Workshops

This year, FabLearn is having a day fully dedicated to workshops. Join us in these hands-on activities designed for students, teachers and fablab coordinators.

When?
November 7, 2020, from 12:00 to 5:30pm EST (NYC time)
Where?
Virtual (information will be shared with registered participants)
How much?
Free
Questions?
Contact nyc2020-registration@fablearn.global

Register here: https://forms.gle/cqHNDkk23dPpVH3cA

Workshop Schedule

You can pick one workshop in each time session:

ROUND 1
12:00 – 1:30 PM EST

Circle of Inventions: Constructing scaffolds for new narratives and collective meaning
Better Together

ROUND 2
2:00 – 3:30 PM EST

Dynamic Art with Micro:bits
Engineering with Paper

ROUND 3
4:00 – 5:30 PM EST

Chain Reaction at Home
Restorying Geek Identities: Making Interactive Quilts for Critical Reimagining of Maker and Computing Stories

 

Workshop Descriptions

Circle of Inventions: Constructing scaffolds for new narratives and collective meaning

Facilitators:
Paola Salmona Ricci, Simone Kubric Lederman, and Rita Junqueira de Camargo (Instituto Catalisador)

This workshop will introduce participants to the Circles of Inventions program through a few cases, a brief illustration of the theoretical foundations. The main part of the workshop will be the participation in a Circle of Inventions followed by a debrief of the experience. The Circles of Inventions – CoI allows for a maker-centered learning practice that fosters the thinking and sharing of narratives, ideas and 3 dimensional drafts related local and global issues, in a culturally responsive, purposeful, meaningful and personal way. The framework is organized starting with a Circle of Reading, followed by a Circle of Making and ending with a Circle of Narratives, all connected through the use of thoughtful facilitation and thinking routines. The audience who has participated in CoI in the last three years has been diverse and has included Kindergarteners, primary and secondary school students, educators, school leaders and administrators, librarians and others.

 

Better Together

Facilitators:
Maarten Hennekes (HAN University of Applied Sciences & Fabrica), Martin Bokx (Pieter Brueghel School), and team

The overarching theme of this dynamic, interactive and hands-on workshop is how we (interdisciplinary) think about and shape maker education together. And how we can (partly) design maker education online while retaining its specific characteristics.
The common thread of this workshop is our latest maker education project “sound machines”, of which we will share the teaching material and with which we will also work with you. We switch between the workshop providers who guide the workshop from different places in the Netherlands and share their experiences and insights.

To participate in the workshop, you need craft materials such as a glue gun, cardboard, iron wire, etc. A micromotor is handy.

 

Dynamic Art with Micro:bits

Facilitators:
John Maloney (MicroBlocks) and Katie Henry (Micro:bit Educational Foundation)

Physical computing — programming tiny, battery-powered computers to sense and interact with the physical world — can engage students deeply in computational thinking and creative problem solving. Many students are fascinated by the creative possibilities of coding devices that can be worn, carried in a pocket, or built into an art project. This demo/workshop introduces MicroBlocks (https://microblocks.fun), a new, free blocks programming system for the microcontrollers that is as easy to use as Scratch. You don’t need a Micro:bit to join this workshop, but if you have one you’ll have the opportunity to follow along.

 

Engineering with Paper: Amazing STEAM Activities with Simple Materials

Facilitators:
Godwyn Morris and Paula Frisch (Dazzling Discoveries STEM Education Center)

Bring your own paper, tape and scissors to learn how to transform these basic materials into creative curriculum-based explorations.  From marble runs to bridges to catapults to habitats and more, the possibilities are endless.  This hands-on workshop will get you cutting, folding, connecting and building in a matter of minutes, and be ready to implement new activities immediately with your students. To foster resilience, you have to give children applicable tools and methods. Together we will focus on how to prepare students, and teachers, for engineering challenges that work successfully either in person or remotely using materials that are easily accessible to all learners.

 

Chain Reaction at Home

Facilitators:
Ryan Jenkins (Wonderful Idea Co.), Angela Sofia Lombardo (Malpighi La.B), and Saskia Leggett (Creative Learning Designer)

A chain reaction machine is made up of everyday objects and is designed to accomplish a simple task in a silly and/or complicated way.  In this workshop we will create a chain reaction machine together over zoom using familiar materials, demonstrate ways to add in digital elements with Micro:bit and reflect on the challenges and opportunities for tinkering together at a distance.

 

Restorying Geek Identities: Making Interactive Quilts for Critical Reimagining of Maker and Computing StoriesRestorying CS

Facilitator:
Mia Shaw (University of Pennsylvania)

What does it mean to be a maker or a computer scientist? Where are conflicts and connections in one’s story? How does one become part of the story? In this workshop, we will share our experiences of implementing the “Restorying Geek Identity” activities using Scratch and the historical practice of developing counternarratives through quilting. Then, participants will get to reflect on their own experiences with making and computing to design interactive, digital quilt patches that restory and reimagine dominant narratives surrounding computer science.