Rita's Education Blog

  Today my class and I visited the I-create lab. We saw what they had that we could use for our activity. This is located on the second floor of the bell library. They have a laser printer, 3D printer, CNC router, soldering, embroidery, Cricut, and the printer.  We saw what all had to offer. The laser engraver was an interesting start. We were able to see things they have laser printed before. For example, they had cups, pumpkins, and wood. There is also plenty more they can print there is a poster of things they can engrave and what not to. Vinal, and fake leather are not materials you can use. The CNC is like the laser engraver; however, it can be used for bigger wood pieces. For these projects you do bring in your own materials. One way I would use this would be to engrave my cup. One thing I could do as a teacher is have them write their names and engrave keychains for the students’ parents. The 3D machine was interesting. I was able to see how you can scan small things on...

                Today I worked with drone blocks. I was able to watch the videos and explore. Some things I did with the simulator drone was, have it fly up, flip, turn, and yaw. Overall, this is something fun for the young ones to experiment with and play with. As I was playing with it, I noticed the drone landing in the water. I now know I need to change the code for it to land on land and not water. To do that I would need to alter the codes. So, make the moving forward code couple more inches. Giving it the chance to land on land. It was unique watching the drone follow your codes.                    One lesson that I found cool was programming with music. This one is a little more challenging as you must sync the commands to selected music. This challenge is for ones who have patience. One tip that’s given is “use variations of the hover and speed b...

   In my class today we were working with Lego education. While working with Lego education. I was able to build my satellite. I went online and followed the sequence of instructions for my satellite. The satellite was built with Legos and needs 2AA batteries.  Once I finished building it, I was able to download the Lego app. In the app you need to connect your satellite to the bluetooth. This is my first experience with the Lego education, so I am still figuring out the codes, and what the codes do. My objective of this assignment is to get the kids to move the satellite at a certain speed and a certain way. For example, one goal would be getting the satellite to go around the "earth" 3 times clock wise. The next goal would be to get the satellite to go around "earth' 3 times clock wise, stop, and then repeat but counter clock wise. I will continue to play around with the Lego app to mess with codes and find out what else I can come up with before parents night at t...

programming with angry birds                  Today I looked at the website studio.code.org.  I was able to play around with it and figure out how my game of choice works. The game I chose was a programming game dealing with Angry Birds. The whole point of the game is to get the angry bird to the green pigs or as known as the bad pigs. By doing that you will have to figure out the code. To figure out the code you need to look at the screen and find out what you need the red angry bird to do. For example, it is moving forward three times. Or move forward twice and turn left then move forward, this is known as sprites. The first couple of levels are easy they give a little hint by having how many times the options will be used and has the green bird a couple spaces forward. If you put too many options on your computer, the one you put too many of will have a little exclamation point.            ...