Hi Everyone, My name is Matt Wilson and I have worked in #STEM and #Art Education since 2017. I am sharing this as a way to get more info into the hands of educators around the world. This article is specifically about the Top 5 engaging lesson plans for maker spaces, as well as how to conduct an exit slip process for your students. While we all may have access to different equipment or work in differently configured maker spaces, it is important to always aim for keeping your students excited about what they are learning so that they more readily participate and process the key points of that specific lesson. As for the exit slips, this is a common practice in the world of education to make sure that students can verbalize what they did that day since it provides a sort of reflection or closure to that lesson. Let’s begin!
- Modeling Masks - For this plan, students should be tasked with sketching concepts for a mask that they will 3D model and print out on 3D printers. This is exciting for them since they will be able to wear a mask at minimum, and also have the option to customize it further with painting or drawing on it if they choose. This can be done in any 3D modeling software from #SelfCAD to #Blender to #Maya to Cinema 4D or #Zbrush. Heck, I even made a Darth Vader mask in #TinkerCAD before. You will need to print on larger format printers but that is ultimately up to you.?
- Custom Coins - this is a riff on ancient Greek city states that had their own coins with specific icons on them. Or it is influenced by the coins from John Wick. Either way, students should make a unique icon or symbol to be printed on a cylinder that will ultimately be a unique coin. I would always introduce this as a smaller project that would end up with students having a new item to share with their friends and always keep on their person. The coins should be roughly 2.5-3 times bigger than a quarter so it has more of a wow factor.
- Custom T Shirts - this project uses digital illustration software (Procreate, Inkscape, Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator) to design an image. That image could be a new logo for an existing sports team or something more personal. That image can then be cut out on iron-on vinyl using a Silhouette Cameo or any of the Cricut machines. That vinyl can then be ironed onto a t-shirt. The important thing to watch out for is weeding the vinyl after the electric cutter has finished as some more intricate designs can be tedious during this phase.?
- RGB Lights with Arduino - This is a great way for students interested in coding to take their first steps into the world of electronics. For this, you need an Arduino Uno and some of the NeoPixel strips from Adafruit, as well as a breadboard and dupont wires. The circuit is simple enough since it only requires a connection to power, ground, and a pin for data. After those 3 wires have been connected, you can begin to focus on the science of how humans see colors. Then that segways into coding individual colors at a time then working on animated light shows.?
- Marble Roller Coasters - this project is from my days teaching roller coaster physics at grades 4-6. This basically focuses on potential energy, kinetic energy, gravity, friction, and basic construction with craft material. What kinds of materials you build the track out of is up to you, but students should work in pairs and be able to use those physics concepts to explain why their track design works (or not). This is a great way to keep physical learners up and active too.?
Now let’s get into exit slips. When you wrap up a class and get the room clean, you may have some time on your hands. This is a great time for an exit slip. Just pass out index cards and have a couple different prompts on the screen for students to respond to. This means that there shouldn’t be any yes or no questions as we are looking for students to process and communicate what they did or learned that day. This is the importance of prompts. If you just finished a lesson on programming servo motors with Arduino, a prompt idea could be
Teacher: What kinds of objects have you seen in real life use motors to turn/move to different positions?”
Response: Student could answer with “automatic car doors, bridges that lift up over rivers, disc trays on gaming consoles etc.”?
As always, I hope you have enjoyed this reading, and let us know what your thoughts are!
