Posts filed under ‘Museum Geeks’
Teachers teaching Teachers or: How much fun you can have with robots at Carnegie Mellon University
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Another adventure to the world outside of the Museum…I recently got the chance to visit the lovely campus of Carnegie Mellon University to learn more about their program: Eudcational Robotics in the Classroom. Honestly, I was not sure what to expect at all, but the idea of learning about robots and hanging out with fellow educators sparked my interest.
Basically, what I attended was a graduation for several teachers who completed a course at CMU utilizing the Robot Diaries program. The Robot Diaries program allows someone to use simple robotics to help tell a story or express an emotion. Teachers are able to use these ”robot kits” to better help their students understand the importance of technology. its the kind of program that opens up a whole new world of exploration for people, teachers and students alike. I was seriously jealous for not being able to take this course myself.
Each of the teachers who had partaken in the class gave a presentation on how they planned on using robotics and technology to better their classroom. They also presented robots that they themselves created. These presentations and demonstrations were full of so much enthusiasm. It was great to see that this group of individuals could come together and learn something wholey new to themselves but all embrace new ideas as a group.
There were some recurring themes in each of the presentations that struck me as an observer. Most of the teachers involved in the program were Art teachers, English teachers, teachers with no backgrounds in robotics. They were willing to learn something new. The question was brought up, “what do teachers do on Summer Vacation?” Well, this specific group decided to learn a whole lot about robots and how technology can influence their current curriculum. Its always good to learn something new everyday and at the same time teach something new everyday.
It was very interesting to see and hear how the teachers were going to incorporate robots into so many various projects. Expressing poetry, teaching history, explaining organ systems, telling stories, etc. One can only wonder what else can be done with the use of simple robotics. The teachers were very enthusiastic about the fact that technology could be used to bridge gaps in certain subjects in school. “Robots as a bridge between Art and Science;” I’m certainly on board with that.
Twice during the presentations we were allowed to actually work on projects created by the teachers to either add to their robots or at least learn some simple basics about the program itself. One of the teachers presented a Beatles themed robot (she taught an art class at school that was entirely Beatles themed). She designed and programmed a Ringo-bot that played the drums; but she needed some hands designed for him. I jumped right in and created two quick hands; one robot themed and one Beatle themed. So much fun…
Once again, it was too much fun sitting in on these presentations. all of the teachers involved were so willing to learn knew things and adapt them to existing lesson plans. The idea of expressing Edgar Allen Poe literature through robots is awesome…The idea of teaching history by using robots is perfect…the idea of teaching art by using robots is amazing…Thankfully these aren’t just ideas. This is curriculum that is going to be implemented into several schools in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas.
Thanks again to CMU for inviting me to sit in on these presentations. Its always great to see teachers working together; collaboration is so important. It was also great to see that everyone is using the same robotics program in different ways. As always, I love exploring new things for the Museum and this was easily one of the best. I got to hang out with some of my favorite things; teachers and robots.
-Kevin
The Museum is in full bloom; plus a little adventure to another Garden in Pittsburgh
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Every Sunday this Summer I have shown up at the Museum and the first thing I take a look at is our Garden out side the front entrance. Afterwards I typically spend some time swinging on the Museum’s big front porch swing before I start my day.
From Sunday to Sunday I’ve really noticed the Garden bloom and blossom. All the plants have grown a lot, there is a lot of green and amazing flashes of color everywhere. I’m sure that there’s even better looking vegetables hidden under leaves and in the dirt. I can honestly say that the most relaxing parts of my days at the Museum are spent simply watering the Garden. I’m probably going to start announcing times when visitors can come out and help too; its a simple activity but extremely rewarding. Both you and the plants benefit.
On another garden related note; I spent a day helping out at the Lawrenceville Organic Community Garden. One of my friends invited me over to help out with some weeding and harvesting. The Garden is located in Lawrenceville and it is maintained by a group of dedicated gardeners and volunteers. They really seem to be producing a lot of vegetables and they are also incorporating many techniques that we implement in our own Museum Garden. It was a lot of fun visiting another Garden here in Pittsburgh. It was a joy to help out at the Community Garden; I met some really great people and plan to visit again. Look for them on Facebook for more information.
-Kevin
More WaterPlay Fun; building boats and racing boats.
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Boat building as an execise in Science and Art; bringing the Renaissance to WaterPlay.
Acouple of days ago classes from the Propel Braddock Hills School visited the Museum and brought with them some amazing boats to play with in our WaterPlay exhibit. They designed and built their boats at their school in Art Class. They all started out with the same recycled plastic base but were then allowed to use other recycled materials to create a boat. Then they brought their boats to the Museum to race and experiment with in our WaterPlay exhibit.
I was overjoyed to hear that this kind of field trip was happening, we had just spent some time testing out our own boat building designs in WaterPlay. I made sure to bring some extra materials and especially some tape for the students to use if they saw the need to modify any of their boat designs. I new from experience that you need to try out multiple designs to get your boat just the way you want it.
The classes arrived at the Museum ready to test their boats out. We had them individually race their boats againstthe clock; we timed each race with a stop watch and documented each time. It was interesting to watch how each boat reacted to being pushed across the water by the wind machine in the pool in WaterPlay.
We then had the students race each other’s boats across the pool. Finally we allowed them to redesign their boats with the extra materials; some simple prototyping. Some of the kids took things off their boats and some added new things and some built entirely new boats to experiment with. We then observed how these changes affected the boats in the water.
All very interesting; all very scientific. By and by, the students left that day with a greater sense that building your own boat can be a fun way to experiment and learn about aspects of both Science and Art.
-Kevin
Carnegie Mellon brings the University to the Museum
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Recently, students from Carnegie Mellon University’s Systems Engineering class developed a few projects for testing at the Museum. This class has partnered with the Museum several times. The students work in teams to create several projects which in turn are tested out on the floor of the Museum with visitors and staff alike. Basically, its one big prototyping session, or one big experiment. The students spend a lot of time building and creating their projects; but the real fun comes when they actually test them out at the Museum. The projects this year were all very fun and very different. What follows is a quick overview of each team’s project. Enjoy.
The Gorilla Hand
This project looked interesting enough on its own; a giant gorilla hand sticking out of a big wooden box. But visitors quickly found out that there was much more to this project than just that. The students provided a glove that the visitors could put on and whatever movements the visitor made would in turn be mimicked by the gorilla hand. You could make the individual fingers move, open and close the palm, etc. Two interesting aspects of this project that I noticed; the students brought along the original prototypes of the project and left the back of the wooden box open so that visitors could see what was going on behind the scenes. Great stuff.
Pasta Sound Blaster
This next project allowed visitors to play around with sound and the visualization of sounds. Basically, the visitors were allowed to play around with the tempo and volume of a group of speakers. On top of the speakers were assorted pastas and rice. The vibrations of the speakers caused the materials to jump around at different heights and times depending on how you controlled the speakers. I likened it to a moving sandbox; it was loud yet fun.
Daisy – a friendly playful robot
This was an interesting project that utilized robotics and sensors. It also allowed visitors and staff to kick and hit a giant moving ball; always fun. Depending on what you did to the robot it would react by moving in certain directions. I can honestly say that I was the first to play with this robot and I think I kicked it a little to hard. Luckily the students worked the kinks out and it ended up roaming around the Attic area of the Museum for the entire day. My suggestion was to turn it into a moving waste basket for the Cafe’ or the Art Studio. Maybe next year.
Digital Graffiti
This was a very fun projection project that utilized a Microsoft Kinect; it also let visitor throw colored balls all over the place. Essentially, you throw a colored ball at a white wall, a program developed by the students projects a splash of corresponding color in the same spot where the ball was thrown. In the end you get a wall full of splatter marks; which actually mix to create colors. I had a lot of fun playing with this myself, you were able to create a virtual mess on a clean wall at the Museum without having to clean anything up (except the wayward balls).
Robot Art
This last project was combined science and art; which I always embrace. The students built a robotic etch-a-sketch that visitors could play around with. Visitors could create artwork by controlling a movable pen on a canvas using two control panels. It was interesting to see that a lot of the artwork took on certain patterns; but at the same time there were extreme differences between each of them. The robot could only be controlled in certain ways, but the visitors could still use the controllers to make something unique.
Thanks again to all of the CMU students who participated in this class. Your projects were a lot of fun to play with. For someone like me who spends all their time at the Museum its always fun to have something new to test out and experiment with.
-Kevin
Building a better boat or: How I learned to keep it simple
Boat Building 101:
We decided to experiment with some new boat designs for our WaterPlay exhibit. The above video is a great representation of how new ideas are explored at the Museum. We start with one idea and if that does not work then we try either what’s wrong it or change the idea altogether. We redesign ideas to fit our needs.
For example, we started our boat experiment by building a complex “gravity boat” that required soap for prepulsion. As you can see in the video we slowly change the design of our boat. We simplified the design and mixed it with another boat project. In the end we found that we had the most fun with the boat that was essentially a balloon with a straw attached to it.
Sometimes the simplest ideas and designs are the best.
-Kevin
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh
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