STEMCraft Enrichment

When my son was five he announced that he wanted to build a Minecraft server.  He was a budding Minecraft enthusiast but not savvy in UNIX so I dove into the Internet and found some instructions about how to build a Minecraft server using a Raspberry Pi computer.  It worked!! And thus began my interest in tinkering and making with my kids and on my own.  I found more projects on the Internet, became an Adafruit junkie, engineered with cardboard, followed Instructables, read programming books, built a 3D printer, and more.  I started taking my son, and later my daughter, to Maker Faires. In this wildly creative and innovative world of tinkerers, artists, and engineers, I found a welcoming community that didn't care that I lacked a formal technical background. All are welcome; professionals, hobbyists, and hackers alike.  The only requirement is an imagination and a desire to learn.

Over the past ten years, my maker hobby and home crafting led to teaching projects in the local 4H club and then through my STEMCraft Enrichment.  Introducing microcontrollers and introductory science and engineering to more than just my own kids has been a deeply rewarding experience. Together we learned about how things moved, lit up, jiggled, and sensed; hacked simple electronics; built Rube Goldberg contraptions and studied simple machines; created an automated vertical farm with 3D printed parts; crafted robots out of cardboard and recyclables with Micro:bits; learned about machine learning with Google’s Teachable Machine; built LEGO robots; and more. Watching kids learn new things and seeing them light up when they realize their creative visions is a priceless experience that keeps me learning and teaching.

I am currently going through the Maker Educator Program at Sonoma State University to build my maker teaching skills and incorporate more standards-based projects into my portfolio of activities.