Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Failure Fun #MakerEd #EdChat

I've been on a making binge lately. My wife called it my new obsession. She's right. I'm obsessed with taking ideas and using the tools available to make it happen. I've been playing with Raspberry Pi and I have written about playing with it and using for gaming and computing. I ordered a small 7 inch screen for my Pi because I wanted to create a portable device. Here is the screen with the Pi and the controller connected.

A photo posted by Nick Provenzano (@thenerdyteacher) on


It's not practical to walk around with all of this, so I needed to come up with a solution to my problem. I took some measurements, drafted some ideas on paper, slept on the design, thought some more, and finally started to print out pieces I designed on Tinkercad. Here are some shots I posted on Instagram.


The most important thing I can say about this very rough draft is that I screwed up big time in many different ways with this project. My measurements were not as accurate as I would have liked. I had to print some spacer bard on the front and on the side (The red bars). Trying to print the large part in black in one piece was a mistake and one of the pillars broke off on the front. I used Krazy Glue to bind the pieces together, but it just looks messy.

I've learned so much from this experience. I know where my mistakes were and how to correct them (I think) so the next version will be better. I have a better understanding of Tinkercad and my printer. I even have some better ideas on to improve the design and possibly change it to function like a briefcase so the screen is fully protected if I travel with it.

The best part about these failures is that I get to share them with my students. I've been very open about my work trying new things out and I have a group of students that see me most morning to talk tech and design. Some of them have started their own Pi projects and are excited to see where things are going with my projects as much as I am excited for updates on their projects.

As an educator, I feel it is important to share those failures with students and to let them know that it is just a step in the process. I have learned that my public failures can help me and others see that trying something new can lead to great leaps in learning. I want to lead my example for my students and I'm very lucky to have the chance to do that using these tools.

I'm having the most fun failing in a very long time. It's a love a learning and problem solving that has kept me going. I want to make sure that school is still a place that inspires students the same way.

Hugs and High Fives,

Nick

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