Week 1

I do plan to use this fabricated object in my classroom. I think it is a good way to allow students to connect popsicle sticks so they can build things. I was inspired by the stickem's presentation during our real world talk. During my student teaching I had students build bridges and snowman traps and I had not yet gotten to this part of the Fab Learning Academy so I did not have a chance to create these yet but I think they would have been a great addition to my classroom to allow students to bring their designs to life. 

One of California's science standards for middle school science is MS-ESS2-3. Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions. I think a good learning activity to incorporate for this standard with 3D printing would be to allow students to design their own 3D plates that can interlock and then they are able to observe the information found on each plate to figure out which pieces fit together, which fossils might be found on different plates and what that suggests, and etc. The challenges for the activity I just explained might be the students knowledge of 3D printing and how to set up a plate. This activity would have to have several different entry points and scaffolds for students with different skills in 3D printing. 

One successful educational activity I did with other educators took place over the summer last year with a summer music camp that took place in our Fab Lab. The activity was bring to life the visual representation of sound waves for students to experience. I had not done any type of experimentation like this before and after consulting with my team mates we were able to come up with ways to bring this visual representation to life. In this activity it was advantagous for me to talk out my vision and get feedback from other who had done this before. One of the disadvantages that come with collaboration is when we don't see eye to eye with the process  to get to the end result for the educational activity. It is something that clear communication can help clear up some of the process but it can be frustrating. I believe the main aspects of preparing an education activity that involves more than one educator is communication, shared goals, and clear roles for each educator. I believe that once these are set in place then there is a clear understanding of what the activity and everyone involved can have a good time and frustrations will be kept to a minimum.