My students were the middle school winners of the Bright Idea Society Award sponsored by ViaSat. We were given a booth to showcase our projects. ViaSat provided transportation, shirts, and a $500 stipend to fund the booth. We had a month to get our project ready. Students worked during Maker Studio with me and lunch with Ms. Mallory to complete projects.
People LOVED the students' projects! The feedback we received was amazing. The kids ran the booth themselves and it was great to stand back and let them do their thing. The kids taught about how electric circuits work and Makey Makey invention kits.
Their projects were in the areas of art, gaming, light up, and music.
ART: The art projects included 3 posters. American Gothic, Rain Princess, and animal pictures. They all "talked." The farmer couple of American Gothic had wire glasses added, a bell necklace, and brad fastener buttons that would say things like "That tickles" when touched along with the copper or aluminum tape at the bottom. Touching the metal tape and metal embellishments completed the circuit. Students used MIT's Scratch to program the soundboards. Rain Princess had kissing sounds, lights breaking, leaves rustling, and more. The animal poster had a turtle that said a line from "Finding Nemo" along with a roaring lion and more.
GAMING: Our gaming projects included fun, creative ways to play PacMan and a mini drum set made out of skewers, bottle caps, and aluminum foil.
LIGHT UP: Students took large insulation pieces and strung multi-color LED copper lights to spell STEM. Students had people high five to complete the circuit and light up the STEM lights. Sometimes students had a parent touch their child's nose to complete the circuit. It was cute to watch kids touch their own nose and wonder why the lights didn't light up and then be surprised when the lights went on when mom or dad touched their nose. Students also liked to have large groups of people hold hands and to see how many people they could run the electricity through. This project was completed with a Power Tail II Switch. We watched a video that Liam from JoyLabz sent us. We also hooked up a voltage meter to see the amount of electricity in the circuit.
MUSIC: A Twister Mat that plays music???? Yes! Metal was added to the circles. Some had copper tape or wire. One circle had a metal Monopoly dog on it. Four Makey Makeys were coded and attached to the Twister mat in order to make it work. It was complicated and there were wires everywhere!
