Karen Blumberg

Designing and lasercutting Chanukah menorahs with the MS Jewish Affinity Club at @BrearleyNYC! #STEAM #MakerEd

Notes from the Class XI Mandarin shadow puppet project at @BrearleyNYC

Prototyping a wall mount for alligator clips to hang in the @BrearleyNYC #CoLab. #MakerEd @ultimaker @thingiverse @tinkercad

In the CoLaboratory, we have a large bin marked ALLIGATOR CLIPS that was becoming a bit of an organizational nightmare with 5th graders struggling to free a wire from a tangle of metal-tipped tumbleweeds. I figured a wall-mounted solution might be helpful, and I asked my 5th graders for their opinions and suggestions. My first physical prototype was a scrap of cardboard affixed to the side of a…

I couldn’t find a satisfactory wall mount for a mini glue gun, so I made one with @Tinkercad and an @Ultimaker. You can find it on the @thingiverse… @BrearleyNYC #MakerEd #STEAM

Pics from my visit to @DwightSchool’s #SparkLab designed by @lesa_wang! #makerspace #MakerEd #STEAM

Gathering my notes and tweets from yesterday’s mycelium workshop at @GenspaceNYC (organized by @STEMteachersNYC)… #STEMintheCITY #scichat #STEMed

Yesterday, I met up with Tracy Rudzitis and Don Buckley for a workshop at Genspace in South Brooklyn. Here’s some info about Genspace copied from their website: Genspace is the world’s first community biology lab — a place where people of all backgrounds can learn, create, and grow with the life sciences.Since 2009, we have served the greater New York area by providing hands-on STEAM education…

Presenting “Experiences As A Maker Educator (Before, During, And After COVID)” at @Make Education Forum, 12pm EDT. I’ll share a variety of projects from @BrearleyNYC. #MakerEd #STEAM

Many thanks to Godwyn Morris (Founder of Dazzling Discoveries and Skill Mill NYC) for spearheading this year’s online version of the fabulous annual Make: Education Forum that had previously occurred the day before Maker Faire New York City. I attended many of the Education Forums over the years, and I was always so impressed by the topics, panelists/speakers, schedule, and level of discourse…

Notes from today’s #TurtleArt workshop led by Artemis Papert and Brian Silverman… #ArtEdTech #MathChat @LogoFoundation

I’ve written before about a previous TurtleArt workshop I experienced, and it was also led by the inimitable Artemis Papert (daughter of Seymour Papert) and Brian Silverman (co-creator of Scratch and creator of TurtleArt and many other Logo/Java based coding environments) and organized by Michael Tempel of the Logo Foundation. They have been collaborating with code, art, and life for decades, and…

Thanks to @jumekubo for inspiring my design for a more universal “pocket document camera” that can be affixed to most any device and mirror your hands, drawings, pen marks… #MakerEd #ArtEdTech

Many thanks to John Umekubo for sharing 3D printed designs for a pocket document camera! He got a lot of well-deserved attention for it when it was reshared by Hackaday, and he also compiled a comprehensive blog postwhere he generously…

Gathering my tweets from the 3rd @construct3dconf hosted at @RiceUniversity this week. #Construct3D #MakerEd #ArtEdTech

Construct3D is a great conference! I’ve been to all three events, and the quality of the keynotes, posters, attendees passion, interesting conversations, networking (and food) is always awesome. I always learn a ton and I leave inspired and truly energized (albeit momentarily exhausted). Per their website’s About page:

Construct3D is a vendor agnostic 3D printing, digital fabrication conference…

Here are some photos from the workshop:

After, I considered ways of cooking and using bioplastics with children in different grade levels. Maybe students could make their own disc (with unique colors and/or bits embedded in the mold) and hang it from a class mobile? Or they could make jewelry (medallions or earrings)? Or maybe they could preserve an object or drawing in a sustainable mold – rather than use resin or plastic or something non-biodegradable? In turns out that the bioplastic will melt if exposed to heat or water, and there are ways of making it last longer. One trick is to rub it with beeswax to make it a little more water-repellent.

We just started a new trimester, so I have a great batch of girls signed up for our “Nailed It” afterschool class. We’re going to use our bio-plastic to mimic bits of glass and used in a modified version of a Tiffany lamp. The girls will design art for each side of a four-sided lantern (since it’s an easy shape to construct), then we’ll cut out their designs with our Cricut Maker, cook up bioplastics, and piece their “glass” into the walls of the lanterns. Possibly due to time constraints, we’ll just use a flameless LED tea light in the center of the their lantern… Stay tuned!

Gathering my tweets and pics from today’s awesome #CCFestNYC hosted at @ITP_NYU. Thank you for organizing another inspiring event, @ed_saber!

Yay for another #CCFest today at ⁦@ITP_NYU⁩! Here are slides from the event: https://t.co/wKw5amQGZ8#CCfest12 #STEMed #CSforAll #CSforAllNYC https://t.co/XtsyVxKEbU

— Karen Blumberg (@KarenBlumberg) December 8, 2019

  Excited for @aankit’s opening keynote at #CCfestNYC today! Thanks for hosting, @ITP_NYU! #csforall #csforallnyc pic.twitter.com/kj1GIDduhB

— Karen Blumberg (@KarenBlumberg) Decem…