§ This was our last full week of school. There are only two more days of classes next week and then that’s it.
This might be a good time to mention that I will be starting a new job at the end of June. It is a new position at my city’s science museum that touches on a little bit of everything: some programming work, new interactive exhibit design, even some curriculum development and teaching. I am excited!
§ I have spent this entire fourth quarter of the school year teaching my third and fourth grade students using the Circuit Playground microcontrollers.
I started simple: light up the onboard LEDs. Then I added a new tiny building bock each lesson: buttons, switches, RGB color codes, how each of the built-in sensors work…
Throughout the quarter, I had three big projects.
First: Take the knowledge you have of all of the Circuit Playground’s sensors and devise a method to detect when someone picks up the circuit board.
The students came up with so many creative solutions. Some used the accelerometer, others used the photoresistor, a few even used the capacitive touch pads that surround the board. Most students realized that using a combination of multiple sensors works best.
Everyone had lots of fun testing each other’s projects. I got to take on the role of “the mastermind Circuit Playground thief”. It was great.
The second big project was to recreate the classic arcade game Cyclone, step by step. The students loved creating their own gameplay variants.
Finally, all of this is culminated in a big end of the year project that I am especially excited about.
Each student thought of a research question—Is the lunch room louder on Mondays or Fridays? Which group gets more exercise at recess—those playing soccer or football?—then they used the Circuit Playground boards to collect relevant data. After collecting their data, they analyzed it to see whether or not their hypothesis was correct.
Overall, I have immensely enjoyed teaching with these boards.
§ One week later, I still really like the reMarkable tablet. You can really only do two things—read and draw—so it is hard to get distracted while using it. I have been reading much more than I typically would.
It is actually easier to get new articles and books on the device than I anticipated. For the most part this is great, but it doesn’t do much to encourage me to stick with reading one thing at a time. Consequently, I have been jumping around a lot, reading a bit of everything.
§ I got beta access to Google’s new generative AI search features. The UI feels a bit busy and confusing, particularly on mobile, but the overall functionality is actually better than I expected.
Unfortunately, it only works in Chrome and the Google iOS app right now. I can’t wait for it to come to Safari.
§ I am getting dangerously close to becoming a mushroom forager. I’ve got the books.
