Make:cast

Matt Zigler is the author of a new book for educators titled "3 Modes of Making." He talks about imitation, modification and innovation as three different modes of student projects,  which can develop different maker skills.  Matt is an artist and educator who has been running the makerspace at Bullis, an independent school in the DC area.  He brings a background in art and creative practice to the makerspace and his school.  it's not that every student  is going to be an artist but every student should develop a creative practice, regardless of subject or area of interest.https://open.substack.com/pub/makered/p/maker-clubs-classes-and-hubsPrint - https://www.makershed.com/products/3-modes-of-making-print PDF - https://www.makershed.com/products/make-three-modes-of-making-pdfFor a transcript, go to: https://makezine.com/article/education/making-as-a-creative-practice/ http://makezine.com

Trying to repair almost anything can be a frustrating exercise.  Repair is made more difficult by the way devices are designed and the ability to repair a device could be improved greatly if different design decisions were made.  This moment in time demands a new generation of designers, engineers and makers to consider how to make products that can be more easily and safely repaired by more people.  My guest on this episode is Jude Pullen, a creative technologist from the UK. "What's really exciting, both about technology and creativity, is putting them side by side and seeing why we do things and considering what we can do given the capabilities of technology and our own imagination."   Pullen's curiosity about why he couldn't easily replace the batteries in his headphones led him to explore the reasons why repair has become even more difficult over time.  He wrote a multi-part series called "The Fight For Repair" on Design Spark.  https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/the-fight-to-repair-introThe global Right to Repair movement was a subject we featured in Make: Magazine Volume 80 last year,  The War on Repair.For a transcript, video and photos, check out the companion article on Makezine:https://makezine.com/article/electronics/design_to_repair/http://makezine.com

This episode features an interview with the authors of a new book titled "AI Robots." which includes Reade Richard, Andy Forest, Brenda Shivanandan and Denzel Edwards. The book is designed to teach kids how to build AI-powered projects using hands-on activities and coding. The authors discuss the different sections of the book, which include physical build, electronics, coding with Micro:bit, and adding AI capabilities. They emphasize the importance of integrating different subjects, such as STEM, in a project-based way. The book aims to empower students and parents to explore AI technology and learn how to use it responsibly.https://www.makershed.com/products/make-ai-robots-printhttp://makezine.com

My guest on this episode of Make:cast is Jim Sweeney, the treasurer of NoVA Labs, a community makerspace in northern Virginia. Jim talks honestly about the challenges of growing a makerspace. With 700 members and many programs for young makers in the community, NoVA Labs has a bold vision of what a makerspace can be and Jim is determined to realize that vision in his community. NoVA Labs is thriving with plans to host a Maker Faire against next spring. http://makezine.com

A conversation between Dale Dougherty, the founder of Make Magazine and Maker Faire, and Brian Wagner, an educator, coder, and maker.  Brian Wagner talks about his life as a maker from his first encounter with computers to his current career in teaching and creating a how-to-code video course. They discuss his early fascination with computers, transitioning into engineering and teaching, his experiences in founding a hackerspace, and his efforts in introducing youngsters to coding. Brian emphasizes the importance of a growth mindset and talks about the connection between making and coding, indicating both to be essential skills. He also shares his experience about launching his own online platform "Coding with Mr Wagner".http://makezine.com

Chris Walker dropped out of Dartmouth and became a Thiel Fellow in 2013.  He had an idea for a math video game that was inspired by the TI 84 graphing calculator.  He tried creating an educational video game studio but it didn't work out.  He joined Hack Club, a student-led educational intiative that started teaching coding but has branched out.  Hack Club's founder, Zach Latta, was also a Thiel Fellow.  Chris started Castle Bravo as a personal project -- with the idea of turning a bouncy castle into a boat -- a motorized floating bouncy castle.  He's now working with young people to create a solar-powered version.  Chris will bring the current version to Maker Faire Bay Areahttp://makezine.com

Donnell Layne and Jason Kennedy developed the iMAKE Innovation Center  Makerspace at Moreno Valley College in Southern California, an Hispanic-serving community college. They talk about developing the space to meet the needs of students and faculty as well as the broader community. They also see it as a space that is growing into the future,  just like the students.iMAKE Innovation Center- https://mvc.edu/student-support/academic-support/innovation-center.phpMoreno Valley College - https://www.mvc.edu/http://makezine.com

My guests on this episode are the authors of Make Trigonometry, Build Your Way from Triangles to Analytic Geometry, Joan Horvath and Rich Cameron.  Make Trigonometry is the third math book that Joan and Rich have written with us, the previous books being Make Geometry and Make Calculus.Joan calls herself a recovering rocket scientist. In that career, she worked on spacecraft headed to distant planents.  Her co-author, Rich, has a very different background as an open source developer who has been involved in 3D printing since its emergence in the maker community.   Together they have come up with a way to teach math using 3D models that turn math into a hands-on learning experience for students. Book: https://www.makershed.com/products/make-trigonometry-printVisit Makezine.com for photos and a video of some of the objects discussed in this podcast. https://makezine.com/article/maker-news/trig-the-oldest-practical-math/http://makezine.com

Assemble is a leading example of a community-oriented creative space focused on the needs of youth, providing summer and afterschool programming that is fun, expressive and personal. Nina Barbuto is the founder and director of Assemble, which serves youth and adults in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Starting and growing a community makerspace is hard, but Nina has persisted in building out this creative space and its programs since 2011.Before starting Assemble, Nina graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a degree in architecture and she got her master's at Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI -Arc). While in LA, she was inspired by the creative space, Machine Project, that was developed by Mark Allen. And when she returned to Pittsburgh, she did odd jobs and such while she reached out to people in the community to join her in making and creating Assemble. Links: https://make.co/educationforumhttp://makerfaire.com/bay-area/https://assemblepgh.orghttp://makezine.com

Daniel Brateris is Director of Experiential Learning at New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, New Jersey. We talk about the practice of hands on learning and its value to students in engineering. Daniel was responsible for building out the manufacturing and makerspace facilities at NJIT. We talk about the social value of these spaces that bring students together to collaborate and also form friendships. Plus, he is seeing that the kinds of things you learn to do in a makerspace can make students stand out in the job market.http://makezine.com

Dale Dougherty talks to Michael Stone of the Public Education Foundation of Hamilton County in southeast Tennessee. Michael is responsible to developing a network of 34 Fab Labs in K-12 schools with more to come next year. In this conversation, Michael talks about making as authentic learning, involving real problems and solutions, and which leads to authentic assessment. 00:00 Authentic Learning and Making02:09 Michael's Background03:54 Stumbling into Fab Labs05:46 From Master Teacher to Master Learner07:57 Coaching12:06 Authentic Assessment18:44 Expanding from one school to many20:21 Pioneers and Settlers26:37 Blending Personalized Fabrication and Personalized LearningMake: Education Forum for maker educators will be held online on September 22-23. For more information, visit https://make.co/educationforumhttp://makezine.com

Rose Hedges of UnityPoint Health in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Anna Young of Maker Health join me to talk about how a makerspace on the first floor of a hospital has created opportunities for nurses and other medical staff to prototype solutions to problems they encounter in their jobs. Rose is a nurse and manages the makerspace called Generate Lab. She is also organizing a Maker Faire at the hospital makerspace on May 17th. Anna and Rose provide insights into a bottom-up innovation process that is very different from the way the medical system normally works.http://makezine.com

Galen Powers is a multi-faceted person: a maker and an inventor who has been successful in business. He credits his success to working with people who are passionate about their craft. In this conversation, Galen talks about growing up in rural California, learning about plastics and engineering graphics in high school and then figuring out how to get a job doing something useful. He talks about his many jobs, and how we came to get patents on the fabrication of eyeglasses. Joining the conversation is Jeff Johnson, who is with ChatLab in Chattanooga Tennesee and a friend of Galen's. Together, they were part of the founding of LVL1 makerspace in Louisville Kentucky.Galen talks about finding talent in makerspaces and helping them find jobs -- and he doesn't quite understand why some makers aren't interested in making money. He also has his own way of interviewing job candidates, asking them to bring and talk about a portfolio of their work as well as a hobby that is connected to their career. He's accomplished quite a bit with 57 patents to his name but no college degree. I see Galen as a kind of valuable prototype of a person, which I wish we knew how to create more of. I enjoyed this conversation with Galen for many reasons, as you'll see.http://makezine.com

Organizer David Caulkins and Combat Robot Legend Ray Billings talk about the return of Robogames, which takes place at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton CA on April 6th through 9th, 2023.Robogames is the world's largest robot competition with over 54 different events -- everything from tiny little Rubik's cube-sized Sumo robots that act autonomously to humanoids that play soccer. The big thing is always the 250-pound robots in our 40 foot by 40 foot, 130,000 pound arena. When I asked David Caulkins towards the end of this interview, how he was able to bring back, Robogames after a four-year absence, he said that his arena was so badly damaged in 2018 that he couldn't continue but an anonymous contestant offered to put up $1M to bring back Robogames.David is also joined by Ray Billings who has been competing in combat robot events for 22 years. His robot "Last Rites" was a previous winner at Robogames, and this year he'll be featuring "The Mortician," which is another variation of the offset horizontal spinner. Ray gives some great advice to those thinking about competing in combat robots: "start small", advice which no one seems to follow.http://makezine.com

Maks Zolin wanted to build a better, faster printer that was also quieter. He set out building the Voron printer in his garage but he ended up deciding that he didn't want to run a 3D printer company. So, he open sourced his work and invited others to collaborate with him. That's how Maks came to launch Voron Design, an innovation community pushing the limits of what 3D printers can do. In this episode, I asked Maks Zolin to tell the story behind Voron Design.http://makezine.com

Maker and educator, Debra Ansell is my guest on this episode of Make:cast. She is obsessed with orbs -- colorful, LED orbs and she shows us how to build a brightly lit orb in the new issue of Make Magazine. Debra and I talk about the process of developing her orb project. She also talks about her LED pillows based on the Pixel Blaze controller, as well as an LED neck pendant, both of which have been featured in Make Magazine. She volunteers in schools, teaching kids to code using MicroBit. She is as bright as her many LED creations.http://makezine.com

A lot of makers struggle to learn CAD. Why is this keystone piece of software such a challenge to learn? This is what I talk about with Jake Sugden and Josh Manley, who are the teachers of CAD Class at cadclass.org. Jake and Josh met at Urban Workshop in Costa Mesa, California, a professional makerspace where they had a lot of opportunity to see people struggling to learn CAD. They have put together an online 12-week class for those who want to learn CAD along with others.http://makezine.com

Microsoft's Bryce Johnson and John Helmes Join Make: Editor Caleb Kraft to talk about creating adaptive devices that can be customized, hacked and modded easily by makers using 3D printers as well as the people with disabilities who use them. Bryce Johnson works at the Inclusive Tech Lab at Microsoft who is one of the co-inventors of the Xbox Adaptive Controller and the Surface Adaptive Kit. John Helmes is an industrial designer at Microsoft who began creating and customizing devices for his daughter, Jara, who has cerebral palsy to help her interact with a PC. His work has led to Microsoft Adaptive Accessories, which allows users to adapt devices using 3D printed parts. Make: editor Caleb Kraft has his own side project, The Controller Project, that he and volunteers around the world 3D print accessories for free for people to be able to game. Bryce, John and Caleb have a fascinating conversation about how these capabilities are changing lives.LinksMicrosoft https://www.xbox.com/en-US/accessories/controllers/xbox-adaptive-controllerhttps://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/b/accessible-adaptive-devices-accessoriesOther organizations:www.makersmakingchange.comAblegamers.comwww.thecontrollerproject.comSpecialeffect.org.ukhttp://makezine.com

The world needs more maker microfactories and I wonder if Santa might be interested in learning more about them from Tim Keller, the head of Inventopia in Davis CA, my guest on this episode.A maker microfactory is a kind of makerspace that focuses on the needs of startups and individual entrepreneurs who are creating prototypes for a business. Keller started Inventopia because he wanted such a space to work. Now, with his proximity to UC Davis, he offers space and equipment for all kinds of startups, particularly in bio-manufacturing for food and medicine.http://makezine.com

Jasmine Florentine's new book introduces making and STEM to middle-schoolers. The book, "Hex Allen and the Clanksmiths", creates a fantasy world where real problems are solved by hands-on skills. Jasmine is driven to help young people understand STEM, not just as a field of study, but as an opportunity to apply their creativity as well as intelligence. She believes if more kids knew what STEM really was, they'd realize it offered something for everyone -- a no-brainer.Jasmine has her BS/MS from MIT in in Mechanical Engineering. She's worked at FIRST Robotics designing play fields for robotic competitions. She lives in Israel but will be moving soon.http://makezine.com