Brilliant Labs Magazine: Community Decoded | Labos Créatifs: Communauté Décodée. by Brilliant Labs

Volume 3 Issue 1

REVUE

MAGAZINE

Micro:bit

LIVE 2019

BRILLIANT LABS WAS ONE OF 250 ORGANIZATIONS INVITED TO MANCHESTER ENGLAND

NATURAL POTENTIAL LEARNING AT MAPLE RIDGE: CANADA’S ONLY OUTDOOR PUBLIC SCHOOL

TAKE

A Discussion With Frances Ann Squire

SUMMER CAMPS

Communities connected

Maker FA IR E

SAN FRANCISCO 2019

Toute une expérience!

Volume 3 Issue 1

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

This Issue |Cette Édition This Issue | Cette édition

Welcome. Bienvenue.

b.Inspired

Young Coders Meetup UK

Picademy

In conversation with Harry Daley

Reimagining Education

Quand une porte se ferme, douze autres s’ouvrent!

Beebots, Learning & Community

A Purposeful School Community?

TAKE FIVE: Ms. Frances Ann Squire

Natural Potential

Maker Faire San Francisco: Toute une expérience!

L'art du kokédema

Summer STEAM Camps

Summer STEAM in Newfoundland & Labrador

Nova Scotia Summer STEAM Camp Mentor Perspective.

Truro Summer STEAM Program: Mentors’ View

Written by STEAM Mentors: Judith LaPierre, Cameron MacLeod, Lauren Farrell

Southern NB Summer STEAM Camp Mentor Perspective

Northern & Western NB Summer STEAM Camp Mentor Perspective

PEI Summer STEAM Camps What a Blast!

Thank you Brilliant Labs STEAM Camp Partners

Credits

PHOTO CREDIT: DIEGO PH

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

Welcome. Bienvenue. Jeff Willson, Executive Director | Directeur Général It’s been an incredibly exciting few months for Brilliant Labs and the many youth and educators we support! Our free summer camps reached over 80 communities with the help of 87 summer students who worked tirelessly to help inspire over 16,000 youth participants learn and apply new digital skills like coding, working with microcontrollers, developing circuits, building and launching rockets, and learning about 3D design and 3D printing. Our Atlantic Canadian team delivered over 1100 free Summer STEAM camp sessions to youth across the region and we are very grateful for their efforts, and those of 174 established municipal, school, library, and community partners in both rural and urban areas, who helped young Atlantic Canadians develop creative problem solving skills and learn to create with technology! New initiatives for the 2019 - 2020 school year include the introduction of an After School program, a micro-accreditation system to help teachers, students, and parents keep track of a student’s progress with digital skills and competencies, the newest release of our Open Source b.Board rapid prototyping platform, IDE, and Open Source Cloud Service and saw Brilliant Labs invited to the UK by the Micro:Bit Foundation. We’ve also launched a re-engineered project sharing web app so teachers, libraries, and community centres can share the exciting student led projects being done throughout the region. In this issue of Brilliant Labs Magazine: Community Decoded. We explore the value of being a part of a community. Where community may be defined as a group of individuals who are situated in close geographic proximity to one another, we would like to suggest that a community of Makers and Learners can transcend geography and when like minded people find common interests and a passion for making, their creativity and support networks can be limitless. All of us seek a sense of belonging and feeling supported can be inspiring, insightful and most of all offer a platform where we can share common goals and interests. We have witnessed this time and time again as we connect and share the value of maker centred education with groups across our region, within Canada, and throughout the world. Over the past several months, Brilliant Labs has been working with communities that are deeply rooted in youth empowerment. We were invited to Manchester, England for the very first Micro:Bit LIVE international conference where we had the privilege of delivering a b.Board workshop and meeting like minded change makers who share in our maker centred learning approach. We were inspired by 13 year old Young Coders Meetup UK co-founder, Femi, who helps lead youth coding session once a month and speaks about the power of learning code both in the UK and internationally. We visit the 2019 edition of the San Francisco MakerFaire to see how Atlantic Canadians are not only keeping up with innovation but often are leading the way! Here in Canada, we had the opportunity to visit Maple Ridge Environmental school in British Columbia where the place based, natural environmental pedagogy is guided by First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and environmental science, while having academic relevance and rigour for students of all ages. We then shift our attention to Atlantic Canada and take time to ‘Take 5’ with an incredible PEI teacher, Ms. Frances Ann Squire, a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Our team then reflects on the great work community mentors, like Harry Daley at the Teen Resource Centre in Saint John, NB, are able to accomplish by connecting with youth from all walks of life and then explore the importance of having municipal, provincial, and federal partners who helped make our STEAM Summer Camps possible. Decoding was chosen for this edition’s theme as we believe that by better understanding, and decoding the world we live in, our young people can code and create a way towards a better future for us all. Join us as we follow and support their journeys!

Au cours de l'été, nous avons eu le grand plaisir de travailler avec 174 partenaires municipaux, scolaires, de bibliothèques et communautaires établis dans les régions rurales et urbaines, ce qui nous a aidé à rejoindre plus de jeunes cet été que jamais auparavant. Au cours de la semaine du 15 au 21 juillet, les participants au camp d'été ont eu la chance de construire et de lancer leur propre modèle de fusée lors de notre deuxième événement annuel #RocketDay qui a eu lieu à travers la région. Non seulement les campeurs ont-ils créé, construit et lancé des fusées, mais ils ont aussi appris au sujet de l’ingénierie aérospatial et l'importance du 50e anniversaire de l'alunissage. De nouvelles initiatives pour l'année scolaire 2019-2020 comprennent l'introduction de programmes parascolaires, un système de microaccréditation pour aider les enseignants, les élèves, et les parents à suivre les progrès des élèves en matière de compétences numériques. De plus, la toute dernière version de notre plateforme de prototypage rapide dont notre Circuit Créatif de source libre son EDI et, notre service nuagique de source libre, qui furent inspirés par des jeunes du Canada atlantique afin que leur créativité et leurs aptitudes numériques puissent mener à une fabrication sans limite. Dans le cadre de ce projet du Circuit Créatif, Labos Créatifs a également été invité à donner un atelier au Royaume-Uni lors de la toute première conférence Micro:Bit Live en octobre ! Nous avons également lancé une plateforme de partage de projets afin que les enseignants, les bibliothèques et les centres communautaires puissent partager les projets novateurs et passionnants menés par les élèves de leur région. Notre portée fait une différence dans les salles de classe et les communautés à travers la région et avec tant d'initiatives excitantes en cours cette année, l'avenir n'a jamais été aussi prometteur! Dans ce numéro de la revue des Labos Créatifs: Communauté décodée. Nous explorons la valeur de faire partie d'une communauté et nous aimerions suggérer qu'une communauté de créateurs et d'apprenants peut transcender la géographie. Nous recherchons tous un sentiment d'appartenance et le sentiment d'être soutenus peut être inspirant, perspicace et surtout offrir une plateforme où nous pouvons partager des objectifs et des intérêts communs. Nous en avons été témoins à maintes reprises alors que nous établissons des liens et partageons la valeur de l'éducation centrée sur la créativité avec des groupes à travers notre région, au Canada et dans le monde entier. Au cours des derniers mois, les Labos Créatifs ont travaillé avec des communautés profondément enracinées dans l'autonomisation des jeunes. Nous avons été invités à Manchester, en Angleterre, pour la toute première conférence internationale Micro:Bit LIVE, où nous avons eu le privilège d'animer un atelier de circuit créatif et de rencontrer des auteurs du changement qui partagent notre approche de l'éducation axée sur la création. Nous avons été inspirés par Femi, un jeune cofondateur de Young Coders Meetup UK âgé de 13 ans, qui aide à diriger une session de codage pour les jeunes une fois par mois et qui parle de la puissance de l'apprentissage du code au Royaume-Uni et à l'étranger. Nous visitons l'édition 2019 du MakerFaire de San Francisco pour voir comment les Canadiens de l'atlantique non seulement suivent le rythme de l'innovation, mais montrent souvent la voie! Ici, au Canada, nous avons eu l'occasion de visiter l'école environmental Maple Ridge, en Colombie-Britannique, où la pédagogie de l'environnement naturel axée sur les lieux est guidée par les Premières nations, les Métis, les Inuits et les sciences environnementales, tout en ayant une pertinence et une rigueur scolaires pour les élèves de tout âge. Nous portons ensuite notre attention sur le Canada atlantique et prenons le temps de "prendre 5 minutes" avec une enseignante incroyable de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard, Mlle Frances Ann Squire, lauréate du Prix du Premier Ministre pour l'excellence en enseignement. Notre équipe réfléchit ensuite sur l'excellent travail que les mentors de la communauté, comme Harry Daley au Teen Resource Centre à SaintJean, au Nouveau-Brunswick, sont capables d'accomplir en établissant des liens avec des jeunes de tous les milieux. Nous explorons ensuite l'importance d'avoir des partenaires municipaux, provinciaux et fédéraux qui ont rendu possibles nos camps d’été STIAM. Le décodage a été choisi pour le thème de cette édition car nous croyons qu'en comprenant mieux et en décodant le monde dans lequel nous vivons, nos jeunes peuvent coder et créer un chemin vers un avenir meilleur pour nous tous. Joignez-vous à nous pour suivre et soutenir leur cheminement! Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

Hello World, PHOTO CREDIT: ASWIN MAHESH

Meet b.Board.

PHOTO CREDIT: BRILLIANT LABS

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos CrÃ©atifs

b.Inspired More than 50 participants got to dig into the new Brilliant Labs b.Board at the micro:bit LIVE 2019 conference at the BBC MediaCity campus in Manchester, England. The room was engaged and inspired with the opportunity of limitless making and creating at their fingertips. In early October the micro:bit Foundation, by invitation only, welcomed approximately 250 educators, makers and partners from around the world to the BBC MediaCity campus in Manchester, England, for the first annual micro:bit LIVE education summit. The goal of the summit was to share how the micro:bit has been impacting STEAM education throughout classrooms and communities around the globe. The Brilliant Labs team (Jeff Willson Executive Director, Josh Keys Innovation Engineer and Sarah Ryan Nova Scotia Program Director) were right at home amongst these STEAM enthusiasts. One by one speakers took to the stage to share their projects and challenges in creating the 21st century learning environment. Caroline Keep (twitter @Ka81) brought the room to near tears as she shared her struggle to create a maker space only to suffer its closure after the announcement of her school being on the district chopping block. We’ve all felt a similar frustration, but hearing Caroline’s heartfelt account of this time in her life was impactful. This was the feeling of success to failure in only a matter of months. As frustrating and disheartening as that was, Caroline took it as an opportunity to push forward, and with support from her colleagues and perseverance was finally able to create the first lasting school maker space in England. Today, Caroline continues to inspire youth through a Digital Creative program she created that focuses on coding, design thinking, rapid prototyping, physical computing, 3D design and printing.

After a short break we had the pleasure of learning about the efforts of Pauline Maas & Peter Holden, authors of the book of 101 Projects With The Micro:bit To Try, who shared their creative maker talents and fun student projects with the crowd. One example used milk cartons and students were able to create their own Milky Monsters using the mirco:bit to create sensor driven and animated robots. This is a great project for young coders and only one of 101 projects (@microbit101). There were dozens of engaging speakers all sharing incredible stories of making and inspiration. Perhaps, none were as hopeful as the panel of young makers and coders. Four youth took the stage to discuss their journey and the power of making using the micro:bit. Each have their own inspiring projects: Helen (@helenevirolan) is a blogger and coder, Femi (@hakerfemo) co-founder of Young Coders Meetup, Josh(@all_about_code) an entrepreneur and editor of Micro:Mag, and Nishka(@scrtsprstr) who is a leader in the Young Coders Meetup and coding activist. Nishka works with youth throughout India to lessen the digital divide by offering micro:bit workshops. Recently she travelled to an orphanage in Kadapa where she introduced young girls to coding projects. Listening to the young panel's stories and journey solidified the efforts of everyone at the summit. These young people are empowering others to be makers, thinkers and all around change makers. To continue the student making effort, micro:bit classrooms developers shared their new platform to Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

allow teachers the opportunity to deploy code, pause student code editors, and and export class code for assessment! They have also added new resources, lesson plans, additional UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) tie ins and more design challenges. This is excellent news for educators looking for additional resources to support maker centered learning in the classroom. Soon it was time for the Brilliant Labs’ hands-on workshop. More than 50 delegates moved into the open conference area to find out what Atlantic Canadian students and teachers have been developing with the Micro:Bit and the student innovation which led 8

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

to the development of the b.Board, and its Open Source Integrated Development Environment (IDE) based on Microsoft’s MakeCode project. While sitting in comfy chairs with the Brilliant Labs team handing out purple b.Board inspiration kits, Jeff introduced Brilliant Labs, its origin story, and our vision. Sarah had the opportunity to share how our work empowers and engages girls in STEAM and ICT programs and once the room had a grasp of who we were, Josh explained the b.Board’s purpose, functionality, and it’s benefits to the workshop’s international participants. This student inspired Brilliant Labs open source technology, as Jeff explained, “is like a superhero

cape for the micro:bit”, offering limitless making. As Josh shared the endless student making potential of the b.Board by leveraging MikroElectronika’s MikroBus and Clickboard functionality, participants where hands on and plugging various sensors and actuators and coding them with ease. Within minutes workshop participants where combining a variety of hardware components, coding them, and celebrating their new creations. Of note was 13 year old Femi, who wirelessly sent code from the IDE to the micro:bit via his phone and was quickly able to leverage the creative power of the b.Board to make a strip of neopixels respond to the input of a capacitive touch

pad. The b.Board was designed to help makers, creators, inventors, and researchers of all ages design, develop, and prototype solutions to real world problems. There are currently close to 1000 b.Boards being used to support student learning and creativity in Atlantic Canada with more on the way! Students are able to use servos, neopixels, and a combination of more than 660 sensors and actuators to prototype and create anything they can imagine. Workshop participants also learned how students are also benefiting from the power of the b.Board to learn about encryption through cyber security activities, connecting their devices to the internet with the b.Boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Internet

of Things (IoT) capabilities and opening up the possibility for big and open data projects to be more accessible than over for use in math, science, art, and other subject areas as well as in support of innovative and creative projects including some destined for the Science Fair! Teachers and students are finding it easier than ever to unlock the full creative and innovative potential of the micro:bit and we are hard work developing more online tutorials and videos in support of our Open Source prototyping platform. Imagine the creative potential of one micro:bit controlling up to 500 servo motors and having them respond to a variety of sensor and IoT inputs! Limitless making ! Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos CrĂŠatifs

b.Board 5-17 VDC Input with battery pack or wall plug. ON/OFF switch

2x mikroBUS™ sockets for I/O and compatibility with ClickBoards™ used in industry and Post Secondary.

Onboard PIC MicroController

Integrated Terminal Blocks for inputs and outputs (I/O).

Available 3 pin breakouts with integrated Gator Grabbers to make using those pesky Alligator Clips easier during prototyping and connecting neopixels!

Micro:Bit powered with block based or JavaScript coding. https://bboard.now.sh

6 x Servo Connectors with 5V and 3.5A of current.

Additional I/O with 2 x 4 Pin Access.

Click Expansion Port with RJ12 Connector allowing for up to 30 more ClickBoard™ connections.

Find more b.Board information & pre-ordering options at www.brilliantlasbs.ca/bboard 10

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

The b.Board open source rapid prototyping platform was designed and developed to support student creativity, innovation, and helping young people foster a socially responsible entrepreneurial spirit by providing young people with the tools and support they need to bring solutions to real world problems and reducing barriers to engagement so they may bring their concepts to reality. The many features and design choices being made during the ongoing development of the b.Board project are continually informed by the different ways young people learn to code, develop their digital skills, and the challenges they experience during the prototyping phase including young student struggles using alligator clips with the micro:bit pins, not having enough voltage to power neopixels and servo motors simultaneously, the need to access a wide variety of sensors and actuators with simple to use inputs and outputs (I/O), and opportunities to use the same technologies employed in post secondary and industry so they are better prepared CELEBRATE COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION WEEK Dec for the future.

15 by siging up for the Hour of Code (hourofcode.com) or

With over 20 Clickboard™ tutorials readily available, and the number growing monthly, students get an explanation of how the sensor or actuator technology in use works, how to program it, and some project ideas when considering how to apply it in real world situations.

9With a WiFi_BLE Clickboard™ students can connect their Canada Learning Code Week (canadalearningcode.ca) b.Board projects to the cloud and bring IoT capabilities to their creations. An internet connected b.Board can link with the BL Cloud, Adafruit.io, IFTTT, and Thingspeak services for a wide variety of applications. Teachable moments are everywhere as educators can leverage the simplicity of the interface to help students learn about data collection, data analytics, cyber security, and the ethics involved in an interconnected world. More info about the BL Cloud Open Source project available in the Winter edition of the BL Magazine.

We’ve developed a coding environment for the b.Board available at https://bboard.now.sh based on Microsoft’s Open Source MakeCode project, which provides a widely adopted, friendly, and familiar interface so teachers can allow students to spend more time learning how to create technology instead of learning how to use someone else’s technology.

CELEBRATE COMPUTER SCIENCE EDUCATION WEEK Dec 9-15 by siging up for the Hour of Code (hourofcode.com) or Canada Learning Code Week (canadalearningcode.ca)

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YOUNG CODERS MEETUP UK A discussion with Young Coders Meetup UK (YMC) co-founder | Femi aka Hackerfemo We met Femi and his family at the micro:bit Live 2019 conference in MediaCityUK, Manchester, England. He and his peers shared their journey of creating a youth led coding meetup that fosters ICT skills while promoting peer inclusivity. Join us as we learn more about Femi and this empowering youth organization.

PHOTO CREDIT: BRILLIANT LABS

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos CrĂŠatifs

Please tell us about yourself and how you became interested in coding and technology? My name is Femi aka Hackerfemo, I'm 13 years old and I live in South London UK. I got into coding when I was 8; I went to a maths conference with my mum and one of the sessions they were running was with the Raspberry Pi and Minecraft. I learnt how to hack Minecraft using Python to create new structures and plant masses of TNT so I could blow things up and create chaos. It was so awesome. After that, I thought of my friends who like me, also have Tourettes Syndrome. I knew they would also love to it too but would have felt uncomfortable in that public environment. And it planted a seed in my mind, I thought about how accessible these opportunities were and problems that might present themselves. From that one session, my Mum and I started a journey into learning about coding and Tech. After my mum did a two day course at the Raspberry Pi Foundation she became a Raspberry Pi Certified Educator and signed up to Twitter which led to a lot of invites from the Raspberry Pi community to come and run workshops at community events. So she trained me up quickly and decided we would do the workshops together. A few months later we decided to run our own Tourettes Syndrome and autism friendly South London Raspberry Jam. I set up a crowdfunder campaign to raise a small amount of initial set-up money. Four years down the line, we’ve delivered hundreds of workshops in London but also across the country and abroad. One of the best things we did was link up with corporate companies and public organisations, like the Tate Modern, where I ran a robot workshop for the University of the Arts, London and got asked to become a Tate Associate. We decided to use the platform to do a young coders conference, where we got a group of amazing young coders who were running workshops in their own communities to come to the Tate to

receive some training, collaborate together and make/ deliver four new Micro:Bit workshops over the course of two days. It was a great success and main thing that came out of it was that we really wanted to meet together socially more often and that's where the Young Coders MeetUp (YCM) concept began. Tell us more about Young Coders Meetup and what’s the best part about it? Firstly we went through a period of development using Agile principles, with an agile coach, Prema, where we thought about what our YCM was about. We decided we wanted to have our own monthly meet-ups in an innovative and corporate environment, thankfully Red Hat was able to help us with that, and then we thought about our core principles. It came down to three key areas, diversity and inclusion, it had to be youth led and it couldn't be about passive consumption but instead about knowledge sharing and community building. One of the things we really worked on was our gender balance and so for our pre-launch we decided we'd all invite one girl and one boy to come along and I'm proud to say that it worked; we achieved a 50/50 balance and this stayed with us throughout the pilot. We launched the pilot in January and each month we used Eventbrite to give out an equal number of male/female tickets. At the end of each MeetUp, we had a vote on what we wanted to do next month. We covered so many areas from Machine Learning and Cyber Security to Python with the circuit playground, Cross Realities through to constructing narratives

Left: Grace (mum), Sarah (Brilliant Labs), Femi aka Hackerfemo Alex (brother). Micro:Bit LIVE 2019, MediaCityUK. Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

and web development. Although, the best thing about it was definitely that it was youth-led it was also great that everyone felt the could just themselves, in an inclusive environment; we could be really creative and learn lots of collaborative skills. Does being youth-led make it difficult to organize the meetups? For the pilot it was youth led in terms of decision making, we decided what we wanted to do each month, how we wanted it to run and even what food to have (the important decisions). My mum did lots of the organisational side of things but we have also done a lot of it, collaboratively and for our next cohort we are going to be taking over even more of that aspect of it. We have finish a really successful pilot and ready to start round two. It’s great because we’re working with the Tate and the theme of their ‘Tate Exchange’ programme is ‘Power’ and we are going to explore that transfer of power to us young coders and see what that feels and looks like. For example, we are running lots of small study groups, one called ‘Code Grades’ where we look at Python and the pathway to becoming a junior software engineer. Mutsa, who is one of our young coders, coordinated all that with the Tate, with the support of her mother, which was brilliant because me and my mum were away in China and Thailand and things went really smoothly in our absence. In fact I’m really sad I wasn’t able to enjoy the sessions at the Tate myself. It is about capacity building and a way of acknowledging that as young people we have lots of things to think about, like school and studies and many of us also play sport and

musical instruments. And so it’s really important to know that we are supported by the adults and mentors around us. There are some really important child protection issues too, as well as decisions about privacy and data protection that to be consider when organising YCMs and it’s generally some of the committed adults that work through that and it’s important that they do.

As it’s all happening so rapidly, without that understanding, it could make it difficult to be employed or get promotions. For example, it’s important in some jobs to have data analysis skills or understanding of software and apps and to be able to change programs to adapt to what you need your work to do and even to have the skills to use technology to help you. So anyway, I just think coding is really important and go for it, join groups, go to events and immerse yourself in it. What advice would you have for young Remember that failure is just part of people in Canada who are interested in learning and you have to fail to succeed. coding and starting a YCM in their Also, it is important to collaborate with community?I’d just say really go for it. other people, as you have a better experience when you work with them. And for me, I think building community is the big thing because you learn so many more skills than just coding and Tech. Even looking at ‘Tech for Good’; seeing how, in your neighbourhood, in your environment, what is missing, what problems you have Learning to code is going to really future and how we can use Tech to solve these proof your life because, even the research problems. This is what makes the YCM has shown that people with Tech skills are much more interesting than just going to more employable and higher paid and that workshops and completing worksheets. it’s something that people from all Try to network and get good, positive industries and professions are influenced by mentors, who have a ‘Can-Do’ attitude, and need to have a core understanding of.

“W

e thought about our core principles. It came down to three key areas: diversity and inclusion, it had to be youth led and it couldn't be about passive consumption but instead about knowledge sharing and community building.”

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

YCMs learn Python coding with the Circuit Playground. This meetup Sam Page, Computer Science teacher, who supports young people to enter competitions like the Astro Pi competition where you can get your code running on the Space station (like Femi's team of coders did).

A recent 2 day Swift workshop at the Tate Modern (a modern art gallery located in London) with Tim Condon (entrepreneur & software engineer). Imran and Femi presented their AI App idea to an iOS conference. Tim offered to teach the YCMers to build an App using latest UIKit version of Swift. PHOTOS SUBMITTED

don’t let anyone limit your expectations and creativity but it’s also about putting the effort in, and knowledge sharing with your peers is a good way of consolidating what you know; show others what you’ve learned and help them learn to code. I think it would be great if you started your own YCM, I could send you some documents to help you get started, but I really think that it has to be youth-led, in terms of making decisions about what you want your Young Coders MeetUp to be. I really think you need those three core elements I mentioned before (diversity and inclusion, youth-led and building community), those are really important as well as finding your own natural way, you’ll evolve organically in your own way. What are your thoughts on the future of technology and the importance of young people getting involved? That’s such a wide question, but I’ll try and summarise in a few words. It’s going to be evermore important to have those 21st Century skills to future proof yourself as it’s going to be in every profession, not just coding ones. You’ve really got to have critical thinking skills, you have to tell what’s fake news what’s real, what to believe, what not to believe, to have views on things that are important to you like the environment or data use, about privacy, about wealth and distribution. All of those things need critical thinking skills. You need to

think about collaborative problem solving, working with others, working with teams because that’s the thing I think computers can never take over; being active, being social with other humans. We need to develop those collaborative skills by valuing everyone on your team, understand when to take a lead on things or a back seat and understand the barriers that exist for other people. Since technology is progressing at such a fast rate, we are going to have to constantly be up-skilling and and continually learning new things, especially with ‘digitalisation’ and the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Therefore we need to be able to network with other people and be part of an ecosystem/community and you’ll need to know how to learn, the meta-cognitive aspects of learning; how you learn best (i.e. at meet-ups, through YouTube, following tutorials in a small group or on your own). We will have to be able to continue to learn things. We are no longer going to be learning a profession for 5 years and that’s it for life. The last thing is that you’ve got to be constantly thinking about diversity and inclusion as I think its going to be increasingly important; there’s such a big skills shortage in Tech and this period of disruption can be a great opportunity for people from different countries that don’t have

the same opportunities, infrastructure and education as in more established countries, to access these opportunities to fill this skills shortage. And we should be supporting that, thinking about working globally, crossing borders to reach out to more and more people. Just recently I’ve visited China, and South East Asia where I took part in events about Business and Enterprise. I’m hoping to go to Brunei, come over to you, in Canada and to Mozambique with some of our other young coders. It’s really exciting. That was a few words, was it? Is there anything else you’d like to share? It was really awesome meeting Brilliant labs and we were so inspired by the scope of the young people they are reaching, especially that you’re working with young people from more rural areas not just built up cities and towns. We’d love to collaborate with you in Canada and we’d love to meetup with some young people, to help support any emerging young coders communities over there. And maybe next time, instead of a UK-based Young Coders Conference, we can make it an international one. Likewise Femi! Let’s make it happen.

TO LEARN MORE VISIT: HACKERFEMO.COM & FOLLOW ON TWITTER @YCM_UK Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

Picademy Written by Lesa Scott, Brilliant Labs Maker Educator

Welcome to the Raspberry Pi Community! As an educator and member of the Brilliant Labs Team, I am constantly learning and looking for ways to inspire creativity and foster innovation within the communities that I serve. Much of this is accomplished online through my PLN, Professional Learning Network, made up of colleagues, people I follow on social media, international connections I’ve made over the years, and those I see face-toface on a daily basis. This past summer my PLN grew exponentially when I became a certified member of the Raspberry Pi Community of Educators. The first step in becoming a Certified Raspberry Pi Educator is to attend Picademy. Although the application process is not difficult, potential attendees have a deadline to meet and there are no guarantees that one’s application will be accepted. Seating is limited and I, along with Christine Elliott, another BL Team member, were fortunate enough to be accepted to attend the first Canadian Picademy event in Toronto. The Raspberry Pi is a small computer that can fit in the palm of your hand. It can plug into a full size monitor via HDMI and can accommodate a USB keyboard and mouse. Raspbian 16

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

PHOTO CREDIT: LIANHAO QU

is the general purpose operating system for the Pi and it comes with a variety of software to get you started. Unlike other computers, the RPi gives people the opportunity to explore how it works, and then create and build projects with it. During the hands-on two-day workshop, we concentrated on coding and creating using Scratch and Thonny, which is an integrated development environment (IDE) for Python. On the first day of the training, we were introduced to physical computing on the Raspberry Pi and we learned how to control various components like LEDs, motors, cameras, and sensors. We also learned how to design a GUI (graphic user interface) that would make our projects more appealing on the screen. The workshop was organized so it was less about presenters talking and more about participants experimenting with the various components as they were presented throughout the day. It didn’t matter what level of experience one had going into the workshop, the facilitators moved around the room eager to help anyone who needed a little guidance, and the room was organised so that everyone had an elbow partner they could work alongside. As I explored the GPIO pins and the power behind them, it became apparent that this tiny computer was more

than a device that students could use to play Minecraft, it is a powerful device that can be used to create solutions to everyday problems. By the end of Day 1 the room was buzzing with ideas of what could be created from a Raspberry Pi and we left with the challenge to return the next day with an idea of what we would each like to create. Learning how to use digital technology is one thing, but designing solutions to everyday problems by creating with technology is a skill that students really need to develop. There were several ideas presented on Day 2 and participants were encouraged to join a group and work through the engineering design process to come up with a prototype that would be presented to the cohort at the end of the day. I worked with two other educators on creating an application called Gotcha! Our design required the use of a camera attached to the RPi and a DIY pressure switch made from cardstock and aluminium foil. The camera was triggered to take a photo when someone stepped on the pressure switch. The photo was then displayed on a monitor with a feel good message printed below it. There were several prototypes presented that made use of the camera module, including a

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security type camera. Other project prototypes included an Etch-a-Sketch game, a spin-thewheel type Sustainable Development Goal selector, and a baby car seat warning monitor that sends text messages and emails when a child is left in a hot car. No matter what was created, all group project prototypes were a great testament to what can be accomplished when members work together. We were encouraged to follow the engineering design process and break our tasks into smaller doable chunks. Picademy wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just about learning how to use a Raspberry Pi, but was also about working together as

a community of educators to reach a common goal. Upon completion of Picademy, all participants were welcomed into the Raspberry Pi Community of Certified Educators. As a member of this community, there is the expectation that we will support other educators and build the movement for computing education and digital making. To learn more about the Raspberry Pi and its potential, visit raspberrypi.org. Follow the link to Education on the RP website to learn more about Picademy and upcoming workshops.

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John Wong | Community & Fund Development | Brilliant Labs

IN CONVERSATION WITH HARRY DALEY About inspiring youth to not only stay in school, but to find meaningful ways to find their passion within. Harry Daley is a Youth Advisor and program developer with Pathways to Education Saint John at the Teen Resource Centre (TRC). In 2016, TRC partnered with Pathways to Education Canada to support youth to graduate from high school and successfully transition into post-secondary education, training or employment. As part of its program to provide a safe and encouraging environment to engage and inspire youth to reach their full potential, Pathways integrates leadership and life skills development within its education support. Brilliant Labs partnered with them in 2017 to create and support a youthfocused and -led, communitybased makerspace. Harry works with about 30 students to help them identify and achieve the 18

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goals they have set for themselves during their high school career and also co-ordinates the design and facilitation of their group mentoring program. In the first of a series of DeCode segments, John met with Harry in early September to learn more about their community-based makerspace and how it’s working out for them. How is Pathways utilizing and integrating its makerspace within your programs to help support youth? When I first heard about the makerspace project, it was aboveand-beyond the context of what I was working on specifically in terms of mentoring program. But it was presented to me as a great opportunity for us to leverage some of the ideas we were working on when it came to designing

programs around youth engagement. While I wasn’t too familiar with the specific activities or programs in a makerspace, what I did know was there was a population of students that our current level of programming wasn’t serving. Based upon my understanding at the time of what a makerspace was able to do, I felt it could target those individuals specifically. When you say there was a population of youth you weren’t serving, was it because you weren’t engaging them or able to connect with them? There was a group of younger students, generally around Grade 8-9 that we were having a hard time integrating into our traditional mentoring program because

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those programs at that time were heavy on the youth having to interact with other youth they didn’t know. This was something many of them shied away from. We noticed a segment of students who were more attracted to video games and online chat rooms. They were struggling to stay focused in tutoring and mentoring because they preferred to be gaming. When they did engage in group activities, there was always one or two people sitting in the corner playing video gaming together, but independent from the group. We recognized that we struggled to engage them because we didn’t have anyone who spoke their language. There was no one on staff that could level with where they were coming from, and as a result the youth probably felt they weren’t being valued or that their voices weren’t being heard

because we didn’t always understand the language they were using when it came to the computer or card games they were playing. We were not able to act on their tech ideas because no one on staff had the capacity to turn them into programs that would be meaningful for those youth. How does your mentoring program fit with your other programs and what role does it play? Pathways is known for academic support and that’s one of our core objectives; that we will increase graduation rates, and in effect decrease poverty. There are a variety of pieces to that process; completing high school for sure and continuing your education or acquiring a job that will lift you out of poverty. Something we believe and see here in Saint John and Pathways to Education recognizes is that academic achievement is not the only underlying issue to

poverty. There’s a big disconnect between a student’s dreams and actual opportunities to realize their potential. When young people do not believe opportunities exist, they have a hard time seeing school as a steppingstone towards their goals. It can feel like a waste of time to them. So, we pour a lot of energy into developing a mentoring program that isn’t just focused on academic support like tutoring, but in building a passion for learning about whatever it is that the student wants to learn about. It is built to complement academic support. What you’re saying is that it’s challenging to engage some young people in education if they don’t see themselves in it? Yes. There’s always going to be a handful of classes that students don’t want to take in high school no matter who you are, but if you are unable to see the bigger Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

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picture and where you and skills fit into the world, than all of those classes seem like they’re a waste of time.

things, but it can be challenging to put those pieces together. We try to help the students to decode what they are learning by walking with them through the process.

efficient because you’re doing a big activity, which might have only been of interest to a few students. This again felt like a waste of time to the students who weren’t interested in the subject. We started to take a really big shift in our programming about a yearand-a-half ago by looking for ways to develop programming where the youth could have a much stronger voice in not only what we were going to do, but also how we do those things.

This would align with studies that show children living in Similarly, this notion of having poverty are at-risk as they youth connect with education struggle academically, and that and learning, it’s essentially they also generally lack adequate about supporting them in support throughout their learning? – learning how to learn education. What you’re saying is on their terms, completely. I’ll that if a young person doesn’t just go back a little bit to where see themselves in education, our programming was when it can’t identify with it or can’t coincided with the establishment connect with it, this further of the makerspace. Our mentoring Our Community Leadership removes the individual from program in our first year – before Projects were launched around education. So, part of your the makerspace – was focused on this time, which were mentoring program is to reframe providing unique experiences for individualized projects where education for the youth for them students who didn’t necessarily students were able to identify to reconnect with it communities they were e pour a lot of energy into and learn even before part of, and issues that you get into developing a mentoring program bothered them about homework support or their community. They that isn’t just focused on academic graduating from high were encouraged to school? It’s about a support like tutoring, but in building a passion for explore their unique socialization around interests and existing learning about whatever it is that the student wants to education. Do you see skillset and how might a connection between learn about.” they use these skills to this and your address the community makerspace? Definitely! I like to have access to the same issue. What we quickly began think about the makerspace as a experiences as someone from a seeing with the projects was that place where students come higher socio-economic the youth already had wealth of “learning to learn.” Education to a background. So, we did an skills and knowledge, and that lot of these students is about assortment of group activities instead of us teaching them, they going to school, getting a mark on every other Wednesday: from were teaching us, telling us what a test, and then forgetting about it painting a mural in the classroom needed to happen; we just need to and moving on to the next one. to attending an event at the support them in that process. It We’re trying to create a culture of Imperial Theatre, to going to a Sea was very empowering for both the learning where students Dogs hockey game. We were trying youth and staff. While it wasn’t understand what the process of to provide opportunities to engage always perfect, they felt learning is by supporting them as a broad spectrum of youth. To authentically engaged and excited they identify something they’re make a connection with each of about their projects. interested in or a problem in their them, and at the same time, meet community they want to address. them where they were at. That lead us to completely reUnderstanding why it’s a problem imagine our approach to program to them, and what are some of the At the time, there were 25 design. We now have a program skills you might have to address students, with 25 different called Chose Your Own Adventure. that problem? There’s no question interests. We noticed some huge The whole premise of that is we’ve they get so much from school that gaps in that approach to identified 14 areas of interest for can help them address these programming. It wasn’t very students to choose from. Students

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who are interested in a specific topic meet as a small group to determine what they would like to learn more about, and decide on what activities to pursue. They then take the lead on facilitating these activities for other students in the Pathways to Education program.

wanted to do and were excited by it… and I was going to tell them we couldn’t do it because I didn’t know how to make swords. However, by having access to the makerspace with somebody who could level with them and speak their language and authentically understand their interests, we were able to keep all those students engaged through all five weeks and had more youth join the group. It was the first time we ever saw the same students that started a program, and finish the program with 100 percent

their ideas and make them real. Before, we would have to say “no” to people that had great ideas, and literally wrote them off as impossible. These wild ideas are now actually happening! The youth can now develop their ideas and take them to whatever level they want to.

So, the very first one we did was How do you see your makespace called Building and Construction. continuing and evolving? Any It was our first pilot for this new new ideas, activities and approach we had dreamed up. We programming? Something we had 14 different students sign up, observed was the space required many of them being the students strong leadership – not just staff, we had trouble pulling away from but also students. The space needs gaming. We set-up a process for passionate student and staff them to generate ideas about what attendance for five weeks in a row. mentors for it to live up to its they might want to potential. And undertake. We already n maximizing the potential of our makerspace, that is partly had lots of because there we help support the youth’s social, emotional preconceived ideas are so many fun what they might want to and educational development. By refocusing things in there; do, but what it’s easy for it on having students with similar interests and passions unanimously came out become a space on top was that they use the maker space, we create a lot of opportunities for for the wanted to make consumption of swords… I remember fun, instead of thinking to myself ‘that’s not That had never happened before. A the production of fun. possible, we can’t make swords’. big part of this was access to the Consumption of technology would ‘How can we turn this around?’ makespace, and Noah having the be playing video games, using ‘This approach really backfired’ knowledge base to articulate what computers to surf the web, watch But, it just so happened to be the the possibilities were and provide YouTube, etc. While there’s a level week the makerspace opened, and lots of options. That was when of creativity embedded in some of the Tech Mentor at the time, Noah everything clicked in terms of those activities, it’s more about had just started. I remember youth-led and -inspired program consumption of technology for telling him about our botched new design. It was a true youth-adult pleasure vs. using technology to approach and how we were going partnership – we couldn’t have create something that they to have to tell the students we done it without their input and intentionally set out wanting to couldn’t make swords and him participation, and they couldn’t create. It’s easy for the space to getting so excited about the idea. have done it without our support. become a place where students ‘What kind of swords?’, ‘Any ideas come to hang-out and play video what materials you will use?’, ‘I The makerspace has become a games. There’s nothing certainly know some people who can help huge asset for all our wrong with hanging-out in a safe with this!’ All of this to say is that programming. Not just the space space; in fact there’s a lot of basically what the makerspace itself and access to technology, important outcomes reached by enabled us to do was engage this but also the ability to engage some this alone. However, there’s so group of young students we were youth we previously had difficulty much more to leverage in the previously having difficulty in engaging. Now we have the makerspace, and without the engaging. They told us what they expertise and resources to take strong leadership of the students

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and staff, it’s really hard to do that. We’re not satisfied with just having youth come and hang out in the space and taking attendance. In maximizing the potential of our makerspace, we help support the youth’s social, emotional and educational development. By refocusing on having students with similar interests and passions use the space, we create a lot of opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and peer-to-peer support. That’s why the mentorship piece is so vital. Without it, students aren’t always aware of how to navigate the space to get the most from it. We have students who might be quite comfortable playing video games at home, but this is the first time they’re coming somewhere else to play games. That in itself is fantastic, but how do you gently encourage them to take the next step, moving from consuming to creating. So we’re being more conscious about expanding the project-based learning and have spent more time building connections with adult and student mentors. We’re trying to be very intentional in how we approach this work. I think we’re in a very good position in that everybody who works here knows that attendance numbers alone are lousy indicators of learning and the outcomes that we’re trying to achieve. So, we identify our outcomes upfront, and while participation is also a key factor -- if people aren’t participating, we can’t help them reach those outcomes -- we’d rather have fifteen students see growth within the intended outcomes, than have thirty participate and see less growth.

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REIMAGINING EDUCATION How Future Ready NB is helping to strengthen the job readiness of students before graduation.

A delegation from public education recently attended the Future Ready NB Gala and Chamber of Commerce Workforce Summit The 2019 Gala recognized university students, employers, community partners and faculty whom have successfully created valuable and meaningful experiential learning opportunities across the province. John Stackhouse Senior Vice-President, Office of the CEO at Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) was the keynote speaker at the inaugural Future Ready NB gala in Moncton Next year at the 2020 event, public education students, partners and teachers will also be recognized! Future Ready NB was originally developed as a partnership between NB employers, universities, indigenous students, and the Government of New Brunswick to provide on-the-job experiences. It began with New 24

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Brunswick’s four public universities working together as a coalition called Future Ready NB that aims to make the province a leader in experiential learning.

What does Future Ready NB – Reimaging Education hope to accomplish over the next five years? GIVING YOUNG STARS THE CHANCE TO SHINE

Future Ready NB was designed to strengthen the job readiness of students in positions related to their field of study; support growth, recruitment, and talent retention for New Brunswick employers; and help remove financial barriers to labour market participation and hiring. Future Ready NB helps students learn about the working world and supports employers looking for new employees with relevant skills and education. When students and employers work together to design how work should look, everyone becomes a little more Future Ready.

The Future Ready NB initiative aims to provide all students in the province’s public-school system the chance to engage in experiential learning opportunities prior to graduation. The opportunities will provide New Brunswick employers with a connection to potential future employees and students an opportunity to experience multiple career pathways prior to graduation.

Public Education in New Brunswick is now leveraging Future Ready NB – Reimagining Education to do its part in nurturing Future Ready Learners.

Future Ready NB aims to provide all students with rich, authentic learning opportunities, connect with new and existing partners to enhance and develop experiential learning connections with schools, provide awareness to current and future career opportunities to

PHOTO CREDIT: DANIEL ST. LOUIS

students and families, an avenue to cultivate and foster student’s competencies, increase student levels of engagement and help to establish a deeper connection between the student and community.

Interested in partnering with public education? Let’s start the conversation, share ideas and create valuable collaborative projects together. If you would like to learn more, please contact:eecd@futurereadynb.ca

Being a part of community is essential and Future Ready Wabanaki is working to ensure that Indigenous students have equal access to meaningful and valuable real work experiences with local employers. Future Ready NB is committed to working with young New Brunswickers in this province, and showing them all the ways that they can succeed.

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QUAND UNE PORTE SE FERME, DOUZE AUTRES S’OUVRENT! Rédigé par Lise Gagnon, spécialiste de programme de Labos Créatifs En mai 2018, l’annonce de la fermeture de l’usine de production de pizza Dr Oetker lance une onde de choc dans la communauté et les environs de Grand-Sault. Les élus municipaux, les députés ainsi que des entrepreneurs de la région participent à plusieurs rencontres et discussions afin de tenter de venir en aide aux 180 employés touchés par cette fermeture. Tous sont inquiets des possibles effets néfastes de cette fermeture sur l’économie régionale.

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

Toutefois, une lueur d’espoir se présente lorsque les médias annoncent un investissement majeur de 900 000 $ avec l’organisme Labos Créatifs, une contribution rendue possible grâce au Fonds communautaire Dr. Oetker. L’objectif principal est de développer des labos créatifs mobiles, scolaires et communautaires, offrir des camps d’été gratuits aux enfants afin que ceux-ci puissent développer leurs

habiletés et leurs compétences numériques, ainsi qu’offrir de la formation et de l’appui aux enseignants et au personnel scolaire. C’est alors qu’en janvier 2019, deux spécialistes de projets sont embauchées pour rassembler des ressources, partager des connaissances et susciter l’intérêt pour la robotique, le codage et l’entrepreneuriat. Ainsi, l’aménagement de labos

créatif dans 12 écoles de la région débute. On commence à parler de codage, programmation, créativité et de robotique dans les classes. Les élèves sont encouragés à résoudre des problèmes de la vie réelle et à créer le futur.

partagent les propos suivants.

Durant l’été, des camps gratuits de quatre jours sont offerts aux enfants âgées de 8 à 14 ans. Une expérience dynamique, éducative et enrichissante qui n’a pas de prix!

« Avant je ne savais pas ce qu’était une imprimante 3D et du codage. Maintenant je peux coder dans Scratch et inventer des pièces pour mes jeux. Je veux être « gamer » quand je serai grand. » Antoine

En discutant avec quelques élèves qui fréquentent le labo créatif de l’école et qui participent aux camps, ces derniers nous

« J’aime pouvoir créer des objets de mon choix. Dans le labo de l’école, on a tous ce qu’il nous faut pour inventer. » Sarah et Emilie

« J’ai appris à utiliser un Makey Makey aujourd’hui. Ça m’intéresse parce que j’aimerais

pouvoir me fabriquer un instrument de musique pour notre spectacle de fin d’année. » Kristel Il va sans dire que de nos jours, le parcours scolaire d’un enfant n’implique pas nécessairement l’apprentissage du codage, de la programmation ou de la robotique dans son horaire quotidien ou hebdomadaire. Arrivé sur le marché du travail, cet enfant aurat-il les compétences requises pour se paver un chemin dans le monde technologique qui l’attend ? Voilà d’où la nécessité de lui permettre d’être actif face aux outils numériques.

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BEEBOTS, LEARNING & COMMUNITY Students of Andover Elementary have built a miniature interactive village version of their hometown of Perth-Andover. Written By Hélène Bard, Brilliant Labs Program Specialist

AES’s Grade 3 French Immersion students were learning about community as part of their Social Studies class. Their teacher Mme Melissa McClureBeaulieu wanted to do something different. After attending a Brilliant Labs session, Mme McClure-Beaulieu was inspired! She liked the idea of creating a community for Beebots, this technology is easy to use therefore the perfect way to start.

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Her students brainstormed how they could incorporate the Beebots into their project. They decided to recreate their village on large paper and use the Beebots to travel around town. They made a list of important places to have on their map. Mme McClure-Beaulieu saw more potential in this project. She knew she could target more outcomes and students could get additional exposure to other technologies therefore she decided to reach out to Brilliant Labs for guidance. After discussing about the ongoing project, it was clear that her students wanted to create a bigger model and wanted to incorporate other technologies such as Makey Makeys and Makedos. Their new project started to take shape. This project started on a piece of plywood, students drew the main roads, the river and the bridge. Afterwards, the students used recycled cardboard and Makedos to construct the buildings. Students talked about scales and characteristic of buildings. This was a learning curve for everyone as many houses had to be rescaled! The students did a very good job at replicating their town using recyclables and paint to complete the look. Students built the bridge out of popsicle sticks and added lights using LEDâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, copper tape and coin batteries.

Students then wrote their own and shared with classmates then recorded their descriptions, which they later used to link to the buildings using the Scratch coding program. After a quick Makey Makey demonstration, students were eager to use copper tape to connect the buildings to make them interactive. When a ground and a structure is touched, you can hear the description. Students couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe their project was working! Mme Melissa McClure-Beaulieu was amazed by how students were on task, engaged and focused throughout the entire process. She enjoyed how students were thinking critically, collaborating, problem-solving and communicating. She was impressed by the learning that took place with this project-based approach. This made the global competencies outcomes much easier to reach. The project was a success! The entire school had a chance to interact with their community model, it was displayed in the school lobby. Parents were also invited to try out the model. This story was in two local newspapers and students felt like superstars!

Being part of a French Immersion classroom, reading, writing and speaking are all very important components of the program. Wanting to incorporate this in the project, Mme McClure-Beaulieu modeled how to write a brief description of the buildings. Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos CrĂŠatifs

Fostering A School Community Through Project-Based Learning Being a member of a community doesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always mean you feel welcomed to contribute to it. Written by Kayoe Stewart, Brilliant Labs Contributor & BBT Teacher, Fredericton High School

When you truly consider the meaning of the word community, there are many different perspectives that can be taken into account. In its literal sense, the word quite simply means a group of individuals that are geographically situated in close proximity to one another. However, it doesn't take long for a larger sense of the word to emerge. Communities are much more than just a group of people that share a postal code. They might share a common history, common interests and similar goals. Taking these new aspects into consideration allows the term to describe how individuals can be motivated to interact with each other on a regular basis in a variety of ways. Moreover, it's easy to see how it is influenced by scale. We can see how our schools are smaller communities that complement the larger communities that they exist within. In addition to this, technology has enabled our schools to connect in many different ways allowing them to share a digital space with other schools in our region and beyond. This, I feel, has opened many doors for collaboration and the sharing of ideas on a more global scale. PHOTO CREDIT: DAVID PISNOY

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The idea of a school community is by no means a new concept, however I would argue that, unless we are actively working towards fostering this environment within our schools, we are missing a larger opportunity to create a truly meaningful and engaging atmosphere that supports everyone. To further elaborate on this concept, let's imagine that a family has recently moved and their daughter has just started at the local school. Let’s further imagine that this new school does not purposefully create a welcoming environment for the students. This new student may not feel comfortable in joining clubs or getting involved. Perhaps she feels like she would be out of place in these new settings and would shy away from them. In this scenario she could continue to avoid activities within the school and just go to classes like everyone else. On the surface she is a member of this community but most likely doesn’t feel like she contributes to it. She may find small pockets, like a welcoming classroom, where she feels like she can be herself but for the most part she could spend the rest of her time there just going through the motions and not feeling like she is part of something larger. Now, if we flip this around and imagine a scenario where her new school is one that focuses on creating a healthy, safe and welcoming environment for everyone, it paints a totally different picture. The welcoming and safe community of this new school might now encourage her to feel comfortable in this shared space. This might mean that she feels able to express herself and share who she is with others within the school community. She would gain a personal attachment to the community and feel compelled to make it better during her time there.

As she actively engages with others, her connection with the school grows larger and larger. Of course, we as educators are constantly striving to create safe spaces, within our classrooms and beyond, where students, and the rest of the school community, are encouraged to express themselves in ways that connect with them. However, I feel that if we aren’t actively and purposefully creating this at the school level, then we may be missing opportunities to truly connect with our students. In my time working for Brilliant Labs and in teaching High School technology, I feel that this perspective is at the forefront of everything that takes place within a Makerspace and Project-Based Learning (PBL) classroom. The student-centred learning that takes place here provides a safe space where the talents and passions of the students drive how the learning takes place. In other words, once a student enters a space where they are able to seamlessly blend what they are learning with something that interests them, they begin to feel like what they have to offer actually matters. If these students feel like they are shaping what happens within that shared community, they become more invested in the content. To take this even further, when the PBL mindset extends beyond just a select few classrooms within the school, amazing things start to happen. Project-Based Learning at the school level is an incredible tool that can help students transition from just going through the motions into active members of a larger school community. Not

only does PBL foster student voice and choice, but it encourages students to incorporate school improvements into their learning as well. Schools that involve students in learning opportunities such as growing vegetable gardens for the cafeteria, building pergolas and outdoor classrooms or even in painting murals in the hallways create an environment where everyone is actively working together to improve the community that they all share. As we all know, technology has allowed for increased connectivity among schools, and communities in general, from all over the world. This has helped us, as teachers, extend the learning in many different ways. Meeting and collaborating with others on a global scale helps to reinforce the idea of community within our own schools. Students now have the opportunity to connect with people from anywhere that share their values or even challenge their values, helping to shape, adapt and reinforce their community. The main part of a community is a sense of contributing to a greater whole. As teachers, we can facilitate autonomy and allow students to find their own voices through PBL which leads to valuing oneself, an essential stepping stone to taking part in a community. As such, while we consider ourselves to be focusing on the students, we are in fact creating the environment for healthy, larger communities, within our schools and beyond.

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How long have you been teaching? I have been teaching youth at the junior high level for about two decades but I’ve been teaching longer than that. I taught a “Computers for Kids” class and a maker type course when Atari, Commodore PET, and C64s were popular! The word processor that I used back then to create lesson plans, posters, newsletters, and course materials was called SpeedScript that I found and programmed from Compute magazine in the mid-80s. Even then, I was curious about technology and innovation; I took things apart just to try to learn how things worked and I would often repair, invent, and upcycle to make new things through a lot of trial and error. Learning is often quite messy and a lot of fun!

TAKE 5

Take Five is a regular feature of Brilliant Labs Magazine that focuses on a teacher that has been inspiring, innovative and has shown entrepreneurial spirit. In this issue, Brilliant Labs Community, we are proud to interview Ms. Frances Ann Squire, a grade 9 teacher at Birchwood Intermediate School, Charlottetown, PEI, who values the power of community and building professional networks.

Why did you become a teacher? I am passionate about learning and sharing knowledge. I really enjoy working with and learning from young people because they are often risk-takers and are not afraid to experiment and to try new things. Youth bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm and an unlimited range of ideas and opinions to the learning process; it’s inspiring and a lot of fun. Learning is a lifelong and reciprocal journey - there is so much that we can learn from each other.

Find a community. A PLN (professional learning network) virtually or locally. These can be colleagues, supporters, or organizations who understand and appreciate creativity and the necessity to make learning relevant and engaging for today’s youth.

In your lifetime has anyone inspired you to change your mind, for the better, to overcome an obstacle? As a young child, my grandmother was an amazing role model and ‘teacher’. She nurtured and instilled in me the confidence to be true to myself and to stand up for what is right even when it is not always popular. She was also well-educated and knowledgeable about many things. She could cook, knit, crochet, and sew. She could also use hand and power tools and could fix an old radio or construct an elaborate storage unit or bookcase. She introduced me to books and to the library, a sewing machine, a hammer, a jigsaw, a soldering iron, and an artist’s brush. Stick-to-it-iveness and tenacity with a little stubbornness and a lot of patience are also qualities that I inherited from my grandmother. She taught me to not to worry about making mistakes and to view failure as a friendsuccess requires hard work, taking risks, making mistakes, and learning from them. When I want to learn something or to make something, I will work hard for 32

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long periods of time. Intrinsic motivation comes into play here, of course, but that too was nurtured from an early age by great mentors and role models like my grandmother. When working within a system or an organizational structure, one is often faced with obstacles and challenges within that framework. This can be particularly challenging for teachers who are exceptionally curious, an innovator, or an early-adopter. Those who have trusted me the freedom and flexibility as an experienced, competent professional to experiment with new things have made all the difference. I am most fortunate to be part of a community who, no holds barred, understand and appreciate creativity and the necessity to make learning relevant and engaging for today’s youth. Brilliant Labs has been amazingly supportive! As a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence, I had the opportunity to learn from and with some of the best Canadian teachers in our nation’s capital. The

experience of sharing best practices with educators, many of whom are makers and innovators, from other parts of the country did not necessarily change my mind but it certainly opened my mind to new possibilities, approaches, and potential opportunities for personal and professional growth and development. The experience provided an opportunity to see what tools and resources are being used in classrooms in larger cities. Building a PLN (professional learning network) and connecting with like-minded #MakerEd colleagues virtually and with people in the community has been invaluable! Working with local, national and international educators and leaders in the industry and STEAM fields, who are also proponents of PBL, maker-education, media production and digital literacy, and flexible and virtual professional development, inspire, challenge and motivate you to try new things with students in your classroom. Cross-curricular integration, creativity, critical thinking, diversification, and problem-solving are vital elements of a healthy, vibrant knowledge‘economy’ and are skills that students in the Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

21st century need to learn. The individuals who are more likely to change my mind are those, particularly students, who challenge the status-quo and approach barriers and obstacles as opportunities to learn, who want to try new things, and who have a positive outlook even when things go awry! What is more inspiring for a teacher than a student who is eager to learn?! What does maker education mean to you? PBL, maker-education, entrepreneurship, and hands-on learning puts knowledge and theory to practice, give life to ideas, the intangible becomes tangible, and solutions and possibilities are found and realized as learners make meaning.

Stay true to yourself and your students. Stand up for what is right even when it is not always popular.

What inspired you to first bring making to the classroom and what makes it brilliant? Making is how I learn best. I am a creative individual and a hands-on, visual learner. So much of the learning process is brilliant!

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How is this style of teaching different than a traditional classroom experience and is it important? This form of experiential learning involves a hands-on, active approach to learning and moves away from the teacher at the front of the room imparting and transferring their knowledge to students. The teacher is the facilitator. It makes learning an experience that is relevant and moves beyond the classroom and a textbook, and it strives to bring a more involved way of learning as a process. It is important because students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, they work independently and collaboratively with a team, they hone their communication skills, they become risk-takers, and they create, invent, and innovate, and they become empathetic global citizens, respecting diversity. Tell us about a project (or challenge) that helped students improve their learning experience? How did it make you feel? I could tell you about many awe-inspiring, studentdirected initiatives. The driving question for one was “What will we do, create, or invent to have a positive impact on the world?” Students worked in teams and brainstormed ideas, conducted research, engaged in procedural writing, kept a planning log, engaged in media production, digital-storytelling, 2D and 3D animation, built prototypes, shared and promoted their ideas to peers and experts, listened to and gathered feedback, and wrote reflections (What went well? What didn’t go well? What would you do differently or how or would you improve your product?) Some chose to present their projects and prototypes live while others made documentaries, video-taped PSAs, produced music videos, or recorded info-mercials. One team, for example, developed a mechanism for vehicles to prevent head-on collision deaths. The presentation included research, statistics and science. The prototype was constructed from actual materials collected from an auto-salvage yard. This team loved the project! I was flabbergasted by their initiative and enthusiasm and their high caliber work! One team conducted research and discovered a large number of coffee cup lids were littering the neighbourhood and they set out to make a compostable lid that held up to hot coffee. Another team found a way to create contemporary and useful home decor products by upcycling and recycling materials used in the local fishery that would have

typically gone to the landfill. While several projects focused on environmental issues and concerns, others sought to improve the health and well being of a targeted group. One student in the after-school maker club came up with an impressive idea that may help to eliminate childhood obesity - Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been bound to secrecy. Has a student ever inspired you? If so, did it affect how you teach today?

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ok if students challenge the status-quo as long as they approach barriers and obstacles as opportunities to learn. This may be the perfect opportunity to try new things, and teach everyone to have a positive outlook even when things go awry!

I am always inspired by my students to integrate and try new things in my teaching. I integrated digital storytelling, media production, film making, animation, coding, programming, and making in my Language Arts classes. As a result, a number of students received university and college scholarships, while in junior high, for their work. One student, for example, designed and created a video game with all original digital artwork, from sprites to backgrounds, based on a novel that he read in class. He created another game that was entered in a competition meant for older students, and he won! The prize was a summer internship, which he

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had to turn down because he was too young to work, and a scholarship. He inspired me to continue to be flexible and open to students who prefer to demonstrate learning in individualized, non-traditional, ways. Mentoring, modelling, and facilitating a safe, supportive space for hands-on, experiential forms of learning are influential factors, if not vital, for student engagement, growth and development, and for learning skills and strategies to be productive, contributing members of society and to become lifelong learners. What advice would you give teachers who are interested in bringing making to the classroom? If you are a teacher who is interested in bringing making to the classroom, bring it! Reach out to a colleague to work with or to Brilliant Labs if you need tips, hints, ideas, support or materials. Grow your PLN! Relinquish at least some control and provide time and space for students to engage in the process. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t rush. Learning is messy! You will be amazed by what your students come up with and you will see and be inspired by many engaged, brilliant learners!

Embrace PBL or maker-education, entrepreneurship and hands-on learning. All put knowledge and theory to practice and gives life to ideas, the intangible becomes tangible, and solutions and possibilities are found and realized as learners make meaning.

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Let go. Honest itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ok! This form of experiential learning involves a hands-on, active approach to learning and moves away from the teacher at the front of the room imparting and transferring their knowledge to students. It makes learning an experience that is relevant and moves beyond the classroom and a textbook, and it strives to bring a more involved way of learning as a process.

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Natural

POTENTIAL An inspiring visit to the Maple Ridge Environmental school in British Columbia.

Written by Michelle Thibault, Brilliant Labs Natural Maker Space Specialist & Kathleen Rice, Brilliant Labs Program Specialist (Photo credits: Michelle/Kathleen)

Environmental pedagogy, a close cousin of the Forest and Nature School movement (FNS), is an educational approach that has existed since the end of the 1950s. Schools under this pedagogy are multiplying around the world and are very popular in several European countries such as Finland, Norway and Denmark recognized for their academic rigour. Guided by the ancestral methods bequeathed by our Aboriginal, Métis, Inuit and the environmental science, this pedagogy is based on respect for the Earth and living beings. Although environmental pedagogy is relatively new in Canada, the Aboriginal communities have always valued experiential and peer learning, as well as giving everyone responsibility for their own learning. We had the opportunity to travel to Maple Ridge, BC with a colleague from la Société d'aménagement de la Rivière Madawaska in Edmundston and spend a week with the staff and students at the one and only public outdoor education school in Canada. What we learned and discovered in this wonderful Natural Maker Space could be interesting for

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schools in our Atlantic provinces. The Maple Ridge Environmental School in British Columbia is the only entirely outdoor public school in Canada. For the past 8 years, students have been learning in various natural maker spaces. This school has no walls, no building, no predetermined playground and most of the time no running water. Students from K to 8 set up shelters themselves in the morning and they use portable toilets (so imagine all the water and electricity saved in that school). Their mission is to make "learning and teaching experiential, contextual and through activities that engage the mind, body and heart. The project is based on principles of inquiry and inclusion." Teachers do not explicitly teach a specific subject and students are divided according to their needs and not their chronological age. “The goal is to create an authentic learning experience instead of isolating subjects as math or science or language arts.” Clayton Maitland, founder of this school stated: “You

“There is a teaching in every part of crea�on. It is our task to find it, learn it, and apply it.” late elder Ken Goodwill (First Na�ons University of Canada, n.d.)

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get your mind thinking differently about learning.” For some parents, not having assessments in math or writing for their child on a regular basis can be challenging. However, parents and educators at the Maple Ridge School confirm that this way of learning is beneficial: "They know so much and it's crazy they do not even realize it," says a teacher who is also a parent.

“L

model allows differentiation. Michael Caulkins, a researcher from Simon Fraser University believes schools should focus on collaborative projects, collaboration and sharing in order to foster students' socialization and collaborative spirit rather than focusing on competition: “I think that the competitive of Maple Ridge Environmental nature of marking is horrible and should go away.”

earning is a lot more complex than we ever thought it was going to be. The whole system has become so standardized and so narrow that it doesn't allow students to expand where they possibly could be.” - Clayton Maitland, Founder

A glaring advantage of this model is that School Project. collaboration between students of different ages is so natural that it is easy to allow children to progress according to their skills, not their ages. For example, a grade 2 student who is very good at math can follow the expectations of a more advanced group without problems. Same thing for a student for whom writing is more difficult. Such a 40

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Can these children re-enter the public high school system? "These children who start high school are doing wonderful because they are natural critical thinkers. They are not afraid to ask questions, try and

make mistakes" shared a teacher. The Maple Ridge Environmental School team is now developing training at the high school level, and beginning September 2019, grade 8 and 9 students have the chance to continue their learning.

"We're so clued into modern technology, and things, that we're less observant about the world around us and we're more likely to learn about wildlife ironically from a David Attenborough program than from a walk in the woods", Richard Louv, 2005.

What makes outdoor learning so significant? It is cheap and easy. First, using a Natural Maker Space is easy and doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cost much. Everything needed can be found around the school or in the neighbourhood: trees, plants, birds, rocks, ponds, fields, flowers, mud, reptiles, insects, small animalsâ&#x20AC;Ś and tonnes of natural building materials and natural wonders to manipulate, explore, discover and create with.

Richard Louv coined the phrase Nature Deficit Disorder in his 2005 book Last Child in the Woods. He argues that all of us, especially children, are spending more time indoors, which makes us feel alienated from nature and perhaps more vulnerable to negative moods or reduced attention span.

To fight Natural Deficit Disorder In a world in constant movement and innovation, we need to find balance. Researchers have proven that children are spending too much time on new technologies (an average of 8 hours a day for a 6th grader) and all this time spent inside is the cause of a new worrying problem affecting our children, the "Nature Deficit Disorder".

Small initiatives can make a huge difference Dr. Greenfield, neuroscientist, believes that an inspiring teacher or parent could be the key to empowering young people to make sense of the world around them. Children, like the adults around them, need to come to terms with the Earth. Dr. Greenfield shares that "What we need to decide and there's not an easy answer, there never is - is what Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos CrĂŠatifs

kind of society we want, what kind of world do we want to live in?". Outdoor learning might be the solution for kids to develop ecocitizenship while living success in school. It is healthy A 13-month study conducted in Sweden shows that children attending schools in nature are more balanced, less sick and have better social skills, concentration, coordination and adaptation. The level of stress decreases instantaneously when one finds oneself in the forest, imagine the benefits of spending his whole days there. “It’s important to have knowledge of the heart. How do you get that? Well, you learn through the soles of your feet, the palms of your hands, the seat of your pants. All that knowledge has to pass through your heart on 42

the way to the head.” James Raffan, Historian, Camp Kandalore (Our Kids, 2014) An intimate and meaningful connection to the natural world through natural maker spaces develop a sense of "heart knowledge," which helps children navigate the landscape - figuratively and literally - from "I know" to "I care "(Doerr, 2004). Helping children to recognize themselves as an important part of a larger whole encourages them to develop an ethic of caring for themselves, others and the world more than human. Emotional connections is crucial for learning Environmental pedagogy recognizes that emotional connection is essential for learning. “Things that are making an emotional connection are those you remember. You don’t

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remember what is in the textbook because you don’t care about it”, teacher at the Maple Ridge Environmental School. This point of view is also valid for adults who make those Natural Maker Spaces available to students. Teachers who need to get out of their comfort zone and learn and discover as much as their students. This is a huge and positive phase of change for the child as well as for his family and school staff. We can’t make up an inquiry process The child, like the adult, needs to make sense of everything around him in order to learn from it. "Naturally curious, the child explores, manipulates, builds, creates, questions, asks questions and evolves around the world according to what one might call an “inquiry process", Ontario Kindergarten Program, 2016. In the current school system, the teacher is mandated to teach the inquiry process to the child according to established criteria. In a Natural Maker Space, as mentioned above, the role of the teacher is rather to accompany the student in this process of investigation and discovery in an authentic environment in nature. Kids need to touch, manipulate and create in order to learn Simon Nicholson is the author of the book: "How not to cheat children. The theory of loose parts", published in 1971. Since then, the theory of natural loose parts has continued on its way. Nicholson's basic theory is: "In any environment, both the degree of inventiveness and creativity, and the possibility of discovery are directly proportional to the number and kind of variables in it." He based his theory on the fact that it has never been proven that the creativity and the critical spirit of the inventor is reserved for a proportion of human beings. In fact, there is evidence that all children like to manipulate, create, invent, and explore if they are given the chance. Why do only a small proportion of children develop these skills? Perhaps because only a small portion of children have the chance to explore and reinvent their surroundings as children. This proportion of children explorers becomes the elite while the rest of the population believes that they are incompetent... They grow up believing that they simply do not have these skills. Still, Nicholson believes that by creating flexible and Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

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Michelle Thibault michelle@brilliantlabs.ca

Visiting this school was inspiring. There is endless potential and numerous possibilities in every school’s back yard that is just waiting to be explored.

Natural Do you use your school’s natural maker space, would you like to go outside more often with your students, or maybe you’d like to start a natural maker space? We can help you take the first steps. Let’s connect! You have ideas, we have experience. We’re here to help you join the Natural Maker Space community this school year. Michelle Thibault, Brilliant Labs Natural Maker Space Specialist Michellee@brilliantlabs.ca Kathleen Rice, Brilliant Labs Program Specialist Kathleen@brilliantlabs.ca

POTENTIAL

challenging learning environments for children and letting them explore, build, fail, discover, rebuild as they want, by offering a variety of natural loose parts and variables to handle, all of these children have the ability to develop superior intellectual abilities through play and exploration.

Kathleen Rice kathleen@brilliantlabs.ca

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Maker Faire To u t e u n e e x p é r i e n c e ! PHOTO CREDIT: JOSEPH BARRIENTOS

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Toute une expérience! Dès le moment que nous nous sommes assises dans l’avion en route pour San Francisco, nous savions que notre voyage n’était pas comme les autres. Nous étions en compagnie de gens qui travaillent pour google, playstation et des créateurs de jeux vidéos. Nous avons choisi de nous rendre à Cupertino afin de visiter Apple. Nous avons assisté à des sessions d’informations sur l’application Notes avec le crayon Apple et aussi sur la prise de photo avec Iphone. L’image de simplicité de marque d’Apple et tout ce qui s’y rattache se démarque même dans leur centre de visite. Avec plus de 12 000 employés à Cupertino seulement, le parc Apple est impressionnant. La station de réalité augmentée, pesant plus de 5 tonnes, nous permet de voir à l’intérieur de l’oval tout en nous donnant accès au théâtre sous-terrain Steve Jobs. Visite de Stanford University Sur le campus impressionnant de Stanford University, nous y retrouvons plusieurs espaces créatifs. Chaque espace a son propre objectif. Lavethorne library Ouvert à tous les étudiants du campus, l’espace créatif de la bibliothèque permet aux étudiants de collaborer sur divers projets tout en ayant accès à des imprimantes 3d, découpeuse laser, réalité virtuelle et une grande multitudes de tables de travail. Dans l’espace créatif de la faculté d'ingénierie, nous avons même eu la chance de rencontrer une étudiante de l'Université qui mettait la touche finale à son projet d’ application qu'elle présentait au MakerFaire.

PHOTO CREDIT: ZHANG KAIYV

Ensuite, nous avons eu l’opportunité de nous rendre au MakerFaire en Californie. Vêtue de mon chandail violet et fière de le porter, je fus époustouflée de voir toutes les nouveautés. Étant accompagné de ma fille, j’ai découvert le MakerFaire dans les yeux d’un enfant. Mêmes si nous avons beaucoup de choses en commun, nos passions differs vraiment. Son accompagnement m’a permis de passer plus de temps dans certaines stations et aussi découvrir plusieurs autres projets.

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Nous étions très emballées de nous rendre en Californie et nous étions prêtes pour du soleil. Cependant, nos 2 journées au MakerFaire furent loin de cela, les orages de pluies intermittentes n’ont pas

arrêtées pendant la fin de semaine. Le lancement du MakerFaire se fait avec 108 bouteilles de cola diète et un total de 2700 menthos. Un spectacle qui attire autant les enfants que les grands. Nous étions empilés dans l’entrée pour observer le spectacle. Savez-vous pourquoi ils utilisent de la liqueur diète? Car il y a moins de sucre et c’est moins collant donc plus facile à laver. Aussitôt entrée sur les lieux, nous nous sommes rendues à la station google afin de souder nos propres épinglettes illuminées. Impressionnant de voir les enfants de tout âge apprendre cette technique. Il commence à pleuvoir…

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Maker Square Lors de notre visite dans le Maker square nous avons exploré le monde des matériaux. Ici, il y avait des bijoux imprimés en 3d, des vêtements dont l’image t’envoient dans un monde de réalité augmentée, des pots de plantes créé à partir de moule, des vêtements 100% biologique, et plus encore. l’impression en 3D Même si plusieurs personnes n’ont toujours pas encore découvert le monde de l’impression en 3d, il est évident de constater son évolution depuis mon premier MakerFaire il y a de ça deux ans. L’impression sur le matériel permet aux créateurs amateur de costume à produire des costumes cosplay de haute qualité. Nous avons aussi eu la chance de manipuler les matériaux avec lesquels ils impriment des organes pour des transplantations humaines. Les développements de ces matériaux dans les dernières années sont phénoménals. Cosplay et véhicules Les gens se promènent vêtus de créations les plus impressionnantes. Ce que nous avons préféré cependant était les différents véhicules qui se promenaient partout. En se promenant, nous avons eu la chance de voir un auto en muffin, une laveuse à vêtements téléguidée, des OVNI et plus encore. Certains étaient interactifs et d’ autres crachent du feu. Allée noire La salle noire du MakerFaire était remplie de projets illuminés : une harpe laser qui joue de la musique, des activités diy avec les Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

ombrages, des oeuvres coupées au laser et illuminée, une robe de mariage qui allume avec des lumières lilly pad. Cette fanatique des vêtements codés, a cousu sa propre robe en y insérant plusieurs centaines de lumières. Elle devait certainement illuminer la salle en resplendissant lors de son mariage. stop Axis Mundi Même s’il n'avançait pas,cette structure de métal illuminé était tout de même impressionnante. Chaque paire de patte bougeaient tout en étant synchronisée. Peinture qui flotte Cette technique apaisante et impressionnante de teinture de matériel. La teinture flotte sur le mélange. Tu peux ensuite créer tes propres patrons avec des bâtonnets de bois tout en faisant bouger la peinture sur le liquide. Par après, on place le tissus sur le mélange. La peinture s’imbibe dans le matériel et y imprime votre oeuvre afin d’ y créer des oeuvres uniques. https://rainbowonamission.com/ Série course rally Ce circuit de course a lieu durant l’année. Les participants ont un budget de 500$ pour construire leur voiture et ne doivent pas le dépasser. Il y a différents types de courses pendant la fin de semaine. Nous avons avons eu beaucoup de plaisir à observer les conducteurs défiler sous une pluie abondante, ce qui créait plusieurs accrochages. Heureusement, il n'y a pas eu de blessé, mais certaines voitures ont dû quitter le circuit. Après cette fin de semaine remplie d’ ingéniosité, nous revenons dans notre beau coin de pays inspirées et motivés d’entreprendre plusieurs projets originaux. Depuis ce voyage, nous sommes attristés d'apprendre que MakerFaire suspend ses événements grandioses. Afin d’en connaître davantage sur le futur des MakerFaire, veuillez visiter www.makerfaire.com 50

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Olivia Vautour | j’ai l'âge de 12 ans

COMMENT FAIRE DE L'ART DU KOKÉDEMA Lors de mon voyage à San Francisco en Californie, je suis allée au MakerFaire. Dernièrement, j’aime beaucoup les plantes succulentes et j'étais très excitée d’en voir partout en Californie. J’ étais encore plus heureuse, lorsque j'ai découvert que je pouvais, lors du MakerFaire, créer ma propre oeuvre avec des succulentes.

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MATÉRIAUX NÉCESSAIRES: Un carré de papier plastifié

VOICI LES ÉTAPES:

Une succulente

1- Tu vas prendre la moitié de la mousse.

Du fibre de noix de coco

De la mousse naturelle

2- Après tu vas prendre ton papier plastifié et tu vas mettre la boule de mousse dans ton papier plastifié.

De la terre qui sèche rapidement

3- Après tu places une cuillère de la terre qui sèche vite un par-dessus l’autre. 4- Tu vas former la mousse dans une boule serrée. 5- Enlever le papier plastifié et commencer à mettre la corde. Mon nom est Olivia Vautour, j’ai l'âge de 12 ans j’adore la créativité des Labos Créatifs.

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Summer

STEAM CAMPS

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partners at Buckmaster Circle, Vine Place, and Rabbittown helped us work with students in their areas as well. We also brought on some exciting new partners with the Boys and Girls club, the YMCA, Camp Ohana, the West Haven United Church camp, the Manuel’s River Interpretation Centre and the Town of Conception Bay South. Altogether we increased our camper outreach by over 1000 new campers. Wylie Butler and I travelled to the Burin Peninsula and offered our camp experience to a full house of students in that region for the three days we were there. Good times were had by all with a promise of a return visit or two in the coming summer. But don’t just believe me, here is a report from Madison our supervisor in Corner Brook: The camps went quite well when we went out to community centers and summer camps around us, the kids seemed more interested and involved, they actually wanted to learn. They really enjoyed doing a few offline coding games and

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they being able to transfer their knowledge to the computer using Scratch. We got asked to come back to some places such a Vine Place Community Centre, YMCA camp at CBI (for older kids) West Haven united church camp, kinder castle. And Liam one of our supervisors from St. John’s who did an excellent job this summer: We were blessed with an excellent team of people all of whom dedicated themselves to their jobs with professionalism, kindness and empathy, and with bosses who carried the same ideals in their management. Very few days passed when the children left without smiles on their faces, and the same goes for us. Thank-you for the excellent summer Anonymously we also received this excellent shout out: Thank you for the opportunity to work here this summer. its been a great learning experience for me in many ways.

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Nova Scotia Summer STEAM Camp Mentor Perspective. Ronan Grey STEAM Mentor, Halifax West Working with Brilliant Labs was one of the most rewarding times in my life. Being exposed to new technology and seeing the impact and response made evident the difference we made in motivating people of all ages to broaden their horizons. Our team focused primarily on weekly groups with kids learning about new things. Focusing on fundamental concepts can be really fascinating how everyone responds. I especially remember doing paper circuits with a group of 6 & 7-year-old kids at the Sackville Boys & Girls Club, and some of the kids being so curious as to why the power doesn’t travel in a single straight line from the battery to the light. They had even seen power & telephone lines and deduced that power performed in that way. Once we had worked out that the moving particles

(electrons) needed to go back to where they came from with a few tried and failed metaphors, some of them could easily plan a circuit that I would have been doubtful of even a few years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed working in these camps and sessions and I’m sure they will continue to inspire creativity and curiosity in their participants for years to come. James Jefferson-Young STEAM Camp Mentor Dartmouth

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Rocket Week 2019 was the best. Watching kids’ faces glow as they watch their rocket fly was the best feeling in the world. At one particular private session, the kids made very creative and intricate designs on their bottle rockets.

This was my second summer working for Brilliant Labs along with two years in a co-op placement, managing my school’s Maker Space (Maker Space Management, Brilliant Labs Magazine, pg 23, Spring 2019). Through my experience I have learned an incredible amount, met many creative people and gained valuable life and job experience. During my time here, I designed two activities. One was based around paper air planes and how they work engineering-wise. Another was an activity covering the engineering of bridges. I have enjoyed this experience very much. I have learned so much. This has made a big difference in my life. Victoria Forhan, STEAM Camp Mentor, Halifax Atlantic

Halifax West Mentors: Elianna McKinnon, William Travers, Ronan Grey

laptop and were directed to make a Scratch game. Each had a perfectly polished game by the end. They were so well behaved and so appreciative that it made my day. Quite often at the end of the day, kids would run up to thank or hug us. It made it all worth it.

My Mentor experience had so many highlights I can’t even count them all. One was a camp session with 30-40 kids split into groups of seven, each with a counsellor from their camp. Each group had a

Halifax West Mentors: Stop motion project

They were excited to see their designs flying through the sky. They had so much fun and it was a valuable experience. I made tons of little projects this year. Some were coding, some were with straw connectors, some were mBot programs. My favourites were a fruit picking Scratch game, two player pong Scratch game, and the lists of mBot challenges I made for different levels of experience. They took a good amount of time to make but it was all worth it. Being a mentor for Brilliant Labs has been my first real job and I’m

Halifax West Mentors (left-rights) James Jefferson-Young, Nikola Hurley, Elianna McKinnon, Victoria Forhan, Jocelyn Morrison Back: Andrew Mercer William Travers, Isaac Morrell, Ronan Grey

so grateful for it. It has a perfect work-life balance, great people and a beautiful goal. I love the people I work with. I love being able to give kids the opportunity to learn things they may not be able to at home or advance their knowledge outside of school. Most of all, I love being able to make learning fun. I learned quite a few things from this job. One project was making Scratch games, which was pretty cool considering I had no previous coding experience. Rocket week was an absolute (no pun intended) blast. It was nice to see the kids so excited to decorate their rockets and then be even more excited to launch them. Every session, kids greeted us at the door eager to learn. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I really enjoyed it and I hope to return next year. Elianna McKinnon STEAM Camp Mentor, Halifax West This has been my most fun work experience yet. Our group hosted various activities such as coding

in Scratch, 3D modeling in TinkerCad with a live 3D printer nearby, programming mBots to interact with their environment, designing paper circuits, making buttons, as well as blasting off bottle rockets! Rocket week was done as a tribute to the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. It was great to watch all the kids beam with excitement seeing their rockets shoot off into the sky. This summer has been awesome! I have gained many new skills and feel more comfortable being in the role of leader. I am so thankful to have been given this opportunity. I am looking forward to hopefully working at Brilliant Labs again next summer to help kids create fantastic things with various forms of creative technology. Nikola Hurley STEAM Camp Mentor, Halifax Atlantic Working for Brilliant Labs has been one of my best summer work experiences yet. I combined everything I’ve ever wanted in a job; STEAM, working with kids, the

opportunity for personal growth as well as teaching others, variety, mobility and working with a great team of science-minded students like myself. I want them to see that science isn’t boring or something that you just learn about in school because you have to. Teaching STEAM to kids in a fun way when they’re young is the best way to inspire our next generation of creative thinkers. Often in schools and jobs for science/tech related fields there is a higher proportion of men to women. The potential gender imbalance is definitely something that crossed my mind when I applied to this job. However, from the first training session I could see that thankfully this wasn’t going to be a problem. Our HalifaxDartmouth team was made up of fun, passionate, hard-working students of a variety of genders, ages, and areas of study. I believe it’s important for kids to be able to “see themselves” in their mentors, meaning they can imagine themselves in our shoes in the future, teaching or studying in a STEAM field. For this to happen, girls need women in STEM to be positive role models for them, and Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

to encourage them to pursue these subjects as well. If I was that positive role model for just one child, that makes it all worth it. One of my favourite aspects of this job was visiting youth in a variety of areas including Prospect, my hometown. Giving back to the community that raised you is really an unparalleled feeling. We visited many locations where children would not normally have access to the science or tech equipment we use. I remember helping a girl at one of our coding camps use a computer for the first time in her life. Brilliant Labs’ free and mobile camps make STEAM accessible to kids in Atlantic Canada in a way I haven’t seen before, and that’s something really special. Overall, I’m so glad that we have an organization like Brilliant Labs here in Atlantic Canada, and it was amazing to be part of it this summer.

“T

hrough my experience I have learned an incredible amount, met many creative people and gained valuable life and job experience. - James Jefferson-Young STEAM Camp Mentor

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Truro Summer STEAM Program: Mentors’ View Written by STEAM Mentors: Judith LaPierre, Cameron MacLeod, Lauren Farrell In the Truro summer STEAM program, of the activities we found most popular with kids in summer camps was mBot battles where teams got a chance to design their own mBot with skewers and a balloon before driving it into battle to pop other balloons and protect their own. Since it was so popular, we wanted to continue bringing in the activity but make it feel new. So, we introduced the camps to the mBot Marketplace. At the beginning of the game, each team was given a balloon, two skewers, one arm's length of masking tape, and 20 “brilliant bucks” (purple and teal coloured squares of paper). Between rounds of battle, kids were able to spend their brilliant bucks on more tape, skewers, aluminium foil, and balloons to fix and improve their designs. In battle, kids were able to win brilliant bucks by popping balloons or by being in the top

group of surviving balloons. This style of playing allowed kids to be more creative with their designs and strategies since they had to agree on what their team’s goal was for any particular round of battle. For example, we had a team pop their balloon while building (which costs 1 brilliant buck to replace) and decide to play that round with only the skewers and tape they had so they could try to win brilliant bucks by popping balloons. In making that choice, the team had to consider that playing without a balloon would leave them unable to win the round or the brilliant bucks reward for being a last balloon standing. It would also give other teams a better chance at the last balloon standing reward and therefore an advantage in the next rounds. In making that choice, the team had to decide that their goal for that round was to be more prepared for

future battles instead of to win that particular round. In other words, this style of playing makes teams decide between focusing on individual battles or the game as a whole and make sacrifices to achieve their decided goal. These choices create room for more strategy and creativity throughout the game. The mBot Marketplace also made players consider money and budgeting. Since there was a different price for different materials, kids had to decide if it was worth it to buy an extra balloon to attach to their mBot when that was worth the same as three lengths of tape in brilliant bucks. Those choices resulted in more variety between mBots than we had seen in regular battles. It also encouraged kids to reuse materials and be careful with what they had which allowed them to learn about the importance of resource stewardship. Additionally, if teams did overspend and were left without enough to buy materials they needed, they turned to trading unused materials or selling them at a discounted rate to other teams. It was really interesting to see kids learning these real world skills of entrepreneurship and managing materials organically through a game. The extra strategic choices involved in the mBot Marketplace version of battles gave teams more room for strategy and creativity which made the game more interesting, challenging, and fun!

Making Connections Through STEAM Over the summer, the Truro Brilliant Labs team had the chance to see connections between children of all ages through the tech and activities they introduced to summer day camps in the community. The challenges that came with trying to program a Micro:bit for the first time or creating oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first ever stop motion movie, to name a couple examples, often caused a joining-of-forces between the participants of those sessions. There were, however, a few bonding moments that stood out in the minds of STEAM mentors from Truro. One of those moments was during a drop-in session at the Truro public library, where they got to be a part of a particularly heartwarming budding friendship. The drop-in session at the library was not particularly busy to begin with as the Truro Brilliant Labs team was not in their usual room, the Maker Space. Being out of the spot they were usually noticed in, it was one of the days where Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos CrĂŠatifs

the STEAM mentors got to have a lot of one-on-one time with each of the visitors that stopped by and children got a lot of time to try out the tablets and robots onhand that day without having to share. A group of four-two fathers each visiting the library with their daughter-- noticed the sign outside of the new room and decided to come in and check it out. Everyone in the group had walked in with a smile on their face and one of the dads mentioned that the two girls (who happened to be the same age at six years old) had just met outside and were just as quickly best friends. One father-daughter duo was Francophone and had lived in the Truro area for some time since moving from France; while the other had just moved there from Colombia. They had decided to spend their time at the library together since the girls were having so much fun together. The girls seemed very intrigued by the Dash Bots zipping around the room and the STEAM mentors quickly got them each set up with one to try. One of the girls was a bit more hesitant than the other, however, and as soon as the STEAM mentors mentioned the idea of stop-motion movie making, her dad encouraged her to give it a try and immediately dove right into making clay figurines with her. The other dad was also being very involved with his daughter’s Dash Bot-driving by asking her questions about how it worked and encouraging her to try out all of its functions. After a very short amount of time, the girls were sharing their excitement over each of the activities they’d tried with each other and soon they both ended up toying with the stop-motion app as well as the paper circuit-making activity. All the while, just as their daughters’ friendship was growing, the dads were also connecting over the mornings’ activities.

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

It turned out that the girls’ age and both families being relatively new to Truro were not the only coincidences of that morning. Their fathers also shared the same age and seemed to be in tune with a lot of the same ideals in parenting. Both men were passionate about giving their daughters the best educational experiences they could. Both were passionate about being active, involved parents and encouraging their girls to try everything. It was discussion of these topics that led to the discussion of the Colombian family’s struggle since arriving in Nova Scotia. He shared with the mentors and the other father that though he only wants his daughter to be happy, he worried about choosing the right school for her. She was quite proficient in English but Spanish was her first language; and he wanted her to be able to speak French as as well to have as many opportunities open as she could in Canada. The French father was able to deeply empathize with this situation and seemed invested in seeing his new friend succeed in their new home. They ended up making plans to explore Truro and continue their chat for the rest of the day together with their girls. The Brilliant Labs team of Truro was amazed to see such a wonderful connection happen in just a couple hours at one of their regular sessions. Though the group had met just before coming in, it was inspiring to see such a special connection grow over the STEAM activities they had brought that day. Having a space in one’s community where children and parents alike can bond over activities that encourage innovation and confidence to create in this way is a gift not to be taken for granted. It’s wonderful for Brilliant Labs to be supporting one.

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos CrĂŠatifs

Southern NB Summer STEAM Camp Mentor Perspective Summer STEAM Camp 2019 Charlotte County By Morgan Wheatly, Supervisor Brilliant Labs partnered with New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) this summer to bring advanced coding and STEAM camps in St. Andrews and Saint Stephen in Charlotte County. Over 500 children participated in the camps, in partnership with community centres, libraries and youth-serving organizations. Everyone had a lot of fun at our STEAM camps! One of the biggest highlights was at the libraries using squishy circuits to create different animals and objects out of Play-Doh and hooking them up with wires, LEDs and battery packs. It was a blast! We let the kids choose as a group what they wanted to make, then gave each kid a task to do. Once they finished making their creation, we helped to bring them to life. Combining art and science was amazing and the kids’ reactions to seeing their creation light up was very exciting. By the end of the camp, the kids had made a duck, octopus, snowman and fish. Each one was well done! The kids really enjoyed making, seeing their creations work, and listening to how exactly everything worked using electricity. Something else that was also very engaging for the kids was the robot jousting using computers, 66

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mBot robots, Makey Makey, aluminum foil, balloons and pins, etc. We grouped the kids into two opposing teams of five and connected everything using Makey Makey and wires. With each team member standing on patches of foil, depending on who touched who to complete the circuit, they controlled the direction of their robot to pop their opponent’s balloon. As well, the kids really enjoyed competing against the adults and camp counsellors. Kids were loudly cheering and clapping and overall, having a really great time! Summer STEAM Camp 2019 Saint John By Leah Melvin, Supervisor & Zachary Boulanger, Mentor Brilliant Labs partnered with the City of Saint John Summer Playground Program, community centres, libraries and youthserving organizations to bring STEAM camps to over 1500 children in Saint John. STEAM Mentors and Supervisors spent valuable time educating and empowering promising youth during camp this summer in Saint John. Each child we worked with was engaged in their own creative

way, making for a diverse and fun summer. Our feature event, Rocket Day celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, and put smiles on the faces of almost 300 children and gave them a glimpse of the endless possibilities to explore and “aim high!” At our morning camps, different stations were set-up to introduce coding- and tech-related concepts. Kids got to experience hands-on learning through various activities such as maze game development using Scratch coding, 3D modeling, micro:bits, tech-craft table, etc. As the week progressed, we’d see the children’s interests spike and develop a drive to intuitively educate themselves through problem-solving, made fun. When micro:bits were introduced, whole new creative opportunities opened up! The first successful program was completed by a young woman who wanted to design a shape building game, with some assistance from us. Even getting a light to blink was a huge thrill! One highlight was seeing a child finally master a certain topic and then teach it excitedly to their friend who is experiencing technical challenges

taught us valuable lessons. For example, it’s best to treat a 3D printer like a spiritual being: if you don’t believe in it, it won’t work for you. Using our resources when we ran-out of supplies in the field to create new activities was also super fun. You’d be surprised what you can do with some string, scissors, and straws.

with their game. Our afternoon camps were just as fun-filled with learning as the morning camps, as we got to know the kids better every week we returned to them. Being able to reach-out to such a diverse range of children in the community helped with our ability to better teach and hone our problemsolving skills. It’s safe to say that the mBot balloon jousting was very popular and a huge success with the kids! Each problem we encountered not only was fun to solve but also

The summer was a success for all because not only did we provide children with opportunities to understand that anything is possible by learning how to code and developing their digital skills, but they also reinforced this in us with all their brilliant ideas. We worked with truly special people who are or will go on to do amazing things not just in their community, but the world! Summer STEAM Camp 2019 By Shayna Earle, Mentor Being a summer STEAM mentor with Brilliant Labs this past summer

allowed me to work with a diverse group of like-minded individuals to create diverse and inclusive spaces for young people from all walks of life to be engaged, inspired and empowered. This was done through teaching youth how to code and develop their digital skills right in their community which in many cases led to work in priority areas throughout Saint John and surrounding areas. Having the opportunity to encourage youth to innovate, create and design by the

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use of the engineering process was an eye-opening experience that enhanced my passion for STEAM and pushed me further into my studies. As a second-year engineering student at McMaster University studying biomedical and chemical engineering, the majority of my degree is group based in the form of design projects allowing for the development of teamwork and collaboration skills. Learning in an integrated program has given me the ability to think creatively, adapt to new situations and innovate. This passion for learning and love of STEAM was what I hoped to share with the youth participating in the Brilliant Labs camps. The joy of learning, building and designing is something that I have been fortunate enough to experience many times, through Brilliant Labs camps I was able to watch youth see their ideas come to life. The excitement and enthusiasm I was able to observe this summer were unbelievable and an experience I am extremely grateful for. I truly do believe that more than the successes observed it was the failures that amazed me, it was the development of work ethic, resilience and problem-solving abilities. I not only was shocked by the drive and passion these campers displayed but learned as much from them as they learned from me. I was able to learn more patience, creativity and some of the most creative problem solving I have ever seen. The way that inspired youth in STEAM can be bound by no fear or limits is incredible and has inspired me to be less afraid of risk or failure. The lessons I learnt from my experience with Brilliant Labs this past summer have helped to further my passion for sharing my love of STEAM with 68

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youth and all of those around me. Summer STEAM Camp 2019 in Sussex County & Quispamsis By Hannah Crothers, Supervisor Brilliant Labs partnered with Sussex Regional Library and Kennebecasis Public Library to bring STEAM camps to children in Sussex and Quispamsis. This summer, I had the opportunity to lead the summer camps in both Sussex and Quispamsis, in partnership with the local libraries. Working within the communities and closely with library staff proved to be a phenomenal experience. Through our joint efforts, we constantly engaged the campers and they kept coming back each week for more. We not only developed the children’s coding and tech skills, but also helped them develop their communication and teamwork skills through activities like mBot jousting and navigating mazes. We built games using Makey Makey, and made very successful Guitar Hero- and Operation-like games. By the end of the summer, the kids learned how to use Makey Makey to make their games and ideas come to life. Using Scratch coding to make games also played a big role in our camps. Each child

designed their own games, and they would patiently work through the bugs to get their creations to work exactly how they wanted them to be. Some games were quite unique. Kids created controls that aren’t typically used in games or game mechanics that I hadn’t seen before! We also encouraged creative thinking using some tough engineering games where the campers had to work together to create something that could solve any given problem. We had a boat building competition in which the kids came up with their own designs using limited supplies, and I am proud to say some designs would have put adults to shame. Letting kids create and implement their own designs was such an important aspect in our STEAM camps. When Rocket Day came around, the campers all had unique designs to suit what they thought would work. For instance, some had fins placed in different ways just to see if it would make a difference. This natural curiosity created a lot of amazing and innovative designs!

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos CrĂŠatifs

Northern & Western NB Summer STEAM Camp Mentor Perspective Another Brilliant summer camp season has come to an end. This summer, Brilliant Labs and it’s community partners across New Brunswick worked to bring the tools and guidance needed to help youth explore their understanding of technology and develop problem solving skills. Over the course of eight weeks, summer camp counsellors, armed with robots, microcontrollers, 3D printers, laptops, and tablets delivered engaging hands-on programming and day long celebrations to youth in 29 communities throughout NB. Our first week was an intense training week filled with icebreakers, team-builders, and technology challenges.

Here are some of the highlights from our Brilliant Labs Summer Staff.

y ont participé. Ces enfants qui viennent de Bathurst, Beresford, Janeville, la Première Nation de Pabineau, le reste de la région Chaleur et même de l’Ontario ont eu beaucoup de plaisir et on vraiment aimé leur été. Parmi le plusieurs activités que nous avons fait avec les enfants, ils ont adoré l'expérience du dentifrice pour éléphants, le piano géant contrôlé par des Makey Makey et le pont que nous avons fabriqués, avec du carton, pour les mBot. Mais ce qu’ils ont le plus aimé est le jour de la fusée. Ils ont pu observer leur fusée à eau s’envoler dans les airs ainsi que des micros fusées se faisant propulser vers la Lune. En fait, toutes les activités et expériences ont permis au jeunes d’avoir du plaisir tout en apprenant et en créant.

Alex Losier (Bathurst): Mon été avec Labos Créatifs fut rempli d'activités amusantes et intéressantes pour les enfants qui

Émilie Risdon (Bathurst): 12 300+ people. 12 300+ personalities. 12 300+ brains. A community isn’t its landmarks or its buildings; rather,

Not only did our summer staff inspire the youth of New Brunswick, they also inspired and grew themselves. For many, working at a Brilliant Labs summer camp allowed them to explore and gain new technology skills alongside their campers and often their parents and community partners - creating a community of learning.

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

a community is built upon the people that reside within it. In my eight weeks with Brilliant Labs, not only did I get the chance to construct multicoloured robot ramps, a giant Makey Makey floor piano, and combine LEGO Robotics with a Pringles Project, I was also able to reach out to my community and meet a plethora of people of all ages - children, camp counsellors, parents, grandparents, guardians, locals, tourists - and many of whom I had never met. Travelling to groups of children, rather than having them come to us, gave us the chance to meet countless, unique groups of people throughout this region, and share the wonderful world of science and technology with them. Véronique St-Amand Grand Falls: Les moments adorables de notre été était de voir les enfants participés et avoir du plaisir. Les campeurs aimait beaucoup les

campeurs aimait beaucoup les makey makey, ils pouvaient animer leur creation! Les campeur interagissaient tous ensembles, la plupart se faisaient de nouveau amis, de nouveau liens d’amitié et de nouvelle connaissance! Anson Green -- Grand Falls: During my time at the Summer

STEM Camps with Brilliant Labs, not a day went by where I didn't ask myself if the camps were more educational for me or for the children! Each and every camp was a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, and I had so much fun exploring the possibilities of the technology we have access to. (And that's not even mentioning how much fun the kids had!) If I could do it all over again, I definitely would! Cassie Wright - Grand Falls: Over this summer I enjoyed working with kids, because they were up to doing anything. It was fun for me because I love working with kids. One thing that was great to do with kids was the robots, they really liked the robot because they

were fun to play with. Erika Ouellette and Céline Kavanaugh -- Grand Falls Supervisors: Working as a Brilliant Labs supervisor for the summer has been an adventure. Our journey began with a very eventful training week. The Scavenger Hunt where we had the chance to meet the camp mentors and supervisors from the BL Edmundston and Grand Falls teams was definitely the highlight of our week. Our summer was filled with various locations, work environments, and people. This challenged us to adapt to all these variables. During our 7 weeks of camp, we were able to learn, create and

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

innovate with the kids. Flexibility and communications were key elements to ensure the functionality of our camps. Technology isn’t always cooperative, you may want to rip all of the hair out of your head, but with patience, you will get through it. Kathy, Jess, Brieanna Fredericton: The Fredericton team had a brilliant summer this year! We were able to do so much in our community, from our week long camps with our existing partners at the YMCA and the Fredericton Public Library to creating new partnerships and reaching new makers with the help of our Mobile Maker Cart! Our week long camps at the YMCA and at the Library were new to us in Fredericton and allowed us to work with our partners and offer all kinds of programming to many kids! What was truly amazing about these camps was that we were able to do larger, in-depth projects with the campers. With a whole week to put thought into their projects, they were able to evolve their creations into bigger and better works.

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

Above all, our favourite part of this summer was our Mobile Maker Cart. Thanks to our Cart we were able to go out all over Fredericton and create a pop-up maker space in unconventional and unique locations. We went to the Splash Pad in Wilmot Park, the outdoor movies in Officers Square, The Green by the Library, and at the Garrison Night Market. We were able to take all of our activities and creativity out into the community and reach makers of all ages who we wouldn’t usually encounter. In particular, the Night Market gave us a lot of face time with community members. Parents and kids alike were at our cart, getting involved in activities, asking about our organization, and enjoying the availability and versatility of a pop-up maker space. First Nations Makers: This summer, alongside camp counsellors from Miramichi and Grand Falls, we delivered miniMaker Camps in Egenoôpetitj and Tobique First Nations to youth. In July we spent three days engaging in hands on technology, computational thinking and making activities that encouraged

teamwork, problem solving and critical thinking. Rocket day in Esgenoopetitj was an overwhelming success as youth designed and built their own water bottle rockets from everyday items. No rocket was alike. Our young junior astronauts focused on personalizing their pop bottle rockets to not only make them aerodynamic but space worthy. Once everyone had finished building their rockets, we took off to the outdoors to the launch pad. Students gathered in excitement as camp leaders prepared their launch area. “T-Minus 2 minutes t’il launch!”. You could feel the excitement in the air as youth wondered out loud whose rocket would travel the highest. “10….9….8…” with each pump of the rocket launcher excitement grew “7...6...5…”. Campers anxiously waited for the first rocket to launch “4...3...2...1….BLAST OFF!!!!” With a loud pop rockets launched into the air to the delight of our junior astronauts.

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos CrĂŠatifs

PEI Summer STEAM Camps What a Blast! Written by Carron McCabe, Brilliant Labs PEI Program Director This summer Brilliant Labs had 9 STEAM Mentors delivering camps across Prince Edward Island in 18 different communities with 28 partners. Our gracious partners included the Provincial Library System, Chances Family Services, Association for Newcomers to Canada in PEI, The St. Peter’s Blueberry Festival, Kids West Daycare, Boys and Girls Clubs of Charlottetown and Montague, Abegweit First Nations, Lennox Island, and STEAM PEI. To all of our hosts we send a brilliant thank you! Our Summer STEAM Mentors led camps for kids and teens in both French and English, capturing their imaginations through activities such as rocket launching, coding, robotics, and 3D printing. Here is what our STEAM Mentors have been saying about their summer: “Brilliant Labs was beyond a wonderful experience that gave an opportunity that allowed me to expand on my knowledge and skills. I enjoyed every day working with the children and fascinating them with new technologies. “ Mentor Megan “Mon nom est Ève-Marie Unvoy. J’ai 16 ans et je vis au Québec. À l’été 2019, j’ai la chance de pouvoir participer à un échange étudiant à L’Île-du-Prince-Édouard d’une durée de 6 semaines. Je me suis inscrite pour y apprendre l’anglais, même si on y apprend beaucoup plus qu’une langue. Dans le cadre de ce programme, on se crée de nouveaux amis et on grandit beaucoup. Je suis extrêmement contente d’être dans votre équipe Labos Créatifs, merci beaucoup de me donner cette chance!” Mentor Ève-Marie. “My name is Ève-Marie Unvoy. I am 16 years old and I live in Quebec. This summer, I had the opportunity to participate in a 6-week student exchange in Prince Edward Island. I signed up to learn English, but it’s so much more than learning a language. Through this program, we made new friends and grew a lot. I am extremely happy to have been a part of the Brilliant Labs team. Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity!" Mentor Ève-Marie. 74

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“I have really learned a lot both about myself and the content of our curriculum here at Brilliant Labs. The weeks flew past as we always learned something and I really appreciated the ability for us to try new things and put a different spin on each activity to keep it fresh for ourselves and for the students. This job, more than any other in the past, has given me that great feeling when you see a student learn something new. That "aha" moment where they figure out a new way to solve a problem made me so happy every time. I really am proud of the accomplishments Brilliant Labs has made this summer.” Mentor Supervisor Nicholas “This was my second summer working with Brilliant Labs and it did not disappoint. As far as summer jobs go working with Brilliant Labs has been a blast! It’s a great program to keep children learning throughout the summer and to show them how much fun it can be. I always enjoy working with children and this job makes it even better because we get to teach them new things, watch as they grow and come up with their own brilliant ideas.” Mentor Supervisor Maddy “I think that this summer was a valuable experience that I will take with me into my further education as an engineer.” Mentor Alex For Mentor Aaron, he discovered how campers need direction and this meant stepping out of his comfort zone. His advice: “Organizing a group of campers may seem like an impossible task, don’t be afraid to make yourself

heard, be assertive. One of the most important aspects of teaching or leading is to have your message heard.”

Mentor Carter: The biggest highlight for our summer was Rocket Day. At Bloomfield Elementary campers built and launched model rockets. I had only “One of my biggest victories was seeing ever launched water bottle rockets the growth of some of the regular before so model rockets was taking it attendees of our camps. I saw one boy go to the next level! I loved how our from needing his grandmother there for mentors took Rocket Day to new him to be able to participate and from not heights by holding 25 rocket themed saying anything to us when he arrived, to camps! the end of the summer where his grandmother could leave him and he All summer I have witnessed how would enjoy the camps! He would interact excited campers and parents have not only with me but other people been to take part in our camps! We attending the camps and it was really had more than triple the amount of great to see him grow and become more adults and over double the amount of comfortable, and have more fun each and youth compared to last year. This tells every camp. It was truly an amazing and me that momentum is building in PEI fun job! I got to see and learn things that and there is an appetite for have always interested me but I didn’t programming like ours! have access too before. I got to witness the growth of kids over the weeks of Thank you to all the mentors who gave camps, and most importantly I got to so much creative energy this summer have fun doing my job, something not and to our wonderful partners who everyone can say about their summer welcomed us into their communities! job.” See you next summer and in your classrooms this school year!

BrilliantLabs LabsMagazine Magazine Revue RevueLabos LabosCréatifs Créatifs Brilliant

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING #ROCKETDAY 2019 Thank you to community and program partners, libraries,

stickers and posters for Atlantic

youth-serving organizations and

Canada. Catch all the

recreation centres who helped

#RocketDay2019 excitement by

launch #RocketDay2019. We

visiting Brilliant Labs YouTube

would also like to say a special

Channel #RocketDay2019. Also, dig

thanks to the Canadian Space

into aerospace for the classroom at

Agency for supplying bookmarks,

Brilliantlabs.ca/aerospace.

TO ALL OUR BRILLIANT SUMMER STEAM CAMP PARTNERS, Thank you to all our community partners who helped transform libraries, gymnasiums and community centres into hands-on STEAM Summer Camp maker spaces. We couldn’t reach many of these incredible youth without your support. We would also like to thank our funding partners, who offer programs like CanCode and SEED, as without their continued support we could not provide this free STEAM programming or hire our engaging supervisors and mentors. Thank you for a Brilliant season of Summer STEAM Camps!

New Brunswick New Brunswick Public Libraries, Anglophone North School District, District scolaire francophone du Nord-Ouest, Fundy Region Library, Bathurst Education Centre, Boys & Girls Club of Charlotte County, Boys & Girls Club of Saint John, Carleton Community Centre, Camping Youghall, City of Saint John Summer

Nova Scotia

Playground Program, Community Youth Activity Centre, Crescent Valley Resource Centre, East Branch Library, Kennebecasis Public Library, New Bandon Salmon Beach Fire Department, Nick Nicolle Community Centre, Pabineau First Nation, Ross Memorial Library, Saint John Free Public Library – Central Branch, South End Community Centre, Sussex Regional Library, St. Croix Library, Teen Resource Centre, West Branch Library, YMCA Early Learning Centre, Carrefour Beausoleil. Funded by:

Prince Edward Island

Newfoundland & Labrador

Nova Scotia Public Libraries,

Provincial Library System,

College of the North Atlantic, Provincial

Nova Scotia Power, Sackville

Chances Family Services, The

Public Libraries, City of St. John’s, Town

Boys & Girls Club, Shift Key,

St. Peter’s Blueberry Festival,

of Gander, Boys & Girls club, YMCA,

Juniper House, Parent's

Kids West Daycare, Boys and

Camp Ohana, the West Haven United

Place Yarmouth, Yarmouth

Girls Clubs of Charlottetown

Church camp, Manuel’s River

YMCA, Acadian First

and Montague, Abegweit First

Interpretation Centre, Town of

Nations, Tri-County

Nations, Lennox Island, &

Conception Bay South, Vine Place

Betterment Association,

STEAM PEI, PEI Association for

Community center, YMCA camp CBI,

CDENE and CSAP, TCRCE,

Newcomers to Canada.

Kinder Castle, Buckmaster Circle and

Colchester-East Hants Library, Halifax Public Libaries.

Rabbittown Community center.

CODED FASHION BINARY BRACELETS IN ARM’S REACH A R T

T E C H N O L O G Y

P R O J E C T ( S T E A M )

Written by Elianna McKinnon Halifax West STEAM Camp Mentor

This low-tech project introduces how the binary number system relates to the evolution of computational thinking -- which is the basis of all coding! Learn how computers “talk” to each other in a language that consists of only ones and zeroes by creating a trendy accessory. These eye-catching bracelets are a unique way to express personal style as well as function as a “secret” code that only those who are “in the know” will be able to decipher. Forget the old-school lemon and paper invisible ink messages-we’re taking physical code projects to the next level. Truly “wearable (low) tech at it’s finest!

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

Binary code can be very long but by selecting small words (4-8 letters max) you can create a bracelet with a variety of word options. For our project sample we used medium--to-large size beads to display a bracelet that spells a short word: “art”. By starting off somewhat small we know it can be displayed to comfortably fit around a youth sized wrist.

YOU WILL NEED Small beads Elastic string PHOTO SUBMITTED

LEARN The binary character table is the key component to code and decipher the message for this project. It’s recommended that the full binary table is printed/accessible so that the maker can easily reference all letters.

PREP As we’re working with only two number options-- the fundamental concept of binary code, only two colours of beads will be used.It doesn’t matter which two colours are selected-just make sure that they are visually different from each other to make decoding easy from afar! Remember: each colour will represent one of the two number options (0 & 1) so be sure to separate the beads by colour.

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

EXAMPLE WORDS Short: Code, Make, Life, Love,Tech Medium: Happy, Bright, Brave, Robot Large: Creative, Unique,Champion, Believe, Genius.

MAKE Be sure to cut a fairly long piece of elastic string to allow for enough room for your word---It’s better to trim after you have put the beads on than to have to add more elastic or start over when making jewellery. Remember: each individual letter will have a unique code found by using the binary code table.

For each letter you will add the appropriate coloured beads (determined in the design process) in groups onto the elastic string. Be sure to remember which colour represent 0 and which colour represent 1!

Once all of your words are added to your elastic, carefully tie and knot the two ends at least two times. Next, snip any excess elastic ends... and voila! you have now created your own chic bracelet that holds a special feature: a secret word! You can design and make matching ones for friends or even add a second word to a coded phrase “response” to accompany your bracelet.

www.teacherspayteachers.com_Product_Binary-Bracelets-4088046

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

PHOTO CREDIT: ANGELLO LOPEZ/ EDITED

Cover: Claire DiPaolo, 11 years old, grade 6 at HMMS (Harry Miller middle school) Rothesay, NB. Claire is an engaged maker who is creating fun applications using the Brilliant Labs b.Board. 82

Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos CrĂŠatifs

THANK YOU | MERCI WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE STUDENTS & TEACHERS WHO ARE INSPIRING INNOVATION EVERYDAY AND TO THE CONTRIBUTORS & STAFF WHO HELPED CREATE VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1: DECODE COMMUNITY NOUS AIMERIONS REMERCIER LES ÉLÈVES ET LES ENSEIGNANTS QUI INSPIRENT L'INNOVATION TOUS LES JOURS, AUX CONTRIBUTEURS ET AUX MEMBRES DE NOTRE ÉQUIPE QUI ONT CONTRIBUÉ À LA CRÉATION DE CE VOLUME 3, NUMÉRO 1: DÉCODER LA COMMUNAUTÉ

BRILLIANT LABS | LABOS CRÉATIFS

CONTRIBUTORS | CONTRIBUTEURS

JEFF WILLSON, EDITOR

AARON ALEX ZACHARY BOULANGER BRIEANNA CARTER HANNAH CROTHERS HARRY DALEY SHAYNA EARLE LAUREN FARRELL FEMI FUTURE READY NB VICTORIA FORHAN ANSON GREEN RONAN GREY NIKOLA HURLEY JESS CÉLINE KAVANAUGH KATHY JUDITH LAPIERRE ALEX LOSIER ÈVE-MARIE MEGAN CAMERON MACLEOD

HÉLÈNE BARD, EDITORIAL JOHN BARRON, EDITORIAL KENDRA HAINES, EDITORIAL NELLIE KEATING, EDITORIAL JOSH KEYS, EDITORIAL CARRON MCCABE, EDITORIAL KATHLEEN RICE, EDITORIAL SARAH RYAN, EDITORIAL LESA SCOTT, EDITORIAL MICHELLE THIBAULT, EDITORIAL NATACHA VAUTOUR, EDITORIAL

MADDY ELIANNA MCKINNON LEAH MELVIN NICHOLAS ÉMILIE RISDON KAYOE STEWART FRANCES ANN SQUIRE OLIVIA VAUTOUR MORGAN WHEATLY CASSIE WRIGHT JAMES JEFFERSON-YOUNG

ABOUT US | À PROPOS DE NOUS Brilliant Labs is a non-profit, hands-on experiential learning platform based in Atlantic Canada. We support the integration of creativity, innovation, coding, and an entrepreneurial spirit within classrooms & educational curricula. Labos Créatifs est un organisme sans but lucratif du Canada atlantique offrant une plateforme d’apprentissage expérientielle mettant l’accent sur l’expérience pratique et la technologie. Nous appuyons l’intégration de la créativité, de l’innovation, de la programmation et de l’esprit de s’entreprendre dans les salles de classe et dans les programmes d’études. PHOTOGRAPHY & DESIGN | PHOTOGRAPHIE & DESIGN Article images were provided by staff and contributors. Professional images were sourced at Unsplash.com. Magazine design, photography, photo & copy editing and original art was created by Cheryl Willson, Brilliant Labs Communications, while vector art was licensed from www.vecteezy.com. Les images des articles ont été fournies par le personnel et les collaborateurs. Les images professionnelles proviennent d'Unsplash.com. La conception de magazines, la photographie, l'édition photo et l'art original ont été créés par Cheryl Willson, Communications Labos Créatifs, on peut trouver de l'art comme l'échantillon à droite à l'adresse www.vecteezy.com. Brilliant Labs Magazine Revue Labos Créatifs

YOU’RE INVITED! VOUS ÊTES INVITÉS! Brilliant Labs invites you “Create & Make” with us after school during our new FREE Maker Series open to educators, youth, teens and public learners. Watch Facebook & Twitter for events in your area. Labos Créatifs vous invite à "Create & Make" avec nous après l'école lors de notre nouvelle Soirée Créative GRATUITE ouverte aux éducateurs, jeunes, adolescents et apprenants publics. Surveillez Facebook et Twitter pour les événements dans votre région. Contact us at info@brilliantlabs.ca for information or to request a Maker Series in your community. Communiquez avec nous à info@brilliantlabs.ca pour obtenir de l'information ou pour demander une série de publications dans votre collectivité.