Student Voice Matters

Student voice is a concept that's very important, especially in classrooms.  In many conventional classrooms, the teacher is supposed to teach and the students are supposed to listen. Not so with PRISM.  In PRISM, our voice matters, and our opinions are considered vital.  And according to researchers, this has a very beneficial effect on learning.
For example, studies have found that students being able to express themselves freely is extremely helpful in improving student-teacher relationships and helping kids really dive deeper with topics and look at how they connect to their own life.
Another benefit is that sometimes teachers might even be able to learn something from the kids, and understand their perspective to find out how learning could be made better for them.
At PRISM, we understand these benefits and use them in our projects.  For example, this very blog post you're reading right now is an example of student voice.  We get to share our opinions and views with the world.
We also use the website Edmodo to share resources, cool insights, and ideas with each other. 
Plus, in PRISM, we get to make the rules, and are treated like equals, and valuable team members.  We get to plan, build, and share, all on our own.
In short, at the PRISM room, we're not supposed to conform, be seen and not heard, never question people, and never let our opinions be heard.  
We're expected to explore.
We're expected to redefine.
To discuss.
To argue.
To design.
To question.
To dream.
To think and build and present and write, discover, test, go our own direction, let our voices be heard, share our opinions, and, in short, be #makers!

Have Persistence

What is the most important thing to have if you want to be successful?
Talent?
No.
Education?
Never a bad idea, but no.
Money?
No.
Technology and resources?
Still no.
No, the key to success has been around for almost forever.  The key to success is grit, perseverance, and the ability to keep going when everyone else has stopped.
It's the thing that allows you to bounce back from failure.
The thing that allows you to keep trying no matter how hard things get.
It's the thing that allows you to work harder than anyone else and create something that will change the world.
Grit is sooooo underrated.
The effects of persistence weren't really formally studied until Angela Duckworth entered the stage.  Angela Duckworth was one of the first psychologists to study perseverence's effect on kids, and her work leaves a lasting influence.  It has been found to be more important that IQ, and the reason there are so many promising kids who fizzle out later on.
At PRISM, we try to emphasize grit, so along with learning about circuits, programming, and technology, we also learn how to keep our head up in failure.
For example, in late January-early February, we were working on our rover.  It was for multi-terrain use, but we kept encountering setback after setback.  The baseboards didn't work. The wheels always turned to the right.  The controls were seriously limited.  The materials were occasionally falling apart in our hands.  You name the problem, I assure you, we had to deal with it.  But we kept trying, kept improving and testing and redesigning and... persisting, and in the end, we got a rover, a rover we would have never had if we had quit, and with that, an experience that would last us forever.  
Meanwhile, another story of overcoming failure in the PRISM room was not from Makers, but from the Scenario kids.  We had all worked harder than we ever thought we could on our stories, but in the end, there could only be one winner. (Congrats, Stella, btw.)  We could have just curled up into a ball and sobbed our eyes out (Which I'll admit, we did do for a little while,) but we managed to get back up on our feet again, and we're ready to blow away the competition next year.
All in all, PRISM has taught us how to think, and how to never give up.  Not only did we learn how to use Arduino and other cool gizmos, we learned how to keep going, and this is a skill that will stay with us, even when the technology becomes a thing of the past.

Changing Outlooks on PRISM

In PRISM, one thing that is emphasized is freedom.  Unlike in traditional classrooms, in PRISM, Dr. MC and the rest of us get equal power shares, and there are next to NO rules.  We get freedom to use resources however we want, and Dr. MC treats us as equals rather than just a bunch of random students.
This outlook has a positive impact on our class, because while we experiment with little bits and rovers and computers and Arduino, we're also learning leadership, self-directedness, and ability to do stuff without being given a gargantuan stack of rules and guidelines.

~#KGB

PS- 4c6f6e67206c6976652074686520416d617a696e67204f72646572

Rover Updates 2-9-15

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After a Long Lunch and a stressed-out flex, the result was the first rover prototype. It wasn't much, just a LittleBits Base Board supported by four wheels. But it was the first prototype of the rover-in-progress.  Sure, it was boring, uncontrollable, and always turned to the right. But it was just version 0.0. Next up would be adding treads, remote controls, and headlights to make a real all-terrain rover. And the LittleBits Base Boards are terrible! It took forever just to get the motors on the mounting boards! But now we know it can support it's own weight, and likely more. So just wait for new features!

Rover's First Steps!

Our rover is finally moving!  Of course, we'll have to attach the entire upper half, including headlights, facetime, and servo, and we'll have to work out some minor things like the whole we-can't-exactly-carry-the-battery-around-wherever-the-rover-goes thing, but yeah! Here it is!

For Makers, we should perhaps create our own projects, create a presentation about it, and also make a rover together.

Washington

I, Katherine Benjamin, am INCREDIBLY excited.
In just a few short weeks, myself and 7 other people are going to WASHINGTON DC!
Yahoo!