students and support from parents as they see the wonderful opportunities the media center provides.


Instruction/Collaboration:
While teachers are not the primary intended audience for this account, teachers would be able to see the specific items in the library that may correspond with their curriculum. Ideally this is one of the many ways to connect with teachers who may have packed schedules. Instagram allows them to connect regardless of the time.


Instagram also provides an opportunity for students to engage in the instructional materials when things like research resources are posted. Students can connect with resources that may benefit them without taking the extra step to go to a library website or catalog. While Instagram is not the only social media platform students use, access to posts in a familiar platform can increase accessibility. Lucas John Jensen noted that “Learners feel more internally motivated if they have more autonomy and control over their learning, if they feel competent while engaging in learning, and if they feel a sense of relatedness, of being understood. Perhaps so many gravitate to social media tools because the tools satisfy these three needs.” Instagram could provide a way for students to feel comfortable interacting with the library space.


Communication:
One of the keys to using Instagram is the ability to post pictures. My goal in using this platform is to share pictures of new and important images from the library. My first post was showcased a new book release. I hope that students will be able to see new materials and get excited to use them right away. Part of this communication is also related to the media center space itself. I aim to add posts of students working on various independent and group projects to both inspire other students and to promote the media center.


Advocacy:
Advocacy is an important part of any school library. Jan Wilson in “Make Your Library More Visible“ calls photos “the best way to capture the variety of literacies occurring in the library.” Instagram is a perfect way to capture the essence of a media center in a format that is accessible to many people in and out of the school. Awareness is the important piece that Instagram can provide for the media center. People can be more aware of what is going on in the library, what the librarian is doing, and what possibilities the library holds.



References:
Jensen, L. J. (2019). Integrating Social Media into Online Education. Library Technology Reports, 55(4), 27–30.

Wetta, M. (2016). Instagram now: engage young users with the image-based social media tool. School Library Journal (New York, N.Y.), 62(2), 30-32.

Wilson, J. (2017). Make Your Library More Visible. School Library Journal, 63(12), 16–17.

Tactile Picture Books

Image URL: https://www.colorado.edu/project/bbb/sites/default/files/styles/slider/public/slider/3doodler_edu_start_windsor-38.jpg?itok=IGs7sEYO

Throughout the readings this week about disabilities and looking at assistive technology, I kept coming back to the concept of tactile picture books. While there are some very helpful ideas for educators to create tactile books for early literacy, I was fascinated by the Build a Better Book project at the University of Colorado Boulder. This project focuses on providing students with the materials needed to build tactile picture books out of a variety of tools like 3D printers, cardboard cutouts, and conductive boards. These books could be used as learning tools for students with or without disabilities by providing multi-modal ways to experience quality books.

 

The applications of this are truly endless, but I especially see many benefits for visually-impaired students. This would be an important way to help students who are visually impaired by providing them with ways to both hear and feel books. After teaching visually impaired students I have realized how difficult it can be to get access to braille books (although the SC State Library has some great programs to help with this), and audiobooks are not every student’s preferred option.


This could also be applicable for students with other visual disabilities like color blindness, which hits close to home for me because my dad is severely color blind and I’ve only recently begun to understand how much that affected his reading as a kid. It is hard for him to tell what is happening in many pictures, so picture books for him were never enjoyable. Even early literacy games were not accessible for him. When he plays Candy Land with my kids, for example, he relies on my 4 year old to tell him where his color block is. I wonder how different his reading journey could have been with a tactile option like this.

Probably my favorite part of this project, though, is that students are involved in both the creation and the use of these tactile books. “Like other makerspace initiatives, Build a Better Book offers youth an opportunity to engage in critical STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) practices, such as design, fabrication, iteration, and collaboration” (Forsyth, 2020, para. 5). Talk about real world experience! Students grow their own literacy skills to create new materials. I am amazed that this idea is simple yet provides significant room for growth and creativity.


References:

Forsyth, S., Penzkover, K., Dalton, B., & Yang, G. (2020). Build a better book. Connected Science Learning. Retrieved from https://www.nsta.org/connected-science-learning/connected-science-learning-july-september-2020/build-better-book.

Project Overview. Build a better book. (2021). Retrieved from https://www.colorado.edu/project/bbb/.

Makey Makey Technology as a Learning Tool

Technology truly has endless possibilities! When evaluating various technology options, I was drawn to the Makey Makey tool. "The Makey Makey is an electronic invention kit for all ages! The Makey Makey allows you to take everyday objects and combine them with the interne" (Makey Makey, 2021, para. 1). By connecting alligator clips to conductive objects, students can control their computer's keyboard through the everyday objects. This technology supports project-based learning and can be used in a variety of classrooms with multiple applications.

Based on the Technology Integration Matrix (TIM), the Makey Makey as a technology resource has the ability to provide a resource for high-level learning through five characteristics of meaningful learning environments as the technology becomes increasingly integrated in the curriculum. 

• Active: The Makey Makey is active by nature. Students are working with physical objects to produce a desired goal. Since students are given the flexibility to produce desired results in multiple ways using multiple objects, this can fit in the transformational category as students use unconventional tools. The tool could be used in different classes like STEM, math, or science to create new ways of learning material.

• Collaborative: Students can collaborate not only with peers in the classroom but also digitally with other student inventors. This particular tenant has many potential applications. Younger students may focus on collaborating in a class environment, working together to solve problems. Older students may be able to collaborate with the larger community and create specific projects that can be duplicated or complemented by work from students at other schools using Makey Makey. Collaboration is possible by also using tools like Youtube to reach a larger audience.

• Constructive: This category requires students to connect their learning to prior knowledge and then then build on that knowledge to create new meaning. This is a challenging piece for any classroom, and the Makey Makey offers ways to make this realistic. The tool lends itself to recounting prior knowledge since many of the tasks are unconventional. Lesson plans using the Makey Makey could be prescriptive and guide students through tasks step-by-step, but as students grow as independent learners they can be provided with more open-ended tasks that require use of prior knowledge to create experiments or outcomes.

• Authentic: Using the Makey Makey to apply learning to real world situations could become a regular part of lesson planning. For example, high school students have been working on accessibility projects using the Makey Makey technology. A sponsor teacher of one such project comments, "One of the biggest challenges for the math students was the lack of a concrete process for them to duplicate. But to be fair, it is also one of my favorite aspects of the project" (Cashing in on Design Thinking, 2020, para. 12). If students are given increasing autonomy as learners, the Makey Makey gives them the tools to be able to create real life solutions.

• Goal-Directed: By providing students opportunities to plan and monitor their learning throughout projects and then reflect on their learning, the Makey Makey technology could provide an important tool for this category. Makey Makey projects aid with goals-based learning because feedback is constant. Student success during a project means that the tool is accomplishing some type of goal, whether playing a certain note or creating a certain movement on the computer. This immediate feedback provides students with the tools they need to maintain high-level goals.

Helpful Links for Educators

Beginner Projects: As with any technology tool, students would need to be introduced to the components before setting off on an independent project. This link provides activities that could be used as an introduction of Makey Makey in the classroom. 

Math and Science Connection: This lesson plan provides a flexible option for connecting Math and Science in a sorting activity requiring critical thinking to classify while also providing possible extensions to include Biology material, advanced math formulas, and coding games. 

Sources:

"Cashing in" on design thinking: An epic collaboration project. Makey Makey Blogs. (2020, March 10). Retrieved from https://makeymakey.com/blogs/blog/cashing-in-on-design-thinking-an-epic-collaboration-project. 

Maclemale, R. (2021). Matrix. TIM. Retrieved from https://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/matrix/. 

Makey Makey. Makerspace for Education. (2021). Retrieved from http://www.makerspaceforeducation.com/makey-makey.html.

VR as a Learning Tool

The past few years have been full of change and adjustment. Closures due to COVID-19 have hit schools in different ways, and teachers are becoming masters at finding new ways to teach in these ever-changing times. Tame the Web’s blog shared some insight into how VR could be used as one way to adapt with the ever-changing climate of school. The idea of virtual field trips inspired me to look into different ways to use VR in classrooms. VR could be the answer to many of the complaints teachers have about lack of accessibility for students.

VR is becoming an accessible tool for schools thanks to cost-effective Google cardboard options that use cell phones with specific apps to provide a virtual experience. Youtube VR also offers ways for users to create their own VR experiences. There are many ways that VR could be effective as an education tool, and specifically social studies teachers could use this tool to eliminate barriers. Instead of traveling to many regions and areas to learn, VR could provide students with unprecedented access to different places. Historical artifacts may not be accessible in person; trip costs could be unrealistic for students; travel time could be a hindrance. While there is no replacement for in-person experiences, VR could provide access to experiences that otherwise would be impossible.

For social studies courses specifically, VR equipment could resolve existing complaints from teachers. Many teachers at my school complain about not having enough time to cover the standards, especially in world history. VR could give students the opportunity to explore independently while teachers provide additional support for other students in the classroom. The VR technology would involve some training, but teacher leaders would be a great way to promote this technology. As Educational Leadership points out, “Many master users can create practical, effective workshops for novices; teachers will also become more skilled as a technology rollout progresses” (Overbay, 2011, p.58). This technology could provide a way for students to have engaging new experiences and also opportunities for teachers to be leaders in their field.

Some resources suggest that VR could even be used as a physical classroom in some ways. After implementation of VR as a social studies learning tool, it could be used in more ways in the classroom. This may be the answer to some barriers that students face due to missing school or being unable to participate in the physical classroom due space concerns. As virtual school continues to be an option for many students, perhaps VR really is the future of education.

References:

Editor. (2020, June 29). Exploring New HORIZONS in VR. Tame the Web. Retrieved from https://tametheweb.com/2020/06/29/exploring-new-horizons-in-vr/. 

Google. (2021). Google cardboard. Google Cardboard – Google VR. Retrieved from https://arvr.google.com/cardboard/. 

Moates, C. (2021, June 30). VR is the future of education. VRFocus. Retrieved from https://www.vrfocus.com/2021/06/vr-is-the-future-of-education/. 

Overbay, A., Mollette, M., & Vasu, E. S. (2011). A Technology Plan That Works. Educational Leadership, 68(5), 56–59.

YouTube. (2021). Home - youtube vr. YouTube. Retrieved from https://vr.youtube.com/.

 

Fake News?

 I hear the term “fake news” often but was surprised by some of the commentary from the Liturgists Podcast surrounding this topic. While I know that I should be analyzing the media I consume, and I have tools to help identify truth from fiction, I can’t say that I actively analyze all information I consume. I tend to read the news, and I am very conscious of what sites I use and which articles I choose to read. However, I get much less analytical when I stumble upon articles scrolling through Facebook. Coffee is good for you? Everyone is moving to tiny houses? School sports are more dangerous now than in the 90’s? I might skim through these articles just to see what people are saying, even if I don’t necessarily give the article my full consideration. But as the podcast points out, just by clicking on an article I am giving it weight. As a school librarian especially, I need to be more aware of the information I choose to consume, remembering to be aware of the “healthy information calorie vs empty information calorie” (The Liturgists, 2017) challenge.

https://i.redd.it/z6j5dbhtirb21.jpg

Some of the resources reminded me of a conversation I had with my 6th grade students last year. They were all astounded by the “rice guy” picture and wanted to find out if it was real or not. Of course this was a great opportunity to teach about credible sources (and Photoshop!). Looking back I wish that I had incorporated the Big6 in the conversation, but we had a rich conversation about how they were using their school devices, what sources were credible, how to recognize potential false information and how to verify facts. Information is thrown at students constantly and most of them are seeking a way to sort through it all.

My school is shifting to virtual next week, and that is bringing up a new level of information-related concerns. I was excited to find some resources to teach digital citizenship in a way that can resonate with my students who are now learning virtually for a time. While I will not be able to address all concerns in one week, I hope to help my students specifically in learning to “manage the flow of information from a wide variety of sources” (P21 Framework Definitions, p. 5). As our world is currently inundated with information (both true and false) about COVID-19 and other topics, I think this is a perfect opportunity for students to learn and practice digital responsibility. With more and more students having individual devices that they can use regularly, teachers in schools need to stay proactive to make sure that students know how to navigate the things they will face on their devices.