Girls Who Code 6-week program wrapped up in Battle Ground on 11/4. 7 of the original
9 girls completed all six weeks of the program and were excited for another round of
programming.
The weekly projects for Girls Who Code were determined using feedback submitted by
the girls at each meeting. BG’s program completed the following projects:
9 girls completed all six weeks of the program and were excited for another round of
programming.
The weekly projects for Girls Who Code were determined using feedback submitted by
the girls at each meeting. BG’s program completed the following projects:
Week 1: GIF and website build using Made with Code (language: blockly) and
Trinket.io (language: HTML)
Trinket.io (language: HTML)
Week 2: Video Game Design using Make Code (language: Blockly)
Week 3: Video Game Design using Make Code (language: Blockly, Javascript)
Week 4: Video Game Round Robin Testing
Week 5:Game Design in Unity (language: C#)
Week 6: celebrate with friends and family
BG’s project website: https://gwcclub-wa18616-2019.weebly.com/
We also have 2 adults interested in assisting at the next Girls Who Code in BG.
STEM @ Green Mountain 11/15 I arranged with the community library to host a quarterly
STEM project at Green Mountain Elementary. November's project: Crappy Robotics for 4th and
5th graders!
Vancouver Community Library's Crappy Robotics Tournament
11/19 I hosted the 3rd Annual Crappy Robotics Tournament at Vancouver Community
Library. 45 people attended this program, including one participant who has attended all
3 years’ of this program at VA. Participant age ranged from 3-45 and we saw a lot of families
working together, and some siblings working against each other, to build the crappiest robot.
Finding enough chassis for everyone has proven difficult and I am looking into
creating a simple battery-operated chassis for 2020. The final battle came down to
Destructo Kitty and the Baconator:
11/19 I hosted the 3rd Annual Crappy Robotics Tournament at Vancouver Community
Library. 45 people attended this program, including one participant who has attended all
3 years’ of this program at VA. Participant age ranged from 3-45 and we saw a lot of families
working together, and some siblings working against each other, to build the crappiest robot.
Finding enough chassis for everyone has proven difficult and I am looking into
creating a simple battery-operated chassis for 2020. The final battle came down to
Destructo Kitty and the Baconator:
Stevenson STEM Wednesday 11/13 This month, the 2nd and 4th Wednesday focused on
using the Edison robots. We incorporated coding the robots for older participants.
Everyone enjoyed building with LEGOs and having the robots interact with each other and
people.
11/25 STEM @ Clark County Juvenile Detention Center
November’s project focused on exploring with Cubelets. We offered 2 sessions, with 15
students. Their teacher commented that she appreciates how this project was simple enough
for all students to have success, and complicated enough to provide a unique challenge to
the more advanced students. The teacher commented that one of the JDC students generally
doesn’t interact during class, but he was very engaged with today’s activity and she really
appreciated seeing him open up.
District Partnerships
VR @ Adult Services Training Day. I demonstrated the Oculus Rift and Go during Adult
Services Training Day. My colleague shared his experience taking the Gos to Outreach
at an assisted living facility. Several attendees indicated interest in trying out this program.
The 2 Oculus Gos owned by Program Services have been made into a kit for the branches
to borrow.
Services Training Day. My colleague shared his experience taking the Gos to Outreach
at an assisted living facility. Several attendees indicated interest in trying out this program.
The 2 Oculus Gos owned by Program Services have been made into a kit for the branches
to borrow.
Covered La Center’s 3D Design 11/7 and 3D Printer Certification 11/14. We had a full
room for 3D Design (11 people) and Certification (10 people). Ages varied from 12 to
senior with one group of 3 generations (grandson, daughter, grandpa) certifying together to
use the printer.
Fixed Vancouver Community Library’s 3D printer. The glass plate chipped on the corner
and metal bed mount damaged. I replaced plate with duplicate from dead 3D printer and
inserted a longer screw to hold the calibration washer in place.
and metal bed mount damaged. I replaced plate with duplicate from dead 3D printer and
inserted a longer screw to hold the calibration washer in place.
Covered Stevenson’s STEM Wednesday
11/27. We had 6 people attend this program to play with Edison robots. One 4 year old cried
when her mother told her they had to leave.
11/27. We had 6 people attend this program to play with Edison robots. One 4 year old cried
when her mother told her they had to leave.
February 2020 Leap Into Science Storytime arranged at all 12 branches.
A group of us received Leap Into Science last Spring and have arranged to host programs
at all the branches, taking over a normal storytime during National Leap Into Science
Week (2/24-29).
A group of us received Leap Into Science last Spring and have arranged to host programs
at all the branches, taking over a normal storytime during National Leap Into Science
Week (2/24-29).
Community Partnerships
11/9 Girls in STEM @ Heritage High School (Evergreen School District).
This is our 2nd year participating in this event. We hosted two 50-minute sessions and
a project table during lunch. Our 50-minute project focused on building a marble maze
using the game engine Unity. I built the base assets and scripts for this project ahead
of time and students focused on working with the tools to get used to the build environment.
We had a very positive response to this project. 36 students opted in for our session. We
created custom icons using perler beads in honor of Susan Kare. 250 Girls, boys,
non-binary individuals, and their parents attended this event, including 3 students from my
Girls Who Code clubs (Cascade Park and Battle Ground). A colleague from
Vancouver Community Library and a superstar volunteer assisted.
This is our 2nd year participating in this event. We hosted two 50-minute sessions and
a project table during lunch. Our 50-minute project focused on building a marble maze
using the game engine Unity. I built the base assets and scripts for this project ahead
of time and students focused on working with the tools to get used to the build environment.
We had a very positive response to this project. 36 students opted in for our session. We
created custom icons using perler beads in honor of Susan Kare. 250 Girls, boys,
non-binary individuals, and their parents attended this event, including 3 students from my
Girls Who Code clubs (Cascade Park and Battle Ground). A colleague from
Vancouver Community Library and a superstar volunteer assisted.
+ tour of new teen maker lab. The newly formed PDX Makerspace Coalition met for the first
time. This group is organized by the Portland Youth Builders Organization and is focused
on sharing maker skills and knowledge with one another and the community. In
attendance, representatives from MultCoLib and BeavertonLib. I spoke to one of the
Beaverton librarians in September at OMSI Maker Faire. She indicated she attended my
OLA/WLA conference session “Make Easy” last April and was inspired to join the
makerspace workgroup formed at Beaverton library. They hope to open their makerspace
in January 2020. The next meeting for this group is February 2020.
We also had the opportunity to tour OMSI’s new teen maker space (partially funded by
Best Buy).
This area is free for teens to use, but has limited open hours (mostly after school).
The space is located on the 2nd floor in the interactive play space. Their
makerspace features:
Best Buy).
This area is free for teens to use, but has limited open hours (mostly after school).
The space is located on the 2nd floor in the interactive play space. Their
makerspace features:
Tinker table with passive activities (perler beads, button maker)
Sewing/knitting/crafting supply closet
10 computers loaded with Adobe Creative Suite
Large drawing tablet
3 iMacs (1 for 3D modeling + Ultimaker printer, 2 sound station)
Green screen
Instruments and Digital Audio Workstations
1 sound booth
Vancouver Community Library.. 20 teacher librarians attended to learn more about how to
integrate maker activities and maker spaces into their schools. Hillary Marshall from
Washougal School District and Craig Seasholes from Dearborn Elementary (Seattle)
conducted the training. I met Hillary Marshall through the Washougal Community Library
in 2016. Hillary was just starting out in makerspace activities and I helped her plan
and conduct activities until Hillary was comfortable leading programs. :).
In general, most teacher librarians find themselves suddenly in charge of maker tools
and spaces with little knowledge or training in these tools. Attendees discussed how maker
tools in schools can help students engage in learning even if they struggle with traditional
educational structures. Attendees mentioned struggling with giving up some “control”
over the space and taking a step back from educating to guiding.
They shared their curated list of maker activities aligned with school standards:
https://padlet.com/mlarsen4/4chwf5g963hv
Washougal high school sees ~125 students in their makerspace over lunch breaks.
The attendees discussed the desire to try out STEM tools before committing to them for their
school. Some places to access STEM tools: 4H/WSU has STEM tubs you can check out.
Also host summer camps. R. David OMSI and California State Parks has a Skype option
for classrooms. Microsoft hosts Skype calls with authors in February. We also discussed
that FVRL has access to a lot of these tools and could partner with schools to host the
equipment at their school.
We also discussed the option of partnering with the school district to host a ½ day Maker
Day during teacher professional development days.
I learned about the Hummingbird Kit and think this might be a valuable addition to FVRL’s
MicroBit set.
I also learned about the Apple Store Teacher Tuesdays https://www.apple.com/today/pioneerplace/
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