Tom Heck

PROJECT OVERVIEW

High school students design appropriate Assistive Technology solutions for elementary students with physical and cognitive disabilities.

WHO

Ten high school students enrolled in a year-long Computer Science course taught by Joe Speier at the Asheville School , a college preparatory school located in West Asheville. These ten students participated in a special project-based Engineering Design class taught by Tom Heck during the month of May 2014.

Working in teams, the Asheville School students designed and and built prototypes of appropriate Assistive Technology solutions for exceptional students enrolled at Hall Fletcher Elementary School (HFE) located in Asheville, NC. The design solutions were intended to help students interact with computer programs (games) in new ways. We worked closely with Kelly Blount and Amy Floyd, the HFE special education teaching team, throughout the project. This project was endorsed by Dr. Gordon Grant, who was the award winning school principal at HFE at the time.

BACKGROUND

Jason Webb developed a “DIY Assistive Technology project” outlined in detail HERE. Inspiration for this project came from Jason's work.

Lucas Steuber is a colleague of Jason Webb's, and like Jason, is also blazing a trail with DIY Assistive Technology. Lucas was very helpful throughout this project. 

The Assistive Technology prototypes we created utilized a versatile computer interface design platform called a Makey Makey which was developed at the MIT Media Lab. The Makey Makey is a $50 invention kit for the 21st century. It turns everyday objects into touchpads allowing for quick prototyping of creative Assistive Technology solutions. 

I was inspired by Purdue University's "EPICS" High School program (Engineering Projects in Community Service) which teaches human centered design and engineering by getting students out into the community to solve real problems for real people.

During this short course I introduced the students to Stanford University's Design School process. 

SCHEDULE

April 1-30 -- I call a list of agencies who can help me connect with a group of students with physical disabilities. These agencies include: FIRST Community Resource Center, Asheville City Schools Foundation, Buncombe County School's Progressive Education Program (PEP), Asheville City Schools Exceptional Children's Program, Care Partners, Buncombe County Schools "Special Services", Mission Children's Hospital, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation, North Carolina Assistive Technology Program, Disability Partners, Carolina Pediatric Therapy, and others. I worked with Charlie Glazener, the media contact for the Asheville City Schools system to secure permission to take photos and video of the elementary students.

May 1, 2014 -- Class # 1 (90 min.) Asheville School students board a bus and travel to HFE to meet with the teachers and students. The goal for this trip was to build rapport and empathy (step #1 of the Stanford D-School process). 

May 2 -- Class # 2 (45 min.) Asheville School students are introduced to the Makey Makey.

May 8 -- Class # 3 (90 min.) Asheville School students select the game they intend to play and begin building prototype. 

May 12 -- Class # 4 (45 min.) Asheville School students refine designs and test each other's designs. Prepare for Class #5 (return to HFE). 

May 15 -- Class #5 (90 min.) Asheville School students travel to HFE by bus and meet with the students to test their prototypes (see video above). 

May 19 -- Class #6 (45 min.) Asheville School students debrief the experience. 

RESOURCES

Jason Webb's "Instructable" on DIY Assistive Technology HERE

Another resource from Jason HERE

Makey Makey blog post about Assistive Technology is HERE. 

Overview of the Makey Makey for educators of students with diverse needs HERE

DIY Ability website HERE

Makey Makey website HERE

Makey Makey "LABZ" website HERE

Makey Makey for Computer Access workshop (video) HERE  -- NOTE: A guest on this show is one of the developers of the Makey Makey!

Dr. Amy Hurst at the University of Maryland Baltimore is doing amazing work around DIY Assistive Technology.

Switch Accessible Games

• SpecialBites
• ShinyLearning
• One Switch Activities

Car (driving) games HERE

Learn how to download flash games HERE

RESEARCH: Evaluating Accessibility in Fabrication Tools for Children (click link below)

On March 20, 2014 Asheville Makers led a "Learn To Solder" event at the West Asheville Library.

It was the first free and open to the public learn how to solder event ever held in Asheville and it was a huge success.

We had students age 8 to 80 learning how to solder a blinking "robot badge"  found at the Maker Shed. 

Because of generous donations from area businesses, this event was free! Big thank you goes out to Efficiency Lab and On Haywood.

Thank you to all of our great soldering teachers. Without you this would not have been the great event it was. 

Avi Silverman and Tom Heck of Asheville Makers recently met with representatives of the Asheville City - Buncombe County Library System who are very excited about the Maker Movement. We'll be partnering to lead more free and open to the public events!

On March 12,  2014 I visited  A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School of Engineering in Greenville, SC and led three 90 minute hovercraft workshops (one for each of the three 5th grade classes).

Read an article about this amazing school in The Atlantic  CLICK HERE

Here's the 2 minute highlight video: 

The workshop starts with a discussion comparing Engineering and Science. We then discuss the Engineering Design Process and compare it to the Scientific Method. Then we discuss friction and determine if it is good or bad. This leads to a discussion about hovercrafts, friction, and "lift". Then we start building mini hovercrafts out of old CDs and balloons. 

We then discuss the difference between "lift" and "thrust" -- both are critical for hovercraft locomotion. Students experiment with a balloon as it provides thrust.

With an understanding of lift and thrust it's time to ride the big hovercraft powered by a leaf blower.

At the end of the day I led a 60 minute workshop for the teaching staff on "How To Teach Leadership in the Engineering Classroom". This is a fun, experiential workshop that got the teachers talking about leadership and teamwork in their classroom. I led activities found in the IATF Team Building Games Archive found inside the IATF Members Only Area. 

Big thanks to Mr. Hamilton Parks of A.J. Whittenberg School of Engineering who made this day possible. 

Educator Robert Pronovost describes how he is working to create Makerspaces in schools.

Making a Makerspace in Schools

Rockets made from paper and powered by compressed air are one of my favorite projects to lead with kids. 

A quick google search will point you to several launcher designs and I've included the design I most like below. Click on the link below to download the PDF.

Download Rocket_launcher_plans

Although the above plans do work, I've made some improvements to the pressurization valve and the air release system. 

Click on the photo below to view larger version of the pressurization valve (different than what is shown in the plans above).

I've replaced the 3/4 inch "ball valve" (item # 13 in the plans) with a battery operated sprinkler valve I purchased through amazon. You can find this valve at amazon by searching for:

Orbit 57100 3/4-Inch Female Pipe Threaded Auto Inline Sprinkler Valve

The above valve easily replaces the 3/4 ball valve described in the plans. The sprinkler valve works well with a simple 9 volt battery. I purchased the black plastic box that holds the battery at Radio Shack. The "launch activator" was made from PVC pipe I had laying around and the red button that completes the circuit (battery, sprinkler valve, launch activator) was purchased at Radio Shack. The battery box hinge is a piece of black duct tape. I keep the lid closed with velcro. The box is attached to the PVC pipe with a hose clamp.

The sprinkler valve is superior to the ball valve because it releases air quicker allowing you to launch rockets higher with lower air pressure. A well made paper rocket will launch hundreds of feet in the air with only 45 pounds of pressure when using the sprinkler valve. To get that same kind of elevation with the ball valve you would need a much higher pressure (90 psi). 

Below I've attached a one page PDF "template" that, if printed on a sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper or card stock, allows you to make a rocket. See the video below at the bottom of this post to learn how to make a rocket from the PDF template.

Download Maker_rocket_template_022314

If this type of thing interests you than please check out MAKE Magazine and attend a Maker Faire. I'm a member of the Asheville Maker Community. 

Watch the video below to learn how to make a rocket using the template found above. 

Marshmallow Challenge

During the 2013 Project Connect Conference held at the Asheville School in Asheville, NC I presented a workshop entitled "Introduction to STEM Education. This post acts as a resource pages for this workshop. 

My workshop co-facilitator was Ed Maggart who is the new Head of School at The College School in St. Louis. Ed is a long time friend and has been teaching Science and Mountaineering for 30+ years.

1. Engineering Design Challenge -- Participants in this workshop learned about the T and the E of STEM education through an "engineering design challenge" I created called "Time Aloft". Click on the link below to download a description of the challenge.

Download Time_aloft_engineering_design_challenge

2. Soda Bottle Launcher -- The challenge required participants to launch a tennis ball using an AquaPod.  CLICK HERE to learn more about the AquaPod soda bottle launcher.

3. Flow Chart -- Ed and I developed a workshop flow chart to help manage our time.

Download Workshop Flow Chart

4. Posters -- I created posters for this workshop and hung them around the room. I referred to the posters during the workshop. Click on the links below to download copies of these documents.

  Download Branches_of_engineering

Download Engineering_defined

Download Engineering_design_process

Download Math defined

Download Next gen science quote

Download Science defined

Download Scientist_vs_engineer

Download Technology defined

5. Curriculum -- During this workshop I mentioned the STEM curriculum known as Engineering By Design which was developed by the ITEEA (see below). I strongly believe this curriculum is perfect for those working in independent schools.

4. Video Message from ITEEA President & CEO -- Towards the end of the workshop participants viewed a video message from Steve Barbato who is the President & CEO of the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association located in Washington, DC. I met with Steve prior to this workshop and shared details about the conference and details about this particular workshop. Steve developed a custome message for workshop attendees. The video is embeded below. Click on the link directly below to download a PDF copy of Steve's message.

  Download ITEEA_SKYPE_Presentation_for Project_Connect_NC_Final_with_Edits

New article over at IEEE says:

Forget the dire predictions of a looming shortfall of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians.

CLICK HERE to keep reading...

IEEE is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity.

Teaching electronics to kids (especially young kids) can be challenging. Here's a cool product that makes it easy and fun. 

LittleBits -- electronic modules that snap together with magnets for prototyping, learning and fun.

The Journal of STEM Education promotes high-quality undergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology through peer reviewed articles.

Click on the link below to learn what an engineering "design brief" looks like. 

Download Crane Strain Design Brief from ITEEA

"The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) represent a commitment to integrate engineering design into the structure of science education by raising engineering design to the same level as scientific inquiry when teaching science disciplines at all levels, from kindergarten to grade 12."

http://www.nextgenscience.org/next-generation-science-standards

PBS TV reports on a school in Maine where teachers have swapped traditional curriculum for an unusually comprehensive science curriculum that emphasizes problem-solving, with a little help from some robots. This is one of the best examples I've seen of "integrative STEM education" in the media.

We Are All Makers -- TED talk 

Fab Labs in the Schools -- 12 minute talk by Paulo Bilkstein

Chris Rogers -- Teaching STEM with a Camera and a Brick or Two

MakerBot -- 3D desktop printing

STEM Labs

What does a STEM lab look like?

Alternate names for a STEM lab are "Fab Lab" (short for Fabrication Laboratory), "Maker Space", "Hacker Space".

Fab Lab -- High School Fabrication Laboratory in California. Click on an image to enlarge. CLICK HERE to read the article.

Maker Space

Dr. Mark Sanders, Professor Emeritus, Integrative STEM Education, Virginia Tech is a pioneer in integrative STEM (iSTEM) education. His iSTEM education research began with the Technology/ Science/Mathematics Integration Project funded by NSF (1991-1996). In 2003, he envisioned the unique Integrative STEM Education graduate program, which he and colleague John Wells established in 2005 at Virginia Tech. VT's iSTEM Ed Graduate Program (which offers both F2F and online courses) enrolls about 50 S, T, E, M, and elementary teachers / administrators, about half of whom are doctoral candidates.

There are many definitions of "STEM education" but only one for "Integrative STEM Education," which was developed and implemented by Sanders & Wells at Virginia Tech (2006-2010): 

"Integrative STEM education refers to technological/engineering design-based learning approaches that intentionally integrate the concepts and practices of science and/or mathematics education with the concepts practices of technology and engineering education. Integrative STEM education may be enhanced through further integration with other school subjects, such as language arts, social studies, art, etc."  (Sanders & Wells, 2006-2010).

In Sanders' words,  "Integrative STEM education intentionally situates S, T, E, & M teaching & learning in the context of technological/engineering design activity. In contrast, most educators and politicians have (inappropriately) been using "STEM Education" when referring primarily (or solely) to math and science instruction, a practice that marginalizes the T&E components of integrative STEM education... to the detriment of STEM teaching and learning.

The following papers elaborating on Integrative STEM education are “must reads”:

Download Sanders.TERC Paper

Download Sanders.ISTEM.Ed.TTT.ISTEM.Ed.+Def

Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) developed by Purdue University. Get your students working in your community solving REAL engineering design challenges.

MAKE Magazine  is the magazine for the "Maker Community". Published quarterly, it is filled with ideas and inspiration. 

Maker Education Initiative The mission of the Maker Education Initiative is to create more opportunities for young people to make, and, by making, build confidence, foster creativity, and spark interest in science, technology, engineering, math, the arts—and learning as a whole.

HowToSmile.org  Database of 3,560 Science & Math activities. SMILE is collecting the best educational materials on the web and creating learning activities, tools, and services – all designed especially for those who teach school-aged kids in non-classroom settings.

Sources for STEM Curriculum

Engineerring By Design is a K-12 curriculum developed by the International Technology & Engineering Education Association (ITEEA)

Project Lead The Way (PLTW)

Engineering the Future is a high school curriculum from the Boston Museum of Science.

Design Squad Nation by PBS offers lots of free resources for teachers including activities and training.

As I come across more STEM curriculum models I'll add them to this page.

On February 19, 2013  I spoke at IGNITE Asheville. 

My talk was entitled "Adventures of a Geek Dad" and I won 1st place! The crazy thing is, I tried to back out of this event a couple of times. I honestly didn't think many people would be interested in what I had to say.

Although I've given many talks, this one was among the most difficult to prepare for and deliver. 

The difficulty stemmed from the format:  5 minutes long and slides auto advance every 20 seconds. 5 minutes is such a short amount of time. Every word counts. You'll see in the video that I got behind / out of sync with my slides - - so easy to do.

Assembling my slides took way longer then expected because I realized I had too much to say in 5 minutes and that meant I had too many slides. I had to eliminate, pair down, refine, etc. Not easy for a guy that likes to talk a lot.

The event organizers (all great people) provided a speaking coach and she was AWESOME. Her name is Angie Flynn-McIver of Executive Repertory. Angie met with me one-on-one and listened to my talk and asked me to make a couple of simple yet important changes. 

Here are a few resources that helped a lot:

Scott Berkun -- Why And How To Give An IGNITE Talk

Scott Berkun's blog post on the same subject

IGNITE's tips for beginners

Jason Grigsby's "How To Give a Successful Ignite Presentation"

I bounced some ideas off of Ken Denmead at GeekDad.com (Thank you Ken!).

The biggest realization I had was how vulnerable I felt talking about parenting, my kids, and doing geeky stuff with my kids. The place was sold out with 420 in attendance and I just wasn't used to talking on a subject so personal in front of so many people. 

Towards the end of my talk you'll see me get a little choked up when the slide of my daughter's thank you card is on the screen. That was a surprise. I practiced my talk so many times and not once did I have an emotional reaction to my daughter's card. Sharing that image with hundreds of people really did get me connected with why I do this Geek Dad stuff - - it's a great way to spend time with my kids.

 You'll hear me mention the weekend Hovercraft Project and the Adventure Tower project. 

On Saturday February 9, 2013 my daughter and her friend helped me build a hovercraft. In just two hours we were floating across the floor!

We started with one 4'x4' piece of plywood (4 ply) that is 1/2 inch thick.

Lift is provided by an electric TORO leaf blower but I plan to upgrade to a cordless (battery powered) leaf blower.I prefer electric over gas power because I plan to only use this indoors.

For the hovercraft to move forward it must be pushed (or pulled).

The hovercraft worked great on the cement floor of the warehouse. It did not work well outside on asphalt (pavement).

This hovercraft was inspired by a project in the MAKE Magazine blog HERE.

Science of hovercrafts found HERE.