374: Getting Rafty
Transcript from 374: Getting Rafty with Tenaya Hurst Conklin, Elecia White, and Christopher White.
EW (00:00:06):
Welcome to Embedded. I'm Elecia White, alongside Christopher White. We are happy to welcome Tenaya Hurst Conklin back to the show. She was on in 2014, just starting her maker career. And now she's working for resources for making teachers more able to teach STEM.
CW (00:00:29):
Hi, Tenaya. Welcome back.
TC (00:00:30):
Hello, embedded.fm listeners.
EW (00:00:34):
Could you tell us about yourself?
TC (00:00:37):
I am a girl raised in Berkeley and Lafayette. I am an actress. I'm into geology and anthropology. I love traveling. And I'm a teacher, a writer, a rock climber, and recently a mom.
EW (00:00:55):
Well, we have a lot of questions about that, but you also have a job at a company called RAFT.
TC (00:01:01):
Sure. I have accepted the position as Student Program Coordinator. And RAFT is a company that does many things, but it all comes down to hands-on learning, inspiring learners, and teachers, and students.
TC (00:01:18):
And I think a big part of what RAFT does is, they save teachers time, by creating kits, and by having access to all these materials in one place. So they are really amazing and right here in San Jose. And hopefully affecting people all over, now that their kits are online.
EW (00:01:40):
Okay. So before we talk more about that, we want to do lightning round.
TC (00:01:44):
[Ooo].
EW (00:01:44):
I don't even know if we had lightning round when we talked to you.
CW (00:01:47):
I don't know.
EW (00:01:47):
I don't think so. It's where we -
TC (00:01:49):
I think it's new.
EW (00:01:49):
- ask you short questions, -
CW (00:01:51):
New as of 7 years ago.
EW (00:01:53):
- and we want short answers. And if we're behaving ourselves, we won't ask "How?" and "Why?" Are you ready?
TC (00:02:00):
I'm ready.
CW (00:02:01):
Favorite development board for a 3rd grader?
TC (00:02:04):
I still have got to say Arduino Uno.
EW (00:02:08):
Favorite development board for an 8th grader?
TC (00:02:10):
[Ooo], fancier Arduinos, like the Mega or the Due, and LilyPad.
CW (00:02:20):
Favorite fictional robot?
TC (00:02:22):
I really like R2-D2.
EW (00:02:27):
Something you wish you'd known before you picked up your first Arduino?
TC (00:02:32):
Oh, man. I would love to know everything about electricity and what microcontrollers really are doing inside that tiny package.
CW (00:02:44):
If LEDs only came in one color, which one would you want it to be?
TC (00:02:49):
Red.
CW (00:02:50):
Well, that's what they came in for a long time so you're in good shape.
EW (00:02:55):
Do you have a tip everyone should know?
TC (00:02:57):
Oh, if you want to get into soldering, it's actually better for beginners to use fancier, more established soldering irons, because the cheaper ones are so frustrating, and you never get it.
TC (00:03:12):
But if you use a fancy one, I have a Metcal, I'm a big fan. It's hot, and people get it. "Oh, this is what is happening." And the tip is really hot. So beginners, go straight to the top.
EW (00:03:27):
Do you just need temperature control, or you need more than that?
TC (00:03:32):
I think it's just in the quality of the way the whole thing is made. But also these fancier ones, and I literally can speak to Metcal, because I have 7 of them. They are hot, but then they heat up really fast,...and the heat gets all the way into the tip.
TC (00:03:50):
And so you do your soldering points, and you put it back in the cradle, and then you turn it off. And so you're just really efficient with the process. Whereas some of the ones that are intended for beginners take all this time to heat up like a glue gun.
EW (00:04:05):
Yeah. Okay. When we talked to you before, it was episode 49, and 2014, and you were at San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation, known as "The Tech." And then after that you went to Arduino. You went all over the world. Maybe you should tell us more about how your career has gone.
TC (00:04:32):
Oh, I have had the best experiences and some crazy ones along the way. And I wouldn't trade the journey for anything. Being at The Tech Museum really opened my eyes completely to the maker movement. And as I had said in a Dale Dougherty article, it was like, "I've always been a maker. I just didn't know that's what it was called."
TC (00:04:55):
And then when I went to my first Maker Faire, it was working for The Tech, and I had two half-hour breaks. And I used that time to go meet the Arduino team and to see one of their talks. And it just was one of those things that doesn't always work out for all of us.
TC (00:05:14):
But I talked to the CEO, and I said, "I'm a teacher. I want to make content about Arduino projects." And...then he was like, "Give me your resume." And it just kind of went from there.
TC (00:05:26):
And I was always the last to know anything, but yet the front-end of the company, and always in social media, and doing fun interviews, and videos, and promo at the booth. And then sometimes I would be like, "Oh, I didn't know that was happening."
TC (00:05:43):
So it was still just the best to get to be an emissary for just the idea of Arduino and let alone the actual company. It was just such a dream come true.
EW (00:05:54):
And you went all over the world. You went to the opening of an Arduino store in Germany, an actual, physical, walk-in store?
TC (00:06:04):
Yes. We had this great distributor at the time called ALLNET, a German company, and they have a couple other products that were their shining stars. This very weird one called Brick'R'knowledge. I was like, "I love this product. I wish you guys had talked to me about this weird name."
TC (00:06:24):
So the store was kind of to shine onto Arduino, and to this Brick...product, and a couple other maker supplies. And it was a really cute store, and it's still there in Berlin. And it was kind of shaped like a "V." So one side of the "V" was the store, lots of hardware, jumper wires, all of those kinds of fun things, shields, and things like that.
TC (00:06:52):
And then the other side of the "V" was a workshop space. And I just had the best time getting to be there a couple times to teach workshops and be there for the launch.
TC (00:07:04):
And alongside that, I got to go to so many cool Maker Faires in Germany. They are so amazing there. The projects, the booths, everyone is so inspired. It was great. Go Germany.
EW (00:07:19):
Where else did you travel to?
TC (00:07:22):
Oh, I was able to teach in Hungary, and of course I've been to Italy, Italia. And one of my favorite gigs that I got, I should remember exactly how I met all these folks, but I got to go, oh no, wait. I really do remember. Okay. I was in the airport, and I was doing that nerdy thing, where this was the time I was in Make Magazine, which is so rare.
TC (00:07:49):
So I was going into the airport magazine store to see if this was the issue I was in. Because I didn't know what was on the cover or anything. And I met a guy, and we're just talking. And he's like, "Oh my gosh, you should go teach Arduino in Guatemala. I will connect you."
TC (00:08:06):
And we've all been there where there's a million of these that happen to you. And it's like, "Oh, I'll send an email. Oh, sure." But this actually happened. And these Guatemalans, at least the ones I met, they are so driven, and also inspired, and prolific, and just really eager to support their students.
TC (00:08:25):
So there's a place called Galileo University in Guatemala City, and I went 2 years. And we did amazing wearable tech workshops with the students. And other people were brought down to teach robotics and other maker skills.
TC (00:08:41):
And the 2nd year I went down, we had an official wearable tech fashion show. And classic with this guy I was working with, Oscar, he's like, "This is the first wearable tech fashion show in Guatemala." And I hope he's right...But I had such a great time with the people there. And getting to teach Arduino in Spanish, whoa.
EW (00:09:06):
Did you know Spanish?
TC (00:09:09):
Oh yes.
EW (00:09:12):
What kind of curriculum did you make? I mean, were these all very similar curriculums, or were you focused on what the students did? I mean, 3rd grade and 8th grade are pretty different. What were you teaching?
TC (00:09:27):
Sure. In Guatemala specifically?
EW (00:09:29):
Well, all over, but yes, Guatemala.
TC (00:09:31):
Well, related, I've never taught the same workshop twice. I wish I could, but you know makers, they take the invitation of what you're trying to do in a workshop and they go crazy directions. But when I teach wearable technology, it's the classic example of everyone's project is so personalized.
TC (00:09:55):
But with LilyPad, as with Arduino, I do have 2 sets of curriculum that I start with the students. And so with LilyPad, I bring my alligator clips, and all the sensors, and lights, and things, and of course, conductive thread. And we prototype, and we program the LilyPad to do what we want in that project.
TC (00:10:14):
With Arduino, I bring, of course my breadboards, and my jumper wires, and all my cool sensors, and motors, and things. And I have a curriculum called "Light, Sound, Action." And I would love if one student would actually go through the whole thing.
TC (00:10:32):
It's not that many projects. It's maybe 10 little circuits, but they get so excited at some point in the game that they just riff off and start doing their own project. And how can I suppress them? So I support them instead.
EW (00:10:50):
And fashion tech, that has some personal meaning for you.
TC (00:10:55):
Oh, certainly. I mean, I've been a sower my whole life, and my mom, and her mom, were those epic people that could sew, and tat, and crochet, and knit. And it kind of all whittles down to me that, I mean, I'm a sower, I'm not Project Runway status.
TC (00:11:15):
But when I found out about sewing with electronics and conductive thread, the synergy was exploding in me. Because my grandpa was also an electrical engineer and of the same side of the family, mom, and her mom, and my grandpa, if that all makes sense.
TC (00:11:32):
And so it all came together for that side of the family for me, is that I'm a pretty good sower. But I know I can sew this circuit, and have the vision of where lights should go, and where a cool sensor could be, and what programming would make this really spectacular.
TC (00:11:48):
And honestly, I found this niche where I was invited to participate in fashion shows. Because maybe I'm not this epic fashion designer who went to FIT, but I had the lights, and they wanted a designer who did that.
TC (00:12:03):
So I was able to dress 12 to 15 models at, I think I did at least 6 fashion shows over those couple years since I've talked to you guys last. So that was a really great experience too, to be like, "Wow, I know I'm not so epic." And we all feel that imposter syndrome, but actually I was epic, because I actually got to show in those shows.
EW (00:12:24):
And you did this on your wedding dress.
TC (00:12:30):
Yes. Yes. It wasn't my first thought. Everyone's like, "Oh my God, you just wanted someone to marry you so you could do this dress." It's like, "Okay, obviously, whoa. That would be even crazier." But, yes, I met the man -
CW (00:12:45):
These are people who don't know how difficult weddings are.
TC (00:12:50):
...There's a lot that has to come together. But I definitely said, "I'm going to buy a wedding dress." Classic Tenaya is, of course, I'm going to buy it used. And there are many places you can get a lightly-used wedding dress. And also, it just worked out. The first dress I tried on, it fit like a glove.
TC (00:13:11):
And when I examined it, I said, "Oh cool, there's this lace applique. And I can get under there, and I can add lights to it." And so you can't forget that first dress.
TC (00:13:21):
So I tried on a few others, but I was like, "Let's just go with it." And then it took some time, of course, before, but I was really happy. I added lights tastefully from the top to the bottom.
EW (00:13:34):
But tastefully, yes. I'm glad you put that in. Did they blink?
TC (00:13:39):
Well, I chose to not have any of my blinking lights in this scenario, but I did have a program that kind of went through the rainbow of the RGB, so it was kind of more subtle. And then other lights were just on, but my crowd was impressed.
EW (00:13:59):
That sounds pretty cool. So now you're working at RAFT, and you said a bit about that. They do some curriculum development for teachers and...quite a bit of that is online. Are you doing in-person things now, or are you online...? What are you doing day to day?
TC (00:14:22):
Sure. We are doing some professional development remotely for teachers directly. So for example, we did a big teacher appreciation week recently, where, what that meant at RAFT, was there were cool sales at the store for the members.
TC (00:14:40):
And then remotely, we offered a couple workshops from the education department, and we have some Saturday workshops that teachers can sign up for. So it's kind of frustrating, because we know we're all vaccinated and it would be so simple. But we're just trying to wait for our county to give us those kinds of clear go-aheads.
TC (00:15:01):
We do have a big tent outside that we've set up in the shade. So that gives us another outdoor meeting space for options. And really in my day-to-day, I'm just preparing for our summer camp.
EW (00:15:14):
Is that for students or is it for teachers?
TC (00:15:16):
Well, it's a relatively new offering that RAFT is going directly to students. And this is just because we want to have more impact. So the camp is for students ages 8 to 13. And teachers can promote this to their students, or we are just reaching out to folks in the PTA and PTO organizations. That's redundant.
TC (00:15:42):
And we have done this for a couple years, but of course we were building and everything, and then the pandemic. So we did have a camp remote last year, and this year we're sticking to remote. But just kind of in a good way, we have some kids joining us from Lodi and South San Francisco.
TC (00:16:02):
So maybe in a year that the camp would be in person, they couldn't participate, because that's a big commute for a day camp. So we are finding that it's probably easiest to stay remote, especially since students 8 to 13 are not in that vaccination category fully yet.
TC (00:16:20):
So we hope that will happen or that the numbers will go down so much that our kids can be safe.
EW (00:16:27):
Remote electronics sounds difficult. Do you just ship kits out? How often do they lose all the parts before you start the workshop? That would be me.
TC (00:16:42):
Right?
EW (00:16:42):
That would be me. That would totally be me.
TC (00:16:44):
Oh, completely. We were even just discussing different tactics of what people do when they get a kit. And some of us like to lay out all the parts, and do a checklist, and make sure we have it all. And others are like, "This thing's cool! And I'm going to pull that out first." And the whole bag goes everywhere. I -
EW (00:17:00):
Yeah. I'm more like Cookie Monster -
CW (00:17:02):
Yeah.
EW (00:17:02):
- with resistors flying everywhere.
CW (00:17:05):
Not doing the mise en place?
TC (00:17:08):
Exactly. That's a perfect way to describe it. And I guess with RAFT, we will be doing this this summer, and before I joined the team, I have done a couple of these remote workshops, and wow. I thought teaching sewing with electronics was hard in-person.
TC (00:17:26):
But remote, without being able to see your peers at a table doing everything,...it just actually takes longer. Because it's not that people are in a rush, or students. It's that when you are in this group, everybody's moving at more of a group pace.
TC (00:17:45):
And your brain is seeing what you're doing, seeing what someone else is doing, hearing what the teacher says. And you just move a little faster. I found with one of my kits I love to do, it's called the Paper Gem, I had to send basically 3 times the amount of materials home.
TC (00:18:03):
Because just for that reason, in a classroom of 30, if someone breaks their LED, I have some extra up at the front of the class. But if they break their LED, or run out of copper tape at home, it's now all of a sudden they're going to sit there and not participate.
TC (00:18:20):
And it's like, "Wow." It's this whole other dynamic. So a lot of the RAFT kits we'll be using don't have electronics, but each of the 6 sessions that we're planning, believe me, I am infusing some electronics.
TC (00:18:32):
And RAFT has some kits with motors, and different things, and they have a really great breadboard circuit kit. And so I'm making sure that we have a couple of those in each session.
EW (00:18:43):
The idea that you would need backups, that you need to send larger kits, because you can't just pick one up out of your toolbox. I don't know that I would've thought of that. How long did it take you to realize that was the way to go?
TC (00:18:59):
Well, I suppose in the kits that I've been making for several years, I include a couple extras of things. Because I know, I mean, the hardest thing about a paper circuit, right, is the copper tape, because it's this unwieldy sticker. And you can't make people feel bad for messing up on their first try at something.
TC (00:19:20):
So I find when I add a volume to a kit, even though...the bill of materials goes up and everything, I'm just showing them it's okay. But also, without a teacher there, they might think, "Do I need all of this?" On a paper circuit, you should just have two pieces of copper tape, and then you tape your LED down with two more pieces.
TC (00:19:43):
But if they found all these backup pieces, they might think, "Oh, I need three layers of copper tape here or something." So it can definitely go into other categories of, "Wait, no, it's sort of not what we meant."
TC (00:19:56):
So some of those could be happy accidents, or you just find weaknesses in your kit. Or you have to just be really specific... "You should only need two pieces of copper tape, but we gave you extra."
EW (00:20:11):
Teachers of grade school students aren't necessarily technologists. That's tough. I mean, you want to teach good STEM, but most people who have STEM backgrounds can get higher paying jobs. How do you help the teachers see that STEM isn't so scary?
TC (00:20:42):
I feel I am doing this, and RAFT all the time as well, of really saying that STEAM or STEM is all of these subjects together, which might seem even more overwhelming. But they really are a thing to teach where there isn't a line drawn in the sand. Any project, any challenge combines at least two or three of them.
TC (00:21:08):
And...a big part of what RAFT does is make these STEAM projects kits, because it saves teachers time, in that they can figure out, "Okay, week 7. I have a little less reading for them to do." Or, "It's a 4 day week so I'm not going to expect as much here."
TC (00:21:29):
Or, "After they have a test on this Friday, maybe we could have a little fun and do this." So I think it allows them to look at the STEAM kit, and see what grades that it matches up with the Common Core.
TC (00:21:43):
And then they can just find a place to weave it in, versus having to invent an activity, to get all the materials together, to have instructions, to have just extra support content.
TC (00:21:57):
So we don't have it on everything, but our goal is to round out, every kit will have an instruction sheet, we'll have an online, extra science resource page of "What else does this connect with?" And then hopefully a video.
TC (00:22:15):
And my whole thing I've always wrestled with, and definitely at RAFT, is...I don't like to show examples at workshops. So in the context of you have a bunch of kids, or parents, or teachers in a room, I don't like to hold up a thing and say, "[Ha], we will be making this."
TC (00:22:37):
Because instantly we all are like, "Oh my God, if mine doesn't look like that by the end, or close to that," or whatever you see in that example that you're like, "[Ugh]." And it may be like, "I'm going to make mine better than that." It could be a positive thing.
TC (00:22:52):
But if I'm in the workshop, I don't show an instruction sheet. I don't show an example. I keep it all secret. However, when a customer buys something at RAFT, because that could be a teacher or a parent, they're an adult usually.
TC (00:23:05):
And we all do this where it's like, to facilitate this for a group of kids, or just for myself, I need to know what's the bottom line? What's happening here? What is this thing going to look like? What's the goal? I need to see that end part before I go through the process.
TC (00:23:21):
And so we understand that. So in that I want to offer some videos and things, but I hope that some teachers out there will just be like, "Here's a RAFT kit. Go." And then later come to that supporting material, which of course can enrich the learning, and can tie it into what they're doing that week and that month.
TC (00:23:41):
What's the landscape like for curriculum? Because I get a sense from talking to other people who have kids that things have changed over the last few decades. And there's kind of a lot of stuff that kids are expected to do and cover even in the younger grades.
CW (00:23:57):
Is...there any pushback from, "Hey, you're trying to add on a bunch of stuff, and I don't have time for this." Where you have to kind of educate and say, "Well, this is important, because it actually covers these topics and makes them more relevant?" Or...are you mostly having teachers come to you and say, "Hey, we want to do this."
TC (00:24:17):
[Hmm]. I think we, especially in the Bay Area, have converted a lot of teachers where, they get it. They know that hands-on learning is really helpful, because people learn differently. If you're teaching a topic about cells or something in biology, you want them to read. You want them to do a worksheet.
TC (00:24:39):
You want them to make a diorama. You want them to do a project, that is maybe a RAFT kit, that's a little 30-minute activity that understands it. And then putting all that together, hopefully, a student will really learn it through one or two of those ways.
TC (00:24:57):
And the good old, no one will be left going, "I didn't learn anything." And we did it in all these different means of learning. So I think teachers are really on board actually...They know which RAFT kits they're going to do, which weeks.
TC (00:25:14):
And really the feedback I've been sensing and hearing here and there is that teachers want more. And they're like, "Hey, I already do these kits, but I want something new. I want something that hasn't been a RAFT kit for all these years."
TC (00:25:30):
So that's what is so epic about the education team, and I'm lucky to be a part of it, is we are working on new kits all the time. And we do some kits that a school or a company will actually commission us to make. And then that can end up being an official RAFT kit on the floor, on the website, that anyone can buy.
TC (00:25:52):
And sometimes we get some pretty out there suggestions where it's like...if we spent three years focusing only on that idea, we could make a kit.
TC (00:26:01):
So RAFT is definitely a little bit more about, "Let's focus on the upcycled materials." And anything involved in STEAM,...we want to make sure any kit we put out can cover a couple of those letters in the acronym.
EW (00:26:18):
And RAFT is a nonprofit. Does that drive how you approach the kits?
TC (00:26:24):
Certainly. It's kind of funny...We want a kit to sell, but from the non-profit perspective,...then we know we've had impact. So that's what I'm always hearing is, "This is a great kit. It's a great idea." But if we can't get it in front of a teacher, and they have this aha moment, "Oh my God, I need a hundred of these," then we don't get the impact.
TC (00:26:48):
So I think RAFT is just full of these kits, these activity sheets, these other online resources. And I think they are underused. But each teacher that's going down the rabbit hole of, "I need a kit for physics for 4th graders," so then they kind of narrow it down themselves of what they need.
TC (00:27:09):
Because we have these cool search filters. So I think...it is out there. The teachers can find it and apply it. But I think a lot of our members, they already know "These are the kits we have every year. And if you guys come out with new ones, we're going to pay attention," and hopefully add that in if it applies to their subject.
EW (00:27:31):
You said upcycled. And looking at the website, there's a pretty big focus on recycled materials. Are you sending out used Arduinos?
TC (00:27:44):
I would love to. Well, we have a donation of some boards. I'm not sure of the brand. But this is where I am hoping to make my own impact within RAFT, because we have the upcycled materials down. Companies donate really cool foam, corks, plastic lids, weird wood things.
TC (00:28:09):
Oh, we have the coolest biotech pipettes and tubes. And we have fabric and we have all these cool things, but we don't always get a lot of electronics donated. So those are the items that if we design a kit, we are purchasing from our own sources. A couple motors, a couple electronic pieces.
TC (00:28:31):
But we got these boards donated. And yet it's one of those to make a kit, where a teacher who doesn't have time wants to just pull out the kits, and do the lesson, or leave it for a substitute or something. We have a long way to go. I'm hoping to use those boards at least to be in this kit, and it does one thing.
TC (00:28:52):
But in my heart, with microcontrollers, I want to be like, "Here's this whole curriculum. You could do one of these projects every Friday for 10 Fridays," or something, to really get some use out of it. But, I mean, you show a kid an LED with a resistor, and some wires, and an Arduino.
TC (00:29:09):
You're like, "Cool. It can power a light." But even within that project, it's like, "You can dim it. You can blink it. You can add more lights, and follow the pattern, and then you change your code." And so, there's so many lessons.
TC (00:29:24):
But I'm hoping to start at RAFT, more in-person, with lots of Arduino workshop series for both the teachers and parents who are members, and students.
EW (00:29:35):
Well, you don't need to be a member to get a lot out of RAFT.
TC (00:29:42):
True.
EW (00:29:42):
I mean, there was this game,...surfing around the website, there were a couple of games that just totally entertained me. There was one where you hand out cards that have numbers on them, single digit numbers. And then the goal is to add up to 1000 with 6 cards. And whoever gets closest wins or gets points or whatever.
EW (00:30:11):
And I was just like, "I bet I could play that and still be amused." Because...there would be a little bit of strategy, and maybe you'd change cards. And you could easily add a bunch more rules.
EW (00:30:26):
But there were a whole bunch of sheets like that that made sense, and...didn't require a kit. Do you have any of those you've seen that you like?
TC (00:30:38):
Oh, certainly. And it's seriously in the realm of 700 that are available for free for everyone, whether you're a member or not. And exactly like you say, they don't go with a RAFT kit of materials in a bag. It requires something, of course, that you can find around the house or in your classroom.
TC (00:31:00):
And like you say, I mean,...it's a game that's created. Even the iteration of how you would make it, you could do anything you want with that. But this is really a compliment to the amazing people that RAFT has attracted over the years, and not even necessarily full-time employees.
TC (00:31:18):
But we have some amazing retired teachers, and folks from, of course, Silicon Valley. I am really fortunate. I'm working closely with a volunteer, and he's a retired Intel engineer with patents for the internet that we all use. And so he just cares about the same thing.
TC (00:31:40):
He's like, "How do I inspire kids to become the next me," not in a conceited way. But he's like, "It takes so many little steps to get a kid to be excited about being an engineer." And STEAM and STEM are not all about making engineers, but it's about appreciating how you work between those disciplines and among those disciplines.
TC (00:32:04):
And we all know the scientists and folks in technology we meet who, they are lacking a little bit in the social department, of just even working across those departments. So getting kids comfortable talking about science, presenting, sharing their process. That to me is the gold right there.
TC (00:32:25):
And along the way, if we do show them that they're actually good at some of these subjects, then wow. The whole universe opens up to you, because then you have access to really amazing jobs.
TC (00:32:39):
And I know you guys love that thing we hear too, which is, "The jobs that kids will have don't even exist yet." And I'm sort of one of those people. I'm an elder millennial, as they say, and who knew that I'd be -
CW (00:32:53):
A what? Sorry.
TC (00:32:57):
I'm an elder millennial. I'm born in '83.
CW (00:32:59):
Ah, okay. I'll be over here weeping.
TC (00:33:02):
So...in some kind of version, I was a social media person, and I'm like, "Social media didn't even exist when I was a kid." So how could I have aspired -
CW (00:33:15):
Yeah.
TC (00:33:16):
- to do that? Let alone going around conferences, showing this tiny microcontroller, when my grandpa played with wires he got in the street from when the first electricity was being installed...We've come so far in having these great tools.
TC (00:33:32):
But getting kids confident, I will also say in the Arduino world, where I'm teaching kids, sometimes they do get too confident too early on. And that cracks me up, where I'll meet a 10-year-old, and they're like, "Oh yeah, I'm a Python programmer."
TC (00:33:51):
And if you really unpacked that, it would be like, they've taken a class. They've watched some YouTube videos or something. But, hey. Go with it. If they are confident enough to say that, and other adults are like, "That's great. Show me what you can make." We'll still send them on their way.
EW (00:34:12):
If we can just get people to stop saying I'm bad at math, because they didn't have a good algebra experience, or because they can't add 12-digit numbers in their head.
CW (00:34:21):
That's not math.
EW (00:34:21):
That would actually be pretty -
CW (00:34:23):
That's arithmetic.
EW (00:34:24):
Yeah. And yet people say I'm bad at math, and -
CW (00:34:29):
Yeah.
EW (00:34:29):
- there's all these things that are so fun. And yet they are easy to make difficult. So it's important that the teachers know how to teach things without making them seem scary.
TC (00:34:46):
Definitely. And the attitude is a huge part of it. I don't know when it became cool, dare I say, to be like, "Oh yeah, I'm bad at math."
TC (00:34:54):
But...with the Silicon Valley emergence, and the dot-com boom, and everything, it's like, "No, the people who are smart,...actually, they have the best jobs with the most flexibility. They can work anytime. They have great perks, all these things."
TC (00:35:14):
So...math is the gateway to programming. And I think if teachers don't already say that to their students, that's the foundation, because I'm one of those folks. I grew up in a very nice city, town, and the high school was great. We had everything.
TC (00:35:32):
But I don't recall one adult ever saying to me, "If you're good at math," because I was, "this is what programming is." Because it was so new somehow, or those math teachers were amazing, I had great math teachers, but they maybe didn't have that connection to the industry.
TC (00:35:49):
So math specifically is that one that's like, "Oh, I'll never use this." Or, "There are calculators." But that's not the full story.
EW (00:36:00):
One of the learning activities that I clicked on, because I wasn't sure what those words meant, "Abiotic Dissections." And if Alvaro, or Jen, from the Unnamed Reverse Engineering Podcast are listening to this, you should consider "Abiotic Dissections" as a name.
TC (00:36:23):
I love it too.
CW (00:36:23):
Of the podcast?
EW (00:36:23):
Yeah.
CW (00:36:25):
It's a little late for them to name their podcast at this point.
EW (00:36:28):
Tenaya, could you explain what this is, and why we should all do it, or only teach other people's kids how to do it?
TC (00:36:41):
I definitely can. And I'm so glad you picked this one out. So this is one of those 700 activity sheets out there that you can browse around, search with filters, all that. This is about teaching kids to take something apart, and to be methodical about it, and to observe where things were so you know how to reassemble it.
TC (00:37:04):
And a bunch of years ago, I was with Arduino, and going to these events. And I'm almost remembering the name of the conference, but basically it was electrical engineer department heads of colleges, okay? And they would all come to this conference, and there would be booths of different companies.
TC (00:37:24):
And they would be shopping around for, "How do we inspire our freshmen and sophomores?" Because 50% of students that declare an EE major quit, or maybe they move over to mechanical, or something nearby. But they were like, "How do we keep them interested?"
TC (00:37:41):
So I interviewed a lot of people at this event, and I just said, "How did you become an engineer? What little nugget can I pass on to kids," or whatnot. And almost all of these people, and they were men, there weren't a lot of women at this event, but all of the men said "As a kid, I took stuff apart."
TC (00:38:01):
And they said, "The VCR is big electronic equipment." Or just toys they had and things like that. The other thing they did say is that the moon landing inspired them. So go Gen X.
TC (00:38:15):
And so when we see these opportunities that you can have a child take something apart, and not break it, but really notice how they're putting things back together, then this is gold. So this specific one is about a VHS, and these are harder to come by.
TC (00:38:36):
Of course, RAFT,...we're not that old. It was started in 1995, but we have some great kits with film canisters. Those are hard to get.
EW (00:38:46):
Yeah.
TC (00:38:46):
We have this great activity with a VHS. Where are those? They're still in thrift stores, so you could grab some there.
EW (00:38:54):
You can't really take apart...a CD itself.
TC (00:38:57):
Yeah. And we have so many great kits with CDs as well. But yeah...What about the zip drives? Where are my zip drive people?...But this is a great project, if you can do it with your own child or with your class.
TC (00:39:14):
I met a guy in the maker movement, and this was his thing is, he got laptops and phones donated. And he showed kids how to take them apart, and even fix them, and put them back together.
TC (00:39:25):
And I was like, "Wow, I know you don't charge a million dollars for your services, but I haven't met a lot of people that do that." And so, yes, this is a way we can make engineers.
EW (00:39:38):
This was always part of my shtick when I would visit kids in elementary school, was to take apart their Kleenex box, and show them the little markers that indicate ink is running out, and show them how it's designed to have the Kleenex go one and then the other.
EW (00:39:59):
Because it's all very designed to be cheap and to be user-friendly. And the teachers would invariably say, "I hate you, because now the kids take apart every single thing in my class."
TC (00:40:14):
Yes.
EW (00:40:16):
And this learning activity, it does have VHS, but the idea is that you could do it with whatever you had. And the subtitle is, "Open a world of possibilities by dismantling non-living objects." I just really liked that.
TC (00:40:35):
Oh, it's fabulous. I've got to find out who specifically wrote this one. Because it's true. You can do it with anything. And I think, honestly, all the way back to when I was at The Tech, and we taught chemistry,...a big part of that workshop, because it was just an hour-long class, the students had a basket of materials.
TC (00:40:55):
And of course when we let them, they just took everything out and started doing the experiment. And at the very end of the class, we said, "Hey, we need you to put this basket back exactly how you found it." And of course, a lot of them are like, "Oh, no. I don't remember."
TC (00:41:10):
And so as an adult, and I have a cell phone, I will often take a picture of something before I take it apart, or take it out of the packaging or something, just because that helps me remember, or if I'm not going to put it back for days, or weeks, or something. But this is where that STEAM thing, it's all integral of design.
TC (00:41:32):
And I love this Kleenex box example, because I'm actually going to be learning all about the laser cutter at RAFT, which is awesome.
TC (00:41:40):
And that would be a really cool project that can even carry on down its own rabbit hole of, "How could you design a box that, when folded together with glue, or whatnot, would be a shape that you want it to be?" And kind of designing in the 2D, becomes 3D, take it apart. I love it.
EW (00:42:01):
And I liked that this learning activity..., it didn't say take a picture at every step. But if you were a teacher, an adult, and you read this, you would be like, "Maybe we should use our cameras."
EW (00:42:14):
Because it does make sense to document that way. And it was a very scientific "Write down everything you do," sort of method that, we don't need to talk about the scientific method and how to do everything. We just need to sneakily teach it to them.
TC (00:42:32):
And documentation, I'm a big fan of everything, but I love writing. I love handwriting. And I've seen handwriting of kids these days. Kids these days. And it's pretty scary.
TC (00:42:46):
So also at RAFT, but please other teachers,...if you give them a journal, or you have them make their own journal,...this is a place for random notes, data, process. "I had this crazy idea. I'll probably never use it." But putting it down on paper, not just a Word Doc on your computer, there's something physical about it.
TC (00:43:08):
And you can flip back, and you could have graph paper in a journal you make, all these kinds of things, and really have a cohesion to the whole project you're working on. And you never know when you're going to go back to something.
TC (00:43:23):
Or you're thinking of it, and you want to write it down so you don't forget it. So I recommend that too. And I think that's great in that activity sheet that they also encourage that.
EW (00:43:34):
Are you seeing more parents coming to RAFT given the last year and the rise of homeschooling?
TC (00:43:43):
Yes we are. At some point it was kind of officially opened for membership, where any parent could join. So essentially anyone who wants to join, it's like a $20-a-year membership. So that's not the threshold.
TC (00:43:58):
And yes, we've had a lot of parents who..., whether they're a homeschool parent or not, or you don't have a group in that way, or they run...a scout troop, where they needed an easy way to say, "I'm going to send everybody this RAFT kit. All the materials they need are in this bag."
TC (00:44:17):
Granted maybe except for some tape, or something like that, scissors. So they knew that everybody could work on it together. And so parents are definitely around the store a lot more often, which is great.
EW (00:44:34):
It's been a weird year that way. And has RAFT had to shift from kits of 100 to kits of 1 and 2, or have they always supported the small numbers?
TC (00:44:46):
I believe, for several years, because I was of course, just a member, a shopper before, they always have a single pack of each kit. And then they do packs of 10, because classrooms have all kinds of wonky sizes, so that's kind of the bulk.
TC (00:45:03):
But we have supported all kinds of STEAM maker nights where schools are ordering hundreds of kits. And when students come in to pick up packets and everything, everyone has their kit already ready to go. And so the school doesn't have to do some middle step of sorting or redoing things.
TC (00:45:23):
And it's been really successful in that way, because of course we're all over the online everything meetings, school, everything. So a hands-on kit, you are looking at the screen, and maybe you're showing yours in the camera to your teacher to be like, "Does this look good?"
TC (00:45:42):
But you don't have to look at the screen the whole time. So we found a lot of schools are like, "This is great, because a three-hour class, or session, we like to break it up. And we just say, 'Hey, it's RAFT kit time.' " And that's a great way also to just get physical, get with your hands.
TC (00:46:01):
Maybe you're doing...one of our rocket kits where you need to clear away a spot on the floor and launch your rocket. And so we've had a great response.
CW (00:46:11):
It sounds like it's really devoted to being hands-on. You're not asking kids to sit in front of a computer and typey, typey, typey, in C. This isn't a programming course or programming curriculum. It's, synthesize all of these things together to try to kind of stimulate their imagination, rather than, "Here is some stuff you have to learn."
TC (00:46:30):
Exactly. And one thing you guys would love that I learned here too, is there's this idea of convergent and divergent. So there are kits out there, at RAFT, we have both types, where it is kind of like we're all working towards our projects looking kind of similar.
TC (00:46:47):
We're converging to where we all kind of want to be. Everyone's will be a little different. And then there's divergent, where it's like, "Here's a kit of materials, and we have no idea what you're going to come up with." And it's going to go in whatever direction of creativity that group of students has.
TC (00:47:05):
And, it's just been such a joy to see what the kids have made, because we get to see a lot of those pictures if we're not directly involved in that event. And then the whole thing with RAFT, too, is this upcycled materials thing. And I've actually been a one-woman RAFT for years.
TC (00:47:22):
So I collect plastic caps and these orange things that come off of printer ink that people just throw away. I collect scoops from protein powder and baby formula. And I love those plastic pizza tables that prevent your pizza from getting crushed. So I've been collecting all these things.
TC (00:47:42):
And when I use it in a workshop, kids are getting the message, "Oh, I don't have some fancy, custom, made just for me kit thing," which is fine. Those exist, all the building kits, we love those. "But I'm making the coolest robot I've ever made with a pizza table and this weird piece of foam that Tenaya brought from RAFT.
TC (00:48:04):
And so then they say, "Oh, if I want to make stuff at home, I don't need a million dollars either. I can save my oatmeal tub, and I can make a prototype for a pet feeder. And I can save these crazy pieces of trash, like a mochi tray, and I can use that to sort my parts, or I can use it as a paint palette."
TC (00:48:26):
And so that's what I love about RAFT, is the materials are recognizable, but they have come to us in donations and things. And I always like to clarify, a Popsicle stick, right? That has had someone's mouth on it. If you're literally saving a Popsicle stick from a Popsicle.
TC (00:48:44):
So I would never put that kind of upcycled material in a kit, but things like a cork that we get from these vineyards that it's like, "Oh, it wasn't to specification."
TC (00:48:55):
And so the cork..., it doesn't have wine on it or anything, but we can do a million things with it. And the biotech stuff we get donated is sterile, but, we can use it to make super creative things.
EW (00:49:09):
I love the upcycled nature of it, especially when you use things kids can find at home. It changes the conversation from, "I need all of this expensive stuff," to looking around.
EW (00:49:24):
And it's so easy to just click on Amazon, and buy what I need, when the truth is, I probably could make that cable if I just was willing to take a few minutes to see what I had.
TC (00:49:38):
I completely agree, and we love that found engineering. And you surprise yourself, honestly, with, "I just grabbed all this random stuff in this drawer, and cool, I completed the challenge. Amazing." And we even did a workshop the other day where we didn't have time to get the teachers an actual kit.
TC (00:49:58):
Because we do have this "Makerspace in a Box" kit, and it's a bunch of cool random things. But I was so impressed with these teachers that just were like, "Okay, cool, I'll be right back." And...they're teachers too, but they just had random household stuff.
TC (00:50:13):
And so it's really a thing that's coming to a head, where I can't reference the exact article, but the idea that if you spoil your own kid with lots of new things and lots of toys, even these cool, Lincoln Logs, Construx are one of my favorites from the '80s, Tinkertoys, that's great. And there is creativity, and those materials are flexible.
TC (00:50:38):
But even go, before that, cardboard boxes and just weird fabric scraps and things like that. Because this prototype word is so fun. Because you can encourage kids to be like, you made this one, and then you can refine it.
TC (00:50:55):
And then sure, 3D print, laser cut, learn these cool tools, but physically make something and see where it goes. And then that will inform your decisions moving forward.
EW (00:51:08):
For you personally, how often are you teaching teachers versus having kids?
TC (00:51:15):
Well, with RAFT, because I'm new, I have taught just teachers so far, actually, with our teacher appreciation week. And my goal is to be at the top of the pyramid scheme.
TC (00:51:27):
To teach teachers, and kind of give them an influx of my style and my passion, not that they don't have their own. And really be able to teach 30 teachers a bunch of my Arduino curriculum and have them go and actually teach the kids. That is my biggest dream that I've been really working towards my whole career.
TC (00:51:49):
And I think once we are allowed to open up and have more of these in-person professional development opportunities, I will get to do that. And then for students, I'm really looking forward to testing out some of our kits and seeing what kids have to say about RAFT kits, specifically in summer camp.
TC (00:52:08):
So I'm currently at about half-and-half, but I hope that I can still do a little bit of both. But I love really to teach teachers, to give them my strategy, and kind of things to look out for. And of course my tip of, "Don't show them exactly how to do it, and get them started with this circuit that is pretty easy."
TC (00:52:30):
And I've even taken it back with my Arduino programming courses that I teach where I have a bunch of projects they do with no breadboard, just the Arduino and the USB cable. And they get that going. Then I have them build it on the breadboard, still no programming even. Then I have them add the programming.
TC (00:52:51):
So I really have found this great progression...There's so many Arduino kits out there, and a lot of them start with blink, but it's too much. It's hardware, software. What's an LED? It only works one way. Do the colors of the wires matter? There's too many great questions all at once.
TC (00:53:12):
So I like to ease them in, and I would love to help teachers find the best way to do that. And I think learning Arduino would be great. Every Monday we do some, or twice a month, with your teacher that you are comfortable with year round. If they are the ones teaching you about microcontrollers, that's the power.
EW (00:53:34):
It sounds like you've been really excited about this. I was wondering if the teacher instruction would be more difficult, or less exciting, but it sounds like it's not. Do you miss teaching the kids?
TC (00:53:53):
I definitely miss this activity that I've done hundreds of times at The Tech, all over the world, where I bring out my LilyPad components, which are surface-mount LEDs, and my alligator clips, and battery holders that I purchased but also solder a little thing on. And I let ages 5 and up just have fun at my table trying to make this circuit.
TC (00:54:18):
And it is so fun when, of course, they do get the light to turn on, because that's what we're all hoping to get when you're making a circuit. But even when they're frustrated, it's so cute.
TC (00:54:29):
And then I've seen it happen so many times where, even the first part of my little booth project here is to put the battery in the battery holder, and rightfully so, sometimes the parents go to help them with this step. They're like, "Yeah, let's get this going. Okay. I'll just do it for you."
TC (00:54:47):
And I'm like, "Wait. Even that is this great learning moment." Because I have a battery holder that isn't labeled plus or minus. And we use this coin cell battery, which is a little more familiar, but not as familiar as a AA. And so I've seen kids put this battery in the battery holder at least four different ways.
TC (00:55:09):
So even if they do it quote wrong, it's so creative. And I'm like, "Whoa, that is neat." And then I don't tell them it's right or wrong. I say, "Cool. Let's go with that. Let's see if we can turn the light on."
TC (00:55:21):
So I've found this great way of coaching them, but I only occasionally have to step in. Because I don't want to make a parent angry or anything. But I occasionally am like, "Oh, hey. Here's another set. Why don't you try it next to them?"
TC (00:55:35):
Or I'm like, "Wait. That's part of the project, is the battery." And then, really I have the parent be the assistant, because alligator clips are the hardest part of that activity. The circuit, kids are like, "I know. I just have to get it going."
TC (00:55:52):
So, you can tap with the alligator clips, so you don't even have to actually clip them. But I will encourage a parent to be like, "Let them tell you where they want to clip it, and let's see what happens."
TC (00:56:03):
And that's that thing I know now as a parent..., you have this instinct to be like, "Oh, they're reaching for this thing. Let me just hand it to them." But it's the reaching. It's that struggle. Even if they're frustrated and crying..., that's how they're going to learn to do it.
EW (00:56:20):
I have one more question from a listener, Bailey, who would like to know, "Do you have any insights about how to start a similar organization to RAFT in another city?" And I believe it's Des Moines that she's asking about, but do you have any advice?
TC (00:56:41):
Certainly. And this is part of my pyramid scheme. Yes. So I think anybody could start a RAFT, small or large. RAFT itself, of course, started small. You can begin with the materials themselves.
TC (00:56:58):
So this would involve just reaching out to anybody and everybody in the community, sending out emails, just saying, "We exist. Bring your random stuff here." You can get in touch with existing thrift stores, and say, "Hey, if you guys get any great art material donations or any weird materials in volume, we can totally use them."
TC (00:57:19):
So you get that part going, and you make those materials available to teachers. Kind of the next level with materials that RAFT has done, a couple years ago, they said, "We're going to buy really low-cost pens, paper, pipe cleaners, which we call 'chenille stems,' poster boards." They have a bunch of bouncy balls.
TC (00:57:41):
So classroom basics that are really low-cost. So those are new at RAFT, but can fit into the budget. So that would be kind of the next layer. Then if you want to keep getting RAFT-y, you create this content. You start making a bag of materials that's ready to go for some purpose, and it could be a great kit.
TC (00:58:04):
Anybody's welcome to steal it. It's a mural kit. This is awesome for coming out of this pandemic, where we want to work together, and maybe it still has to be done kind of socially-distanced or a piece at a time.
TC (00:58:16):
But we have a kit with a bunch of random stuff, and the whole class can contribute to where it goes. And do we glue it down? Or is this a mobile? Do we make something hanging from the ceiling as our quote mural? So it's a class art project.
TC (00:58:31):
So you could definitely do that. And then kind of beyond all of that that we offer is the workshops, the summer camp. We have a mobile makerspace. We have a laser cutter that members can use. So those are bigger things you can aspire to.
TC (00:58:47):
But I would say, start with the materials. Upcycle in your community. I have an ad on Nextdoor, and people bring me little protein powder scoops, and caps, and mochi trays. So you can do something really grassroots like that too.
EW (00:59:02):
That sounds like great advice. And now I am going to ask you another advice question, maybe. Do you have any thoughts you'd like to leave us with?
TC (00:59:11):
I really want to see America succeed in education. It's something I'm really passionate about, and I believe we do live in the best country in the world. I think we've got so much handed to us, just being lucky to be a U.S. citizen, and we can go so far.
TC (00:59:36):
And so when I hear about kids who might feel a little more discouraged, in the way that we have everything handed to us, so...I'm looking at the world as a kid. I'm like, "I could just work at a restaurant, which is a fine job."
TC (00:59:50):
"I can come home, and I can watch any content in the entire world on my computer or my TV, and just have a great life, and just kind of be." But to really strive, and push yourself, and to see education as this opportunity to be like, "I'm going to try everything, and see what I'm good at."
TC (01:00:08):
"And I'm going to try everything and see what I'm really excited about. And then I'm going to go with that." And my own experience, I always tell kids and teachers too is, I found that when I found theater, so that was my initial thing. And I loved other subjects..., but I was like, "That's what I'm going to go with."
TC (01:00:28):
And only to my detriment, I was actually a little close-minded. I was like, "I found my thing. I'm good at it. That's all I'm doing." But then when I went to college, I was like, "[Ah], man, I really like archeology too." And I made it work to get a major in that.
TC (01:00:43):
And then even worse, I was like, "Oh, darn. I love rocks. Oh, I can't deny." And so I was like, "Oh, I'll be a geology major, and I'll make it work." And so all of those subjects and interests, they still are infusing back into my career now. And none of it was to waste.
TC (01:01:04):
And it turns out I'm good at other things too, like programming Arduino, and making circuits, and sewing with electronics. So it's a journey, but for kids, you've got to try hard. You've got to really push yourself and study, study, study, and get ahead, because then your life will be easier.
TC (01:01:23):
You'll get this amazing job with benefits, with flexibility, with upward mobility. You will meet cool people who are also smart like you. You'll make startups. You'll get hired by Intel, because they've heard so much about you. It's all there for you, and we have those tools in this country.
TC (01:01:43):
And...one of my things I would love to do eventually is to travel the world, and do electronic workshops, just anywhere and everywhere, with kids in third world countries...I just want to show up in a village. I want to show up in a market, and be like, "I want to teach you guys." Because in America I do think we take it for granted.
TC (01:02:04):
And we're like, "Oh man, I just want to be on TikToK." Or, "I need my Facebook time tonight." It's like, "No, you don't. Study. Get sleep. Work on your papers, and really, really push."
TC (01:02:17):
Because you get that one chance, and once you have your transcript, it's done. But you can always do better and make it happen. So that's my little patriotic message to the students.
EW (01:02:30):
Our guest has been Tenaya Conklin, Student Program Coordinator at RAFT, which is raft.net. She's also a maker and a new mom.
CW (01:02:41):
Thanks, Tenaya.
TC (01:02:41):
Thank you.
EW (01:02:43):
Thank you to Christopher for producing and co-hosting, and thank you for listening. You can always contact us at show@embedded.fm, or at the contact link on embedded.fm. You can support us on Patreon, which, I think just search embedded.fm.
EW (01:02:59):
And now a quote to leave you with, this one from Aristotle. "Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach."