Embedded Files
Club Name: Technology Club
Sponsor: Mr. Monaco
Time of Year: All Year
Meeting Day: 1st and 3rd Thursdays from 3:00 to 4:00
Location: Mr. Monaco's room, C022
Grade Level Invited: All Students
Club Goal: The Technology Club is basically a place for kids to get together to work on projects and discuss all things technology-related. It's highly student-driven, meaning the students decide what they would like to do and learn from other students as they build and/or program their own creations. Mr. Monaco helps students work through the challenges of their designs, but you can also share what you know with him -- he may know a lot, but he is always happy to learn more! We encourage hands-on, "maker space" type projects that can be found on sites like instructables.com. There are some activities available in the club (LEGO Mindstorms, Cozmo robot, Raspberry Pi and Arduino controllers, VEX robotics, etc.), and there are some "club projects" that are in progress, such as an arcade basketball game, a coin-operated desktop soda machine, a ride-on hovercraft, and various 3D printing projects. Some projects include using block code like Scratch, or other languages like Python, Arduino, RobotC, etc.
My one big rule is that the club is not for playing video games or following social media. If they're writing code for their own game, then that's fine, but this isn't a Minecraft or Fortnite club, nor is it a forum for watching TikTok videos of their favorite pop icon!
If nothing else, it's a great place for kids to "get their geek on" in an environment that encourages wholesome exploration, application, learning, and sharing of ideas in technology. How much they get out of it depends on how much they put into it (I do have to keep things reasonable for middle school students, though -- no flying car projects!)
Page updated
Report abuse