Affordable Reality for the Library Post #9

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have come a long way from the old school View-Master! I loved exploring new places and other topics through the lens of a View-master as a kid. I learned a lot and visited many places while staying put in my classroom or living room.

Fast forward to the 21st Century! Much like the old View-Master, students can take a trip back in time, into the human body, a museum, or around the world through AR and VR. 

One of our teachers was gifted two Oculus Go headsets through Donors Choose. STEM Learners in the one Social Studies classroom visited Versailles en 360, as one of their literacy stations. See how one student reacted to his personalized AR tour at https://business.facebook.com/ashley.holtsizer/videos/3501262753232167/ 

To take a peak at what the students saw through the Oculus Go, check out the video below. 

These Oculus Go headsets have sound and a hand controller. The 64 gig headsets cost approximately $249. With that price, our school would not be able to afford many headsets unless we secured a grant, or until our Title I academic needs and funding are approved for the following school year.

In contrast to VR, augmented reality (AR) would be a quick and affordable way to incorporate this technology in the library or classroom. Our school currently owns three class sets of iPads, which would allow at least ninety students to participate in AR lessons at the same time, or allow several students throughout the campus to participate in a library maker space and several classroom literacy stations.

One of the maker stations that I’ve had in the library and set up at our STEM Literacy Parent and Student Night, was a book purchased at our school book fair, My Perfect Puppy by Kay Woodward, which supports augmented reality.

As students read the book, they learn how to take care of and train a virtual puppy. To activate the VR app, aim the mobile device camera at the puppy graphic in the round frame on select pages. The reader selects and personalizes their own puppy using the free My Perfect Puppy app. Students can see the dog run or walk, stroke the dog’s head or belly, feed the dog, and even take it out to do its business!

Another new AR favorite of mine is Quiver. My husband couldn’t believe I was coloring at home one evening. Afterward, I had him use the iPad to view my coloring page of the continents. Using the Quiver app and the camera on the mobile device, he was able to scan the image and change the settings to view the map of the earth in different formats from night, day, borders, and even rotate the spherical earth that started out as a flat colored map. Quiver has a free 3D coloring book app, mask, and fashion app. The education app is $7.99 and allows downloads of the color pages that have a fee. Visit http://www.quivervision.com/apps/ for the apps and color pages that are downloadable and printable. Quiver will be a good AR introductory activity for the library since the app is easy to use.  Students can complete some of these activities using Quiver color pages:

• Label and color parts of a plant and animal cell, and then study the parts of the cell for mastery.
• Read the Dot book for International Dot Day and color the Dot coloring sheet.
• Design their own flag or color flags from around the world.
• Participate in Pi Day using color pages.

J2 Training has a great on-line newsletter to learn about AR and VR and how to integrate this technology in your classroom library. Visit https://www.smore.com/g2acm-augmented-reality

Other augmented reality apps to check out include Teach Thought Staff’s 32 Augmented Reality Apps for the Classroom at https://www.teachthought.com/technology/32-augmented-reality-apps-for-the-classroom-from-edshelf/

Sources:

Augmented and Virtual Reality by J2 training. Retrieved from https://www.smore.com/g2acm-augmented-reality

Goerner, P. (2016). Augmented reality. What’s next? School Library Journal, vol. 62, no. 9, Sept. 2016, pp. 19–20. Retrieved from EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=117871035&site=ehost-live

Meyer, L. (2017). Virtually there: Kids are using VR to explore worlds and create new ones. School Library Journal. Retrieved from https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=virtually-kids-using-vr-explore-worlds-create-new-ones

Summer, A. H. (2019). Facebook video post. Retrieved from https://business.facebook.com/ashley.holtsizer/videos/3501262753232167/

Teach Thought Staff. (2019). 32 Augmented reality apps for the classroom. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/technology/32-augmented-reality-apps-for-the-classroom-from-edshelf/

Sewing in a STEM Makerspace for All

Once upon a time, just a year ago, a STEM coordinator (who also sewed, quilted, and crafted) told me that sewing could not be considered a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) club. I disagreed as hand and machine sewing, fabric design and construction, pattern making, garment construction, cross-stitch, quilting, and embroidery all involve varying degrees of STEM depending on the project and difficulty.  

In Stephanie Vasko’s Creating Craftier Engineers: Why Students Should Learn to Sew in STEM Classes, https://slate.com/technology/2015/06/stem-classes-should-include-lessons-about-low-tech-crafts-like-sewing.html, Vasko stresses that crafting can be just as important as technology and should also fall into the maker category, along with other handicrafts. With a PhD in chemistry and nanotechnology, she felt a disconnect at techie DIY/makerspaces because she was often the only female in attendance. However, in female sewing circle groups, she felt shunned because her educational background. 

Vasko likes the fact that some schools have put the A for Arts in STEM, but feels that everyone should be included regardless of gender, race, educational level, and preference of activities. The article stresses the importance of arts and crafts being non-gender specific and be included in STEM/STEAM classes or makerspaces. Sewing is a STEM activity that is often neglected, and can be low or high-tech. Some of the high-tech sewing materials include conductive thread, sewable circuits and programmable LEDs. I have not tried any of those high-tech with sewing, but I’m anxious to give it a try in a maker station. 

From teaching a STEM class to sponsoring a sewing/craft club, called “Sew What?”, I made sure that my club group members were diverse in many categories, except males. While teaching that STEM class of nineteen, eleven students received Special Education Services and I wasn’t quite sure how that was going to work out. I had no control over who was placed in the STEM class, but it was a great experience. These middle school kids got to sew a pillowcase for themselves and another one for an orphanage. Two of most excited and hardworking students during that unit was a non-English speaker and a student who barely knew the alphabet. The latter student had used a sewing machine at home. The unit called for students to design an emergency shelter on paper, but I thought that was boring and not very real-world, so I incorporated sewing pillowcases for a local orphanage. Some of the students were so excited they wanted to make pillowcases for their teachers and family members. While students were waiting for a free sewing machine, they started pilfering through the fabric and polyester fiber fill boxes and started making no-sew pillows for their dogs and/or girlfriends! I couldn’t get upset! 

The photos below are from a recent maker station in the Library/Media Center. Students made fabric coasters for veterans. I set out the materials and invited prior members of The Sew What? Club to stop by and participate, as well as any student who was in the library to check out books. One or more students at a time would design, fold, assemble, pin, sew, trim, flip, and iron. At times, students worked collaboratively or had an assembly line going.  

I wanted to have a maker station in the Library/Media Center last year but was just too overwhelmed as a first-year media specialist. This was my third and most involved maker station this year. Dr. Heather Morefield-Lang's advice about not feeling pressured to have a maker space is great advice. I thought about it a lot last year, but couldn't pull it off. One of my professional goals for the past two years was to have a maker space in the library. Now, that I’ve tried it, I’d like to step up the sewing to include using conductive thread, sewable circuits and programmable LEDs.  

Sewing Maker Station: Folded Fabric Coasters

Sources: 

Morefield-Lang, H. (2018). Makerspaces, SLIS 761. Retrieved from YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBsEHD0XE6E&feature=youtu.be 

Vasko, S. (2015). Creating craftier engineers: Why students should learn to sew in STEM classes. Future Tense. Retrieved from https://slate.com/technology/2015/06/stem-classes-should-include-lessons-about-low-tech-crafts-like-sewing.html 

Additional Sources:

Folded charm coasters with a twist. Retrieved from https://www.daysfilledwithjoy.com/2017/12/15/folded-charm-coasters-twist/

Symbaloo makerspace webmix which includes sewing links. Retrieved from https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/classroommakerspaces

SLIS 761 Digital curation overview and links:Makerspaces. Retrieved from

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dPMpY8bXpbgegvuzmxC4rXjGWCm2DJFl8BBU9kycBuc/edit?usp=sharing