Doing something beyond ourselves

The last time I made an electronics project was in grade 9.  It was a light tree.  A large metal box would hook up to a stereo receiver and pick up the analogue audio signals.  The box would translate the signals into different frequencies which would light up one of the three different coloured lights hidden underneath light globes.  It's gone now, but I kept it around for decades.

There has been something stuck in my mind for some time: meaningful making in Connections-based Learning.

It is so natural.  When provoked by a connection, the natural question to ask our students is:

Now that we know what we know, and have seen what we have seen, and have met whom we have met, what are are we going to do about it?

But also:

What are we going to MAKE about it?

I found the perfect connection to develop my chops in meaningful making several months ago.

I met John Howe in Denver Colorado at ISTE 2016.  He is a pilot, a Smart Exemplary Educator, and a big proponent in STEM education as a STEM institute director. He was presenting in one of the digital playgrounds in front of a bunch of engaged educators.  During his presentation, he shared this video on Engineering Brightness.

I was floored.  This was it.  If ever there was a meaningful making endeavor, building lights to combat light poverty was it.  I stuck around after and asked John about this Engineering Brightness company.  He was clear to say that Engineering Brightness was "more of an association".  He shared about this association and the grass roots nature of the association between the handful of classes involved drew me in even more.

Addressing light poverty. Printed circuit boards. 3D printing. Soldering.

All this was well beyond my capabilities.  You know my experience with electronics: nothing since grade 9.  Add to that I had no supplies, no Makerspace, no 3D printing experience.  The only thing I could do was what I have been teaching my students all this time: make connections.

Really, to do anything amazing, you have to make connections.

I immediately made a connection with a fellow Canadian who had some experience in Engineering Brightness.

@ifoggs Heard about ur involvement w/ @Eng_Bright from @preSTEMhowe @ #ISTE2016 & interested in bringing 2 @rside43 in BC. Wanted to connect

— Sean Robinson (@sr_tutor) June 29, 2016

Ian Fogarty is an award winning high school teacher, a past NASA researcher and currently co-director for the SHAD network (to name only a small part of his impressive portfolio).  He lives on the other side of the country but he was quick to try to help me out.  We chatted over Skype and he shared his story and passion.  A few weeks later, I was surprised by a package he sent to me: a light prototype.

Meanwhile, I began a connection of another kind.  I sought funding for materials through My Class Needs and Fuel Your School.  Here is my "fund me" page.

At this point, the funding level is low.  In fact, I am not sure if I will get any funds in this way.  But should a perceived lack of funds stop the process?  Not without pressing deeper into the connections.  I added connections from teachers at my school.  Abraham and Ollie, two of our Industrial Design teachers, were quick to come on board.

Most recently I made a connection Eliadio Jimenez Made and his team in the Dominican Republic.  It began as this simple tweet.

@ejimenezmade No prob. Another thing: fighting #lightpoverty. Can U help us make a connection 2 those who need help? https://t.co/VjfPdqpypC

— Sean Robinson (@sr_tutor) November 5, 2016

I now have a Skype chat set up with Eladio, Dennis (also in the picture), and some of their students.  They will share some of the conditions of the communities surrounding them with my students and give me the chance to ask: so what are we going to do about it.

The idea here is that I have no idea where this is going to go.  And the much bigger idea is: that is okay.  If we are wanting to ask our students to step out of their comfort zones, share their work in portfolios, make meaningful connections, and do meaningful things, we must be willing to do this as educators ourselves.  Blog posts shouldn't only contain the successful, but the not-yet-successful, and the I-hope-this-works, as well.

I am excited to see where this goes and am enjoying the journey and relationships built on the way.

A Journey into Space

Our district has been given a microgravity experiment chamber and cargo space aboard a rocket travelling to the International Space Station.  That rocket will dock with the ISS and deliver the experiment to the astronauts living in the microgravity environment.  While there, an astronaut will carry out the specific instructions of the experiment. Finally, the experiment chamber will be loaded up for transport back to earth.  Meanwhile, the same experiment will be completed back in British Columbia.  The control group and the experimental space group will be compared and the effects of microgravity on the contents of the experimental chamber will be analyzed.

Sounds fictional doesn't it.  But it is actually true!  The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) allows students to participate in a real-life science process.  And real life science is competitive.  There is one spot for which hundreds of groups compete.  And I have students who really want to have that spot.

It is an amazing opportunity!  The big question is: how do we best steward this opportunity?  How do we maximize our talents?  How do teams in my class get to be the ones who have their experiment taken to space?

If there is one thing I know from my work with Connections-based Learning, we can't do this alone.  We used the Connections-based Learning lens to guide us as we created our experiments.  The Collaborate component is not meant to be a prescription but is to be used as a guide to leverage the connected world to learn.  Each facet reminds us how making connections can be part of the learning process.  To create a great SSEP experiment, making connections must be part of the plan.

CBL Infographic by Sean Robinson and Leigh Cassell

Design

Immediately we got down to the business of design. 

Using pages in our OneNote class notebook, students grouped up and began to brainstorm ideas about possible experiments.  What do we as a global community need to know about microgravity?  What are we curious about regarding gravity?  What even wacky ideas do we have that we could try? OneNote documents were created for groups of three students and each student would add to the document from their devices.

On another OneNote class notebook page, students were asked questions about some of the non-negotiables of their collaboration.  Goals and collaboration principles were established.

Network

As students searched through websites to see what has gone before, some contacted groups who had previously participated in the SSEP.  Here is an excerpt from one of the students blogs:

Some connected with Simon Fraser University students to guide them as the students teased out meaningful questions to explore in a microgravity environment.  As they emailed back and forth, students were able to build ideas about possible experiments.

Students we able to attend an SSEP gathering at Heritage Woods Secondary where they made even more connections with experts.

Create

Before the creation of an experiment could take place, students needed to develop competencies and skills in certain areas.  I had to teach some students about the effects of different acids while some needed to learn about bacteria.  We used agar plates to gather and experiment on bacteria.  Students also examined what had gone on before during the SSEP flights.  Each group studied a previous mission to glean important information to guide them in their own experiment.  In the end, the students created an experiment of their own and began to write up their proposal to submit to the SSEP committee.

Celebrate

Students continued to document their process.  They took pictures that they will later publish on their blogs.  They kept track of emails they sent and information that they received back from collaborators.  And as much as possible (this is a competition) they worked out loud, making connections with university students, other teachers, and the teacher librarian.  All this will be published after the competition in their digital portfolios where students, teachers, and parents can read and comment.

Soon the winning experiment will be chosen and we will find out if one of our groups will be sending an experiment into space.  Regardless of the outcome, participating in the SSEP experience was amazing and throughout the process, learning happened.  That learning will be celebrated and shared out to support future SSEP participants.  Moreover the meaningful learning relationships students made will be connections they can tap into for the future as they curate their learning network.  This is Connections-based Learning.