Hands On is Key to Learning

ScienceFest is always a huge event for our community. Once a year our middle school is loaded with all sorts of people who dedicated and volunteer their time to help bring science, STEM, and engineering alive for kids and adults of all ages.

Each year I am asked to help. I am lucky to call on my Robodogs to help out with support in the room. Each year we have our First LEGO League board on display to show families what we do.

However, by now most people are aware of FLL and most are not coming to simply listen.

This year we planned for stations. We had a lot of stations geared for all levels. I could not believe how busy our room was for three solid hours.

It just proved once again that the makerspace culture and mindset is so vital to learning and challenging what we know and what we think we can create.

Here is what we had setup(you can see everything in the movie below)

1. FLL Trash Trek Challenge
2. LEGO City Free Build Table
3. Trebuchet Kit
4. Vibrobots
5. Balance Blocks
6. Marble Maze
7. Cardboard Robot Arms
8. K’NEX Bridge Builder

I had everything setup with some Hans Zimmer in the background. As kids walked in we explained and let them explore as needed.

The most powerful moments of the day were the vibrobots. As students and adults learned how it became a true maker community watching strangers teach one another and help with tools and creation. It become a community movement requiring no help at all from me allowing me to watch, observe, and answer specific questions about a 1000 different things like 3D Printing, STEM, CNC Machines, robotics, etc. Human nature took over when the play environment was established.

A great day of learning not only for me but for all. So don’t be bashful get out there and start making!