Your Library May Have 3D Printing

As I've blogged about before, 3D printers are awesome! They are a little expensive - Makerbot's 3D machines hover around $2000 - but you can print out small 3D trinkets and have a blast! The main store where you can see demos is the Makerbot store in NYC.  Luckily, some libraries are getting into the act and opening up their own 3D printing stations so that you can get in on the fun! 

According to the Washington Post :

Cleveland and D.C. are part of an expanding club of public libraries making 3-D printers available to patrons, often as part of a “maker lab” type environment. The Johnson County Public Library in the Kansas City suburbs debuted a “MakerSpace” in the spring with a MakerBot 3-D printer, iMacs, cameras and other equipment and software people might not normally be able to access at home.

The Westport Public Library in Connecticut launched a similar Maker Space with a 3-D printer this month after a successful “Maker Faire” showcasing the tech in the spring.   Ben Miller, director of the public library in Sauk City, Wis., called their acquisition of a 3-D printer in 2012 part of a larger move to “creation rather than consumption.”

Check out a video of the 3D printing area at the Harold Washington library in Chicago:

I'm still waiting on you, Milwaukee Public Library ...  

Geeks Are Taking Over YouTube Next Week

YouTube is featuring a ton of great geeky stuff from August 4th - 10th.  A quick view of the video below shows geek heroes such as Bill Nye and Felicia Day. They also give a great definition of the word "geek":

"We're the biggest fans. We're curious about the world. We question what's possible" 

Being a geek is not just about playing video games, reading comic books, etc. It's about being comfortable with who you are and never letting the status quo change something that you believe in.

Check out http://yt.be/geekweek all next week for some pic nerdery

Robots Flip Into the Apocalypse

I saw the movie Pacific Rim last weekend, which involved gigantic robots fighting ... gigantic monsters. I don't need much more of a sales pitch than that, even though the science of building a fully functioning robot and creating a neural memory-sharing link with two human co-pilots is never really explained.  That doesn't matter when the commercial features Idris Elba cancelling the apocalypse in a rousing speech, seen below:

Unfortunately, Idris was unaware of the robots that have learned from their mistakes. The Terminator series didn't work out too well for them, and neither did The Matrix. They need a new strategy.  So they are training to start flipping like Contra meets Sonic the Hedgehog and destroy us all. Observe.

The robot even sticks a perfect landing. All it needs to do is bow before mercifully exterminating the human race. I'm not sure what would scare me more - a mech or monster the size of a building, or a tiny robot that's flipping all over the damn place. Either way, we're goners. Nice knowing you.

Make Smaller Groups? Make More Scientists

I'm a strong proponent of science and math education, and one way that this can be further achieved is by tailoring classes to the needs of students by grouping students by how well they are doing with the material. This has to be balanced with teaching an entire class of students which can vary with abilities, but it can be done. I was happy to read a recent New York Times article by Vivian Yee detailing the history of grouping kids by ability within schools, how it fell out of favor in the 80s, and its current resurgence. Grouping by ability has its issues that have to be handled gracefully, but if we want more scientists, smaller groups are key.

I grew up in the "Gifted and Talented" program in my hometown of Paterson, NJ. Our teachers did the best job that they could in challenging us, but it was implemented poorly: a 35+ student class is likely to vary wildly in terms of ability. The best moments were breaking up into small groups of 4-5 students and working on sessions individually. This is something that I've carried into my larger tutoring sessions.

What happened to many of us in the Gifted and Talented traditional class structure? We got bored. We started to screw around. I saw plenty of good students completely fall off of the wagon. The curiosity and challenge that needs to be instilled in many of our future scientists was squashed when faced with an educational situation that doesn't challenge them. I was lucky enough to have a good support system at home to reinforce lessons, but not all kids do.

Smaller groups and increased focus will take additional resources. This level of effort will take money, time, supplies, training, and additional teachers. But you know what? We need to invest properly in our future, even if it means other things suffer. What other things? I don't know ... like a sports arena?  Check out the clip below from All In With Chris Hayes which discusses "how a city closing schools at least partly due to money is willing to invest $100 million in building a basketball arena for a private university."

Grouping is also something that needs to be done very carefully. Race and class need to be considered so that the groups are not entirely homogeneous. The groups should be very fluid, allowing kids to pass between in a structured manner.  The idea is not to completely separate students of differing ability from one another, but to augment the original lessons with deeper experiences for some groups and basic building for the others. The lesson planning should be structured so that the smaller groups should interact very frequently, since most of the basic content taught should be the same. The objective should always be to move students upward, not to lock them into these groups so that they can't advance no matter what they do (a failure of many of the Gifted and Talented, Honors, and even AP courses that I've seen).  

Is this impossible? Nope. Difficult? Definitely. And it's a long term process. But it's well worth the effort. 

For additional ideas about changing education for the better, check out Sam Seidel's book Hip Hop Genius: Remixing High School Education, along with the accompanying video below.

This article also appears at TWIB

42 Lounge: Nerds in Downtown Milwaukee

​42 Lounge, 326 E Mason St, Milwaukee

As a science blogger, I love to talk about all things science related with like-minded people. I had my spots in Philadelphia, which was my home for the last 6 years .. until now. I've moved to Milwaukee, and one of my main concerns is making sure I can find places where I can geek out about space, Iron Man 3, and the latest video game.  Luckily I've found a great place to hang out at the 42 Lounge in downtown Milwaukee. 

Watching live video game matches like Starcraft at a bar is heaven.​

The great thing about places like 42 Lounge is that it has a nerd theme. Video games, tabletop games, and general science and tech talk rule the day - along with alcohol of course! Speaking of drinks, there are some great geek themed drinks from this list - my favorite so far is the Pokemon drink Lavender Town Syndrome (Hpnotiq, Vodka, Grenadine, Sprite).  

I was also able to test out the wifi connection using a Blackberry Z10, as well as take the photos for this post.  It was great to be able to talk about phones with other geeks in the area. Many of them, including me, had long given up on Blackberry after being surpassed by Google Android OS and Apple iOS phones, but the Z10 has changed many minds. Being able to hand them the phone and have them play with it, debate about it, and compare it with existing phones was a huge plus.

Check out the videos below for an interview with 42 Lounge co-owners Tony and Lynn Nilles, as well as a tour of the bar itself.

This post also appears at TWIB.