More EduSummit Business

I've put out a volley of tweets lately about #BBCmaths, the Mico:bit curriculum, which I learned a lot about @pycon.  Look for Youtubes of the conference demo (#Pycon2016).  Micro Python is sweet.

Or maybe check @4DsolutionsPDX for the gist of what I'm up to locally.  Look for a similar initiative in your city?

Free Geek is another one to check, when it comes to cannibalizing and recycling hardware for museum-like exhibits.  If you're just making a diorama, you won't need to plug it in, just make it look like it's working.

The Henry Ford Museum has a messy teenager's room, from back when we had teenagers (just jokin' with ya -- though no kidding it's a real exhibit).

That's a new twitter account BTW, launched to concentrate focus on #CodeCastle type ideas. Hammering out curriculum is what's challenging but we think BBC is onto something, in focusing on where software meets hardware.

Robotics branches off from here, automating the boring stuff per that No Starch Press title.

How do we pay ourselves to get the work done we want done?  That's where the management gurus come in, rising and shining every morning, circuit designers of working workflows.  Given the many time zones involved, when one wakes up and another one rests is anyone's guess, right?

Looking back to an earlier Youtube of mine, you'll see "P for Play" as a root (core) activity.  This is Montessori type thinking in that Play is not entirely unguided or free form.  Step motors, actuators, even forklifts may be involved, depending on prior experience, readiness, maturity.  There's jargon about "jobs".

Mentoring and apprenticeships go without saying (unless we forget and need reminding) and people need to survey the field to get a sense of what's happening.  Just a 24/7 "job fair" is not going to get across the true nature of the work involved.  Effective recruiting drives require some ability to communicate foreknowledge of the workplace or studio.

Fortunately, "P for Play" evolves and by the time we get to Algebra, we're ready for those oscilloscopes and hackable GPS devices.  Those fine motor skills developed using the Mico:bit pay off at some point (it's only credit-card sized).  We're by now accustomed to the idea of leveraging a controller language to make stuff work.