Technology: In Plain English טכנולוגיה: באנגלית פשוטה: A new STEM project from CIJE is sure to make a lot of noise!!

Today, I had the privilege to be at Yeshivat Yavneh (http://www.yha.org/) to present a few professional development sessions on Flipped Learning. During the sessions, I made mention of the grand-daddy of all screen capture/eLearing programs - Camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/). To demonstrate the power of the software, I showed the group a video that was made by my son, Tuvia (Kano-Boy), and me for the CIJE organization (http://www.thecije.org/).

While my goal of showing this was to demonstrate how easy it is to make a quality filliped instructional video, the group was captivated by the content itself - a fully integrated tinker/STEM project: The Channukah Dreidel. (click this link to see the video)

This project is just one the many ideas created by CIJE's West Coast STEM coordinator, Dr Adrian Krag.

Dr. Adrian Krag

Dr. Krag is one of those amazing people whose mind never turns off. He is always thinking about new ways to engage students. Well, having had such success with the Dreidel project, the gauntlet had been thrown and Dr Krag had to come up with something even better - AND HE HAS!!

His latest project is a Gragger - a special noisemaker used during the Jewish festival of Purim. Below is a picture of a traditional "analog" Purim Gragger.

picture from http://www.groggers.com/

Now, when Adrian does something, he doesn't do it halfway. He created a STEM project that incorporates science, collaboration, engineering, tinkering, soldering, electronics and a whole lot of fun!

Enter "Gragger 3000..."

Gragger 3D CAD drawing

Ok, so Gragger 3000 is my name for this project. Adrian doesn't have one yet!! But as soon as he does, I am sure it will be awesome!!

So, check this out.... This hi-tech Gragger spins (just like a traditional analog one), makes a really great noise, is 3D printed, has a motor and a computer chip driven circuit board, and is assembled by the students! But this is only the device itself...

As an educator, I get so excited thinking of all the learning opportunities that flow from this idea. They are positively endless!

One could teach about circuits, electrons, motors, magnetism, 3D printing, manufacturing, motion and so on.

Are you a Judaic Studies teacher? Well then, you could teach about Purim, minhagim (traditions), Talmud (Oral Traditions), Halacha (Jewish Law), Megilat Esther (the scroll of Esther that is read on Purim) and cap the whole thing off with each student making their own very unique AND COOL Gragger!!

Hey, you could even make the whole project cross-curricular and combine this with both Judaic AND Secular studies!!

Not only is the concept cross-curricular, but it is also completely differentiated. For older students, they can soldier and put the Gragger together from all of the individual components. For younger children, one can pre-assemble the more complex pieces and just have the students complete the assembly.

Here is a pic of Adrian's working prototype: