Maker Education is such a valuable role. These stories will bring you the latest information and tales of maker educators who area spreading the maker mindset. Help others learn how to make things or how to think like a maker at makerspaces, schools, universities, and local communities. The importance of maker education can not be understated. We appreciate our educators.
A former chemistry teacher of mine provided a great definition of “pyrophoric:” [It] means that if you playfully squirt some at your lab mates, they will burst into flame. In other (less amusing) words, a “pyrophoric” substance is one that ignites spontaneously on exposure to air. Pyrophoric iron, however, isn’t as dangerous as that makes […]
The Fire Piston Kit is a neat physics experiment based on the heat created when air is rapidly compressed. Bill Gurstelle, author of Backyard Ballistics and Barrage Garage, created this kit for us. If you were at Maker Faire you might have seen him demonstrating his kit in the Maker Shed. [Thanks Bill!] More about […]
What do you do when someone at work has a Desktop Onager? Maybe it’s time to get your own desktop Desktop Trebuchet and start a mini war. Or maybe you want to build one so you can hurl mini cows at any invading knights? Then again, that might not be a good idea since both […]
Learn the basics of fiber optics communications while you build this exciting kit. Transmit your voice or 1kHz signal through the fiber optic cable to a fiber optic receiver. Comes complete with all of the necessary components including the PC boards, microphone, speaker and fiber optic cable. Requires (2) 9-volt batteries. More about the Fiber […]
Heavy Metal II, Amped Up is the culminating event, hosted by the Boston Museum of Science and the Lemelson-MIT Program, is part of Eurekafest, a multi-day celebration designed to empower a legacy of inventors. Watch teams of high school students from across the country compete in an all-day challenge to build wind turbines that can […]
Build It Solar has a great collection of solar DIY projects, including stills, cookers, food driers, and water heaters. But the gem of their solar-distillation collection, for my money, is this paper, from 1985, by Horace McCracken and Joel Gordes. It’s unformatted ASCII and black-and-white GIFs, but it provides a better review of the various […]
Our friends at Sparkle Labs sent us news of their new business cards and their forthcoming micro kits. Ariel writes: Check out our new business cards. They are actually little micro kits. Put it together and the LEDs light up in the dark. It uses one of the circuits included in the Discover Electronics Kit. […]
