Josh Ajima is a technology resource teacher at Dominion High School, a public high school, and the Loudoun Academy of Science, a magnet science program, in Sterling, Virginia, United States. He has advocated for grassroots adoption of maker based learning in the classroom. He has a particular interest in 3D printing for education and has served as a member of the Make magazine digital fabrication review team. In 2015, he helped establish a digital fabrication lab at the Loudoun Academy of Science. In 2016, he served as team lead for Dominion High School’s winning proposal for the US Department of Education’s CTE Makeover Challenge. Ajima holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Virginia.
Happy Mole Day! Mole day is an unofficial holiday celebrated on October 23rd between 6:02 AM and 6:02 PM. The time and date are based on Avogadro’s number, 6.02×10^23, which is the number of atoms/molecules in one mole of a substance. A mole is one of the seven base units of the International System of… Read more »
Cherokee Language Syllabary in Tinkercad: Go directly to https://www.tinkercad.com/things/j3LfzeEOhm8 to make a copy of this design. Each character represents a syllable in the Cherokee language. Learn more about the Cherokee language at https://language.cherokee.org/. The purpose of this article is to present an approach to incorporating indigenous languages into the teaching of 3D printing design. This… Read more »
I was recently asked to give a presentation and makerspace tour for a learning environment conference hosted at my school. The audience was architects, furnishing sellers, edtech distributors and Virginia educators currently in the process of planning new building construction and major renovations. I assembled a short list of resources that I thought would be… Read more »
MakerEd superstar Jaymes Dec posed an interesting question, “What does an AI augmented makerspace look, sound, or feel like?” Here is some of my brainstorming. The Makerspace AI monitors the environmental conditions including airborne particulates, sound levels and machines in operation and recommends or enforces use of personal protection equipment such as safety glasses, ear… Read more »
The Makerspace Starter Kit has been updated for 2018! Now in handy business card size for your next MakerEd workshop or professional development event. In three, ready-to-print formats that you are free to customize. Makerspace Starter Kit Card (.zip) Fold your Makerspace Starter Kit in half to create a tent. Place your Makerspace Starter Kit in… Read more »
Problem: How do you deliver an effective MakerEd workshop with minimal materials and cost? Solution: A mini MakerEd workshop kit that costs under $3 per participant and uses simple materials for participants to explore maker education concepts. Background: The biggest sin a Maker Coach can commit is to give a MakerEd presentation without any thought to hands-on… Read more »
I applied to the InfyMakers Award Contest http://www.infymakers.com/ Here is the proposal for the Physical Computing Maker Cart. What suggestions do you have for supplies, lessons, activities, resources and challenges? Leave your reply in the comments. Summary The InfyMaker award will enable the creation of a set of Physical Computing Maker Carts for use in elementary, middle… Read more »
Makers of Color sharing their stories about the importance of diversity in making and maker education. #MakersOfColor A curated Makers Of Color playlist is available at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNzMzi6xJyxQRIzZIDhWaDonb4Hh2ni6U Suggestions for videos to add to the playlist are welcome. Share your #MakersOfColor story with @DesignMakeTeach on Twitter. Contact me or leave a comment if you would like to be… Read more »
0 Things is a call to action for students, educators and makers to design and share 3D models that celebrate diversity, social justice and equality. Even with over 2 million things, searches of popular 3D printing repository Thingiverse often find 0 relevant models for topics related to identity, heritage and culture. Each empty search is… Read more »
I’ve been looking for maker educators that are using video to tell the story of making and makerspaces in schools and haven’t been having much luck finding any. (Please share links if you have them) So I am starting the DesignMakeTeach YouTube channel to fill the gap and work on scaling up MakerEd to a… Read more »