I spent last Thursday and Friday failing repeatedly, and it was the best teacher development I have ever had! The facilitators encouraged us to fail, they expected it, and were not in the least dismayed when we did. All 40 of us failed over and over, and rejoiced in the freedom we had to do so. However, over the course of the 2 days, all of our failures added up to enormous success. This was Picademy, where F.A.I.L. stands for First Attempt In Learning.
If you are not familiar with the Raspberry Pi, you can check it out here. Basically, it is a small, but versatile computer designed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in the UK to introduce children to computer science and coding. It comes pre-loaded with several coding languages like Scratch and Python. It also has accessible input/output pins making it possible for students to experiment with physical computing; controlling lights, sounds, and motors using code. We have 6 of these in the STEM lab which have heretofore mostly functioned as extra computers. I knew that I had not been using the Pi to its fullest, but as it does so much, I had no idea how or where to begin with the students. Then I learned about Picademy.
In September I found out that there was to be a Picademy in Austin at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), I applied immediately and then crossed all of my fingers and toes that I would be accepted. Frankly, my hopes were not too high. Only 40 educators are selected for each session out of hundreds of applications. I was pretty sure that my tremendous lack of experience with computing, educational technology, and digital making would get me a very nice "Thank you for applying, but..." letter. To my immense surprise and joy, on Halloween, I received an email that I had been selected to attend Picademy.
I spent the 5 weeks between that email and this past Thursday and Friday pondering just how out of my league I would find myself when I arrived in Austin.
Day one started with that most Texas of teacher training traditions, breakfast tacos. After a brief overview of the coming days and introductions all around, our facilitators taught us the Picademy motto: FAIL. They warned us that we would make mistakes, that we would feel overwhelmed, and that we may feel uncomfortably out of our depth. However, a fail, we were constantly reminded, is just a first step in the learning process. Assured that we had the freedom to fail, and that we would have the support to keep trying, they lobbed us into the deep end of computing with Raspberry Pi. We blinked LEDs with Scratch and Python, first one, then a set of traffic lights. We made music (or in my case discordant noise) using Sonic Pi. In Minecraft Pi we teleported, built towers, and turned everything we touched to gold with Python. With the Pi Camera we took pictures and movies, we used the Explorer HAT to drive motors and control more LEDs. And, and, and!
That afternoon, we toured the Texas Advanced Computing Center which was amazing. It is part of the University of Texas and is home to some of the fastest computers on Earth. Most are used to run simulations and forecast models of events like hurricanes, black hole collisions, and chemical interactions between materials. They have projects dealing with machine learning, public health issues, and genetics. It is a fascinating facility.
Our final assignment on the first day was to brainstorm project ideas. The second day of a Picademy is largely devoted to applying what one learned on day one to a project of some kind. This proved to be a tough task as I was in the throes of a full scale information overload. I was trying to think of a project that I could work on that would, in some form, be within the abilities of the the students I teach once they were more familiar with the Pi. Still, I did what I could to think of ways to apply my learning and hoped that I would be able to remember enough of it to use on Friday.
Day 2 started with some amazing speakers. Marc Scott talked about the open source educational resources movement. Amanda Haughs discussed using Raspberry Pi in the K-5 classroom. We heard more about the work done at TACC from the director, Dan Stanzione. Finally we heard from a 14 year old entrepreneur from Houston, Ethan, who started his own computer company, PCs for Me. He sells Raspberry Pi starter kits and accessories. Ethan talked about some of the projects he is using Raspberry Pi for in his classes this year.
After that healthy dose of inspiration, it was time to form a team, select a project, and get started. Matt, our lead facilitator, likened it to one of those cake baking competitions they have on TV. Teams would have 4 hours to work. At the end of that time, they would have to transport their project to the auditorium and present their work to the rest of the cohort.
I was lucky to have my partner in all things also be accepted into Picademy (something that we never thought would happen). We had worked out an idea that morning as we drove to TACC. Our aim was to build a robotic virtual teaching coach who could dispense advice any time a teacher might need it. When they gave the word, we grabbed some art supplies, an Explorer HAT, a couple motors, and a handful of jumper wires and got started.
We elected to use Scratch as our programming language because it is something with which we and our students are very familiar. The Explorer HAT was selected because it can be programmed using Scratch, and can control both LEDs and motors simultaneously. To summarize the process, there was much failure. Our code needed a fair bit of debugging before it functioned to our liking. We needed help from just about every facilitator in the room and several cohort members as well to find the correct commands to light our lights and move our motors. Then there was the actual construction of Whiskers and his mountain top temple of educational wisdom. We did not have time to get all of the sound effects in that we wanted, but in the end we were pretty happy with our work. Whiskers asks for the user's name and then offers them a chance to ask a question. He then thinks for a moment and says helpful things like, "Let's talk about that in PLC next week", "You're an amazing teacher, you've got this", and "Have you tried Donors Choose?".
The other presentations were great! There were several projects that used Twitter. One tweeted when a program monitoring temperature reached a certain level. Another took a picture and tweeted when a student left class for the nurse, office, or restroom. There was even a motion activated classroom pet movement camera that sent tweets. There was a Minecraft project that used the Sense Hat to search for gold underground so that the player would know where to dig. Another Minecraft project used the Pi Camera to take a picture and then rendered it in Minecraft blocks. One group built a station for creating audio books, another gutted a stuffed bear and fixed it to play lullabies and take pictures when shaken, and one built an Explorer HAT controlled scribble-bot. It was truly inspiring to see so much success after all of our first attempts in learning. Frankly there were too many amazing things to describe them all here. You can watch them all here. FYI, the movie is about an hour long.
After all teams had presented, we were officially recognized as Raspberry Pi Certified Educators. We took turns walking to the front to be presented with our certificates and pins to the stately strains of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance". Then it was time to pack up and head for home. I cannot say a big enough thank you to the whole Picademy team. Matt, Marc, Amanda, Matthew, Courtney, and Venus, along with the wonderful people from TACC, made this one of the absolute best trainings I have ever had the pleasure to attend.
My brain is still a little bit overloaded with ideas that will need to be tamed and organized over the coming days. I am already working with other participants from the Houston area to have a get together in January so that we can continue to inspire and help each other to move our Raspberry Pi plans forward. The people were pone of the best parts of Picademy. There are so many dedicated, brilliant, and inspiring educators out there that I am so excited to learn from. For the classroom, I am working on Pi lessons for my after school clubs having gotten so many great ideas about where to start. I am working on developing a unit to teach to my 5th graders during the 4th nine weeks. Lessons learned from that experience will help me to adapt the unit for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades next year. Doubtless more ideas and plans will follow as I continue to reflect on Picademy and engage with the wider Raspberry Pi community.
If you are a teacher looking for the best STEM training around, go to the Picademy USA website and register your interest. They are hoping to hold 7 or 8 Picademy USA sessions in 2017.
In September I found out that there was to be a Picademy in Austin at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), I applied immediately and then crossed all of my fingers and toes that I would be accepted. Frankly, my hopes were not too high. Only 40 educators are selected for each session out of hundreds of applications. I was pretty sure that my tremendous lack of experience with computing, educational technology, and digital making would get me a very nice "Thank you for applying, but..." letter. To my immense surprise and joy, on Halloween, I received an email that I had been selected to attend Picademy.
I spent the 5 weeks between that email and this past Thursday and Friday pondering just how out of my league I would find myself when I arrived in Austin.
Day one started with that most Texas of teacher training traditions, breakfast tacos. After a brief overview of the coming days and introductions all around, our facilitators taught us the Picademy motto: FAIL. They warned us that we would make mistakes, that we would feel overwhelmed, and that we may feel uncomfortably out of our depth. However, a fail, we were constantly reminded, is just a first step in the learning process. Assured that we had the freedom to fail, and that we would have the support to keep trying, they lobbed us into the deep end of computing with Raspberry Pi. We blinked LEDs with Scratch and Python, first one, then a set of traffic lights. We made music (or in my case discordant noise) using Sonic Pi. In Minecraft Pi we teleported, built towers, and turned everything we touched to gold with Python. With the Pi Camera we took pictures and movies, we used the Explorer HAT to drive motors and control more LEDs. And, and, and!
 |
| PiCamera photo booth |
That afternoon, we toured the Texas Advanced Computing Center which was amazing. It is part of the University of Texas and is home to some of the fastest computers on Earth. Most are used to run simulations and forecast models of events like hurricanes, black hole collisions, and chemical interactions between materials. They have projects dealing with machine learning, public health issues, and genetics. It is a fascinating facility.
 |
| PiCamera photo effects |
Day 2 started with some amazing speakers. Marc Scott talked about the open source educational resources movement. Amanda Haughs discussed using Raspberry Pi in the K-5 classroom. We heard more about the work done at TACC from the director, Dan Stanzione. Finally we heard from a 14 year old entrepreneur from Houston, Ethan, who started his own computer company, PCs for Me. He sells Raspberry Pi starter kits and accessories. Ethan talked about some of the projects he is using Raspberry Pi for in his classes this year.
After that healthy dose of inspiration, it was time to form a team, select a project, and get started. Matt, our lead facilitator, likened it to one of those cake baking competitions they have on TV. Teams would have 4 hours to work. At the end of that time, they would have to transport their project to the auditorium and present their work to the rest of the cohort.
 |
| Whiskers ready to dispense teaching wisdom |
We elected to use Scratch as our programming language because it is something with which we and our students are very familiar. The Explorer HAT was selected because it can be programmed using Scratch, and can control both LEDs and motors simultaneously. To summarize the process, there was much failure. Our code needed a fair bit of debugging before it functioned to our liking. We needed help from just about every facilitator in the room and several cohort members as well to find the correct commands to light our lights and move our motors. Then there was the actual construction of Whiskers and his mountain top temple of educational wisdom. We did not have time to get all of the sound effects in that we wanted, but in the end we were pretty happy with our work. Whiskers asks for the user's name and then offers them a chance to ask a question. He then thinks for a moment and says helpful things like, "Let's talk about that in PLC next week", "You're an amazing teacher, you've got this", and "Have you tried Donors Choose?".
 |
| Set up and ready to share our project |
The other presentations were great! There were several projects that used Twitter. One tweeted when a program monitoring temperature reached a certain level. Another took a picture and tweeted when a student left class for the nurse, office, or restroom. There was even a motion activated classroom pet movement camera that sent tweets. There was a Minecraft project that used the Sense Hat to search for gold underground so that the player would know where to dig. Another Minecraft project used the Pi Camera to take a picture and then rendered it in Minecraft blocks. One group built a station for creating audio books, another gutted a stuffed bear and fixed it to play lullabies and take pictures when shaken, and one built an Explorer HAT controlled scribble-bot. It was truly inspiring to see so much success after all of our first attempts in learning. Frankly there were too many amazing things to describe them all here. You can watch them all here. FYI, the movie is about an hour long.
After all teams had presented, we were officially recognized as Raspberry Pi Certified Educators. We took turns walking to the front to be presented with our certificates and pins to the stately strains of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance". Then it was time to pack up and head for home. I cannot say a big enough thank you to the whole Picademy team. Matt, Marc, Amanda, Matthew, Courtney, and Venus, along with the wonderful people from TACC, made this one of the absolute best trainings I have ever had the pleasure to attend.
My brain is still a little bit overloaded with ideas that will need to be tamed and organized over the coming days. I am already working with other participants from the Houston area to have a get together in January so that we can continue to inspire and help each other to move our Raspberry Pi plans forward. The people were pone of the best parts of Picademy. There are so many dedicated, brilliant, and inspiring educators out there that I am so excited to learn from. For the classroom, I am working on Pi lessons for my after school clubs having gotten so many great ideas about where to start. I am working on developing a unit to teach to my 5th graders during the 4th nine weeks. Lessons learned from that experience will help me to adapt the unit for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades next year. Doubtless more ideas and plans will follow as I continue to reflect on Picademy and engage with the wider Raspberry Pi community.If you are a teacher looking for the best STEM training around, go to the Picademy USA website and register your interest. They are hoping to hold 7 or 8 Picademy USA sessions in 2017.
