The Hot Pen Hurts

So last week we worked on soldering.  For a couple of the guys in my group, this was something they knew how to do pretty well already.  For most of them however, this was a totally new experience.

I picked out and bought a soldering project for them that was pretty simple, but would give them lots of practice.   I settled on these.  I think in general, the students really had a good time with this project.

If you have never soldered, it is meticulous and takes patience until you get the hang of it.  I really loved this for them because it was so easy and obvious to see improvement.  They started out with solders that were big, ugly blobs.  But with some practice, they were quickly making those nice little pyramids that you want when soldering a circuit board.

I also really liked this project because it was a totally new experience for most of them and they were really proud of themselves.  I am not sure I have mentioned before that I have some Chinese exchange students in my class.  Every week all of my students have to submit a reflective journal of the week discussing what they learned about the project, what they learned about themselves, etc.  My favorite response to this week came from one of my exchange students.  She started out by saying that “The Hot Pen hurts.”  Learned that one the hard way.  But followed with talking about how she had pressed on and had actually soldered several connections.  Even though her project didn’t end up actually working, she was able to see herself improving in a very tangible way.  She was proud of herself and the improvement she had made.

That is really the whole point of this thing after all.  If my students come out of my class knowing simply that they can get better at anything by simply trying, they will have learned one of the most valuable lessons I can give them.

This idea of Growth Mindset, as Carol Dweck calls it, is so extremely important.  If I can teach my students to not give up because they believe they aren’t talented enough, or smart enough, then I will count it as a monumental success.

Just quickly, the elementary school equivalent of this project was really fun.  We made these from an awesome site called MakerShed.  The kids had a blast, learned a valuable skill, and got to take home something they were really proud to say they made.  I am so happy to begin seeing little sparks of Makerness in them.  Just the pride and joy they can take in saying that they made something is awesome.

Oh, and my last big win from the week, nobody got worse than a really minor burn.  Not even one trip to the nurse.  I’ll take it.

Bringing the Lumber

So over the past couple of weeks my students have been honing their woodworking skills.  Their task was to design and complete their own woodworking project.  They could design whatever they wanted with the rules being that they  could reasonably complete it in a week and it stayed close to a $30 budget for the wood.

Most of them started off wanting to make simple things.  One group wanted to make a table, one group wanted to make a cornhole game, etc.  I challenged them to be a little more creative and tweak their idea in a way that made it unique and original.  So the table group added a hidden compartment.  The cornhole group made it to latch together and put wheels on.  Those kinds of things.  All in all, we worked on their designs and plans until we were all happy with what they were making.

I also made them take the time to write out step by step directions and a supply list for their project.  They would only be given what was on their supply list.  They did not necessarily have to stick to their directions, but I wanted them to fully think through the process so we didn’t get stuck without something they needed.  Plus I really wanted them to focus on the process of it before they just jumped into hammering things together.

I think they did a really good job on these projects.  We did not get into a whole lot of real craftmanship with fancy joints and things like that, but they did walk through the process, some of them for the first time, of measuring, cutting, sanding, and fitting things together.  They had to problem solve as they discovered that their original plans would not work for some reason.  They had to work together as a team and determine the most efficient way to do things.  They had to deal with issues such as a lack of some tools they wanted because we can’t afford everything at first.  (Shameless plug, if anyone is interested in supporting the Eagle Lab through donations of tools that you no longer need, please let me know.)  In short, they had to do a lot of on the fly problem solving.  They were able to do that successfully.

So another week passes where I am proud of these students and what they were able to accomplish when they put their mind to it.  This was right in the wheelhouse of some of my students, while it was a big stretch for others.  But in the end, they were all able to accomplish something that they can have for a long time.  They can know that they made something with their own two hands.