For my final lesson I used my Arduino design to make a project based around the idea of dreams and nightmares. Students will have to design a 3D paper sculpture based around a dream, nightmare, or significant story while keeping in mind how to incorporate blinking programed lights into it. For my teacher example, my project was based off of a nightmare or fear of bugs that I have that has been relevant to me as spring is approaching and bugs are a fear I have. I want students to be very open and creative in how they choose to depict their dream or nightmare scene in a 3D way that uses lights meaningfully. I am limiting the students to use paper/ink/collage and drawing tools to make their sculptures, as the LED lights and programming work well with this material. I really love this project and think I would actually try to use this in my own classroom one day.

Video:  IMG_1347-1rt9dej

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I had a rough time in the beginning using the Arduino programming as I feel many of my classmates also experienced. I t was a little overwhelming to to figure out the language and temperament of the coding which got frustrating when it didn’t work. I started working on a project immediately instead of getting hung up on the programming circus and thought a sculpture that was more 3D would be cool and it was something I thought would be cool also for my final project. I ended up coming up with a bugs in the grass design with my bugs being lit with 3 different light patterns that blinked in pairs. Tis took a little while to get to with some glitches in my programming and some weak spots on my circuit, but it all eventually worked and will turn on and off with a switch. I am very excited about this project and feel very proud that I got it working and didn’t give up on it. I’m excited to see how I incorporate this into a lesson for my final project.

Maker Day at the Circuit Card table was a success in my opinion as no one left our table with a card that didn’t light up! That was my biggest fear even with all the practice and preparation that our group did, that a glitch  we wouldn’t expect would leave us unable to help a disappointed kid! Everything ran smoothly as planned though and I think everyone enjoyed their time at our station!

I was really happy with our set up before the kids and parents arrived as we were organized with a supply station with a section for getting supplies, working, and space for getting help with lighting it up. Things ran very smoothly and I was always able to be helping someone with something. There were some difficultly with getting the kids to understand circuits though and we ended up needing to pretty much make the circuits while they assisted or watched. They really enjoyed the designing aspect though and the idea that they were making something to light up later was fun for them.  I think having one switch option is simple and a better idea then trying to have options as well. We ended up with a very simple design we used on all the kids cards to make the switches that saved us time and made us get them lighting up fast for the kids. We had a few other issues we fixed like not all the colors working together and having them choose only 3 lights.

Overall I had a blast at maker day with my group and the kids who came to see us! I would love to run a maker day even t again in the future if I ever had the opportunity.

For my laser cut design I chose to make a four piece elephant out of wood. I wanted to make an elephant because they are my favorite animals and I also thought it would be a fun a beautiful design I could also add some kind of burning design to it. I am really excited to see how this project comes along and have already had some success using Illustrator with starting the elephant shape.

I was able to finish up the laser cut design on Illustrator and later cut two versions of the elephant. The first cut was good but the elephant was a little too skinny and the ear/ hip pieces need to be widened for the second cut. The second elephant came out much wider and more stable but I am struggling to get the pieces to fit together because the slots are too tight. I am happy with the design overall and how it came out. If I could change anything I would make the slots a little larger for an easier fit.

For my 3D printed container I chose to make a lantern that would hold a small battery operated tea light candle. I started my fist design just making a box lantern out of pre made squares with diamond cute outs. I wasn’t really enjoying making it though and wanted to pick my own cut out image and started this one using a flower shape. I wanted it to be a rounded form that would project the flower light in the dark from all sides, even the top. I was going to make a bottom hexagon to put the tea light on but decided to just leave it open instead because the bottom piece would have no way to be held in place anyway. I am very excited to see how this lantern prints and hopefully use it!

Update:

Sadly my 3D printed lantern wasn’t able to print how it was designed. I had a lot of back and fourth with the lab and  they tried more then once to print it with some tweaking but with no luck. This was the best full print that was able to come out. There was too much infill for me to ever be able to clean it out without special tools and hours of work. I was expecting the design to have some problems but I honestly didn’t expect to see it fail like this. Overall I have concluded 3D printing may not be my thing but I’d like to try it again one  day and find a way to do a simple project since I see it is a very popular tool in schools.

Web Link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/207779485/#player

For my scratch lesson plan I came up with a animated name project. This project starts with the students having to choose either their name or a  nick-name, at least 3-4 letters, and draw them using objects that describe themselves and things they like. Once the students have done that they will draw some kind of background that goes with their drawn letters. Once all the drawing is done the students will program their letters to each have say what they letter represents, makes a sound, and moves in some way. Each letters programming must be unique and  the point is to explore different ways to program in scratch. I had a lot of fun making this and especially adding in the hand drawn work to really make it personalized. I think this would be a fun and very doable real-life project to do in a classroom one day.

Hungry Harper Final Game

For my scratch game I programmed a simple catch game using the tutorial catch game video by scratch. Once I was able to get a simple game working I made it my own by adding a score, my own artwork, costume changes, background changes, sounds, and more. My ‘Hungry Harper!’ game works so that when you press the green flag the game begins and programmed sprites, the donut, pizza, chicken, and burger, will start to fall from the sky as they flip costumes on their way to the sprite Harper. Harper is the catcher sprite at the bottom who moves back and fourth with right/left arrow keys. Each time one of the forever falling food sprites is caught by the player moving the Harper sprite, Harper will randomly change her costume to holding her belly as well as one point being added to the score. There are other subtle effects such as the background that changes color ever few seconds, the upbeat background music, the munching noise Harper makes when catching the food, and other little programming. I had a few hiccups getting some things to work such as Harper not always changing costumes when touched by a sprite, but overall I had a lot of fun making this game. Even though it was a little more work to add my own images I feel like it was worth it and would now prefer to use my own work/pictures after this experience as opposed to the preprogrammed images.

Game Link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/206265546/#player

Video Link: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/205597203/#player

For this project I experimented with the Scratch program to make a simple animation of two dancing dinosaurs. I had a lot of difficulty with this program at first and didnt get anything to work when I first tried it in class. After going home and trying it again I followed the steps for the beginners tutorial on how to make something dance and then added my own twist to it. In this animation I have two dino’s that talk, dance, change costumes, have music, and an intractable color changing button. I really enjoyed this once I was able to get it to work. I think this program has awesome capabilities for doing some really interesting stuff once you get to know it. I’m exciting about trying to make an intractable game next!

For this project I had to come up with a clever design to add animation to a circuit with led lights. I chose to make a cute Valentine’s Day inspired card with lightening bugs as the led lights. I thought this was super fun and easy to do after previously learning how to make a simple circuit the day before to light up one led. This one was a little different because the led needed to be connected carefully to both legs on the same strip of negative and positive as seen in the picture. I made a switch that also gave the effect when you rubbed it over both light breaks, it would cause a flickering effect like fireflies. I really loved this project and this it is one of my favorites so for to include in a art class.

For this project we made a simple circuit that turned on a led light with a battery pack and switch. We started by making the simple version with  a clip to make sure it worked. We did this by making two L shaped perimeters of copper tape, one for the negative and one for the positive leg of the led to be soldering to . Once that was in place the battery was held in place by folding the positive flap on top and securing it with a clip. After that worked well we cut out a battery back design and folded it with copper tape ‘legs’ that touched and neatly held the battery. Next, was making a switch to turn the light on and off. This was done by making a cut on one of the tape L’s and putting copper tape on a flap of paper that would connect when touched together turning the light on. I really enjoyed doing this project and think it would be a really fun and an easy introduction for teaching kids about simple led circuits that they could easily include in whatever they wanted in their art. I really enjoyed making this and was really excited seeing it work.

Video Link:

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