A page-turner

Once I started working on the DIY Breakout boxes I couldn't stop! Every day I have thinking of new puzzles and locks that the Grade 4s (my target audience) would enjoy. After visiting many dollar stores I realized the following: hinges and hasps are readily available with prices from $0.50 to $3.00 each. However, locks are more difficult in their higher price and lower variety.

So off to eBay and Aliexpress I went. I ordered a variety of number padlocks ($1.25 each), UV flashlights and markers ($0.85 each), paper red/cyan 3D glasses for revealing hidden codes ($0.33 each). Word locks are a bit more elusive; I have definitely seen them for $4 or cheaper at Dollarama but of course inventory is alway hit or miss; unfortunately these days it's more miss.

An alternative I found was 3D printing. I was specifically interested in the idea of a cryptex, or a container that had a self-contained locking mechanism that used a word as it's key (ala Da Vinci Code). I used a couple of designs and printed off some prototypes and they seemed sturdy and variable enough for children to use and reset. This one and this one were the main inspirations. I adapted them to include letters, but since each dial could only show 10 possible digits at a time I Googled the most frequent letters and took sets of 20. I used Tinkercad to replace the numerical digits with alpha. I am quite happy with the results; the tolerances were forgiving enough to make spinning the dials easy and the whole thing prints easily in a few hours:

Breakout MVP

I have been fortunate to attend design thinking workshops hosted by Future Design School. A couple times we hosted them at school to help kickstart our electives programs and inspire our teachers think about their curriculum from a design cycle point of view. The other time was with Les McBeth in London for GoogleEI.

I had great experiences at all of their workshops, though I would have liked to drill down in more specific ways around my change management goals. One of the big takeaways from FDS is when designing something, or anything really, don’t let the physical or mental big picture get in the way. Get to a point where you can show some sort of prototype to others (or just yourself) so you can hold it and experience it to encourage feedback.

To this end I decided to create a DIY Breakout box. I’ll write a bit more about my BreakoutEDU journey in a future post, however I want to show off what I built today:

This is my MVP: my Minimal Viable Product, or the bare minimum I could build as a proof of concept. I used scrap 1x4 and salvaged nails. The hasp is too long, there is a nail protruding into the interior, some sides are splitting and it’s definitely crooked but it works! I can now use this to demonstrate how students can solve a puzzle, get a 3-digit answer to unlock the padlock, and reveal whatever is inside. Another puzzle? Access to a new tool? Another box? Sure!

GSuite training for office staff

I do a lot of teacher training for GSuite but not a lot of administrative staff training. I find even though the skills taught are similar, the application is quite different. Our office staff are experts in their field and can maximize business process management to many of their needs. It's a bit awkward for me to come in and recommend optimizations based on my experience in a classroom. It seems like one of those instances where someone wants to apply a business case study to an education environment, or vice versa -- some concepts just don't transfer easily.

Regardless, I ran a three-hour training session today for some our office staff. I opened by stating the above; that, full disclosure, I probably wasn't the best person to help them optimize their processes but I can show how the GSuite tools work. Hopefully they go off and leverage some new (some old) skills to make things more efficient.

I modified the Google Applied Skills GSuite Certification curriculum and came up with this slide deck. Feel free to make a copy and modify for your own needs:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OdcPv1wExf-TjXPJ6r9k3EZ3CkPc_6E_8_V7idX8m00/edit?usp=sharing

Haida dice

The other day our math department head asked if woodworking could produce a set of Haida dice. These are small dice-like objects with one curved face used in games of chance. Landing on different faces scores different points; the size of each face dictates how many points the player receives.

Typically they are made of wood, perhaps a 1"x2" run against a round drum sander. However, since a class set was needed I suggested fabricating them on the 3D printers. We quickly mocked up a prototype in Tinkercad by simply using a stretched cube with a cylinder hole for the curved face. What made the production interesting was how much infill: a typical infill of 10%-25% would make it too light. We tried 50% and 100% and tested how well they landed and bounced. 50% was the winner!

We also discovered that in Tinkercad the cylinder shape has a small default "faces" setting. ie a cylinder is not perfectly smooth. Clicking the placed shape opens up its settings which includes a "sides" setting that lets you adjust the smoothness.

Upgrading iMacs to Catalina and Meraki MDM

I have been slowly updating our Makerspace iMacs to Catalina and enrolling them into Meraki. Lots of different reasons for this, but the most prominent is that major OS releases give me time to reflect on what worked well and didn't work out with the last OS. In this case, we shifted printing to student BYOD through Google Cloud Print so there was no need for students to use the iMacs anymore.

The Makerspace iMacs run in Guest Mode so it's easy to reset the machines and erase personal data with a reboot. I had big problems with using the macOS Recovery option (it only worked on 4 or 5 machines) so ended up downloading Catalina and installing it on two USB sticks and a MicroSD card using Install Disk Creator. One machine couldn't reformat the drive as APFS until I figured out Disk Utility was actually hiding the "device" -- going into the View menu allowed me to view devices and I was able to right-click (or Ctrl-click) the drive and format as APFS.

Once the machine was wiped and upgraded to Catalina I enrolled into Meraki. This involved:

1. System Preferences > Sharing. Rename the shared computer name using the convention "Makerspace iMac #"
2. System Preferences > Users. Turning on the Guest login and in Login Options setting it as the default login (so reboots will go directly into Guest).
3. Opening Safari and doing the mobile Meraki enrolment.

There was a bit of finagling behind the scenes with profiles. Using my admin iMac I created a profile that had a few settings Meraki cannot handle: the two colour printers, setting screensaver timeouts, turning on Content Caching. I used Apple Server for this, though only the Profile Manager component. Oddly, it opens in a web browser instead of the Server app. Once all profile settings are created I then downloaded the .mobileconfig file and uploaded to Meraki. I force pushed that profile and the Meraki macOS profile.

Note that Meraki suggests force downloading the Agent app -- I enabled that in the Meraki settings. It unlocks some additional power features, like Command Line and Remote Desktop. I used command line to turn on Remote Management so my Apple Remote Desktop can control the iMacs. I used this command:

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -activate -configure -access -on -restart -agent -privs -all

There might be a problem with some VPP apps not downloading. It might just be their size, specifically iMovie and Keynote. One iMac is definitely downloading. I'll have to double-check the others in a few days.

Next step to push out a custom wallpaper using Apple Remote Desktop. Meraki might be able to handle this -- it works really well with iOS and DEP iPads. Much much much easier than Configurator.

My GoogleEI mentor

This month I'll be checking in with Julie, my GoogleEI mentor. It'll only be the second time I've chatted with her since we've both been busy with start of school things. I'm really excited to be working with her. When I was searching for a mentor in London I specifically only looked at mentors that had elementary school experience so I can get relevant feedback on my Digital Citizenship boardgame.

One of my favourite things from the Innovator academy was the clear timeline of the upcoming year. I was provided with a mentor/mentee book and a roadmap GDoc that will help Julie and me plan out our meetings. To be honest, I haven't had much time to think about my Data Mine boardgame but these timed meetings really help in forcing me to stick to a schedule. Otherwise nothing will get done!

Conference proposal accepted!

Over the Thanksgiving long weekend I received word that my proposal for the teacher candidate conference was accepted! I'm excited that my STEM colleague and I get a chance to show teacher candidates how things work (or don't work) in a real classroom setting. We have a couple of months now to gather materials and get some talking points down. I would like to focus on small, easy STEM projects they can do in their classrooms or makerspaces with a healthy dose of practicality. Sometimes real world situations don't mimic textbooks or university classes.

Another focus would the integration of the ADST curriculum into our classes. It can be daunting for a teacher to consider yet another curriculum piece on top of what they're already doing, but I hope to show that the ADST is quite a simple add-on to already full teaching days.

Easy step-stools from 1x4s and 2x4s

Measurements for step-stools:

1x4x96:
15.5" x 3 (steps)
10.5" x 2 (side-tops)
7" x 2 (side-bottoms)
14" x1 (back)

2x4x96:
16" x 3 (steps)
7" x 2 (side-tops)
10.5" x 2 (side-bottoms)
13" x 1 (back)

Notes:

• cut the back piece last, after confirming everything else fits flush (you may need to adjust the length of the back piece)
• our 96" planks were actually 96.5" which meant we had an inch and a bit leftover, depending on the accuracy of the cuts
• thinner 1x4 planks obviously split more easily than thicker 2x4 planks so larger pilot holes should be made
• angled cuts introduce errors on pocket holes; ensure edges are flat before placing in jig
• dowels are difficult to flush cut, try wood filler

Laser cutter materials

Sent off a few quotes today to plastics suppliers for some acrylic sheets:

Hello, we are running a small laser cutter in our school and are looking for some acrylic/plastic that is safe to cut. We’d like a variety of colours, including transparent. It’s mostly for quick fun projects for kids so the materials does not need to be high quality.

Maximum sheet size is 12” x 20” but smaller is fine like 12” x 12”. Thickness 1/8” and ¼”.

Quantity of at least 10 sheets in 1/8” and ¼”, in maybe 5 different colours each? So a total of 100 sheets including shipping to the address below.

We've had really good success with the demo sheet that came with the Dremel LC40. Biggest issue was venting the smell, but it wasn't too bad for small jobs.
The cheapest sheets I've found so far are from Shop3D.ca for 1/8" at $8.75 per sheet. It's not bad for retail but wholesale cost is half that, but you'd have to cut it down yourself.
We had a big issue with using large 1/8" plywood sheets from Windsor Plywood: it was just too warped and bowed to lie flat on the bed. I tried every trick to flatten it out, including spritzing water and applying pressure but no luck. It would save alot of time just getting pre-cut flat sheets.
Dremel does sell its own pre-cut sheets but at ludicrous cost, around $12 USD a sheet!

Presentation proposals

Last week I submitted some proposals for two conferences: ISTE and a university teacher-training program. Doing more formal presentations is a part of my growth plan for this year. I'm aiming to present at least once in a local, national and international conference.
I enjoyed the process but it was very difficult narrowing down a topic that I felt I had enough expertise in. I am quite picky when I attend conferences and I spend quite a bit time planning my schedule. I want to make sure I honour the attendees that may choose mine.

For ISTE:

• Essential workflows for elementary school photo and video production [Proposal submission: Poster]
• Gotcha! Using the power of headlines to drive student responsibility [Proposal submission: Snapshot]
• Photoshopping fakes for the frugal photographer [Proposal submission: Creation lab]

Teacher candidate:

• Don't do what we did: Practical ADST tips for the STEAMy classroom