Georgina’s big USA Adventure- Day 27 & 28

misshannaford STE(A)M October 23, 2023October 23, 2023"Beyond the Sock", Georgina Monster, STE(A)M, USA Adventure 0 Comment

Day 27, October 19, 2023

Today was travel day for Katherine and I, so it was a really early start as we needed to be at the airport at 7:30. The weird thing about Grand Rapids is that the sun does not get up until after 8am where we are used to the sun getting up at 6:45-7am, so we left the house in the dark! Our first flight took us from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Chicago, Illinois. We had a 3 hour layover which was a very good thing as we had to walk a long way through multiple terminals from Terminal B to terminal F to get to our next flight. Our next flight is to Huntsville Alabama to visit the US Space and Rocket Center. Hunstville is where US rocketry was developed into the space program. We could see the rocket park from the plane because they have a replica of a Saturn V standing up.

Day 28, October 20, 2023

Today was incredible! We went to visit the US Space and Rocket Centre in Huntsville. They have two exhibition buildings, the first building has both historic exhibits as well as full size mock ups of the International Space Station that is used for Space Camp. The second building has the showstopping artefacts including a moon rock, the Apollo 16 Command Module, the largest surviving piece of Skylab that actually fell on Australia, and a real Saturn V rocket lying down on it’s side!

Walking up to the rocket centre- Saturn 1 and Saturn V can be seen above the buildings
The entrance to Space Camp and the Space Camp habitat building
Pathfinder Shuttle Stack. The Pathfinder shuttle is currently being conserved and then it will be put back on the External Fuel Tank.
The entrance signage
the first gallery celebrated the role of popular culture on people's love of space including Star Trek.
2001: a Space Odessy display
Star Wars display
This is the Cabbage patch doll Katherine wanted very much as a child
Star Trek the Next Generation monopoly set
Star Trek the Next Generation monopoly set
ISS Expedition 47 spoof poster of the cover to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
ISS Expedition 21 spoof poster of Star Trek the Next Generation
Spoof posters for the ISS Expeditions for Pirates of the Carribean and Star Wars
Spoof posters for the ISS Expeditions for the Beatles Abbey Road and Matrix movie posters
Original Mercury 7 Space Suit
Original SpaceX space suit
Model of the new Space Launch System known as Artemis
Mars Rover Perseverance
Full size mockup of the International Space Station used during Space Camp
Mock up of the Cuppola of the ISS
Inside the ISS mockup.
Sleeping quarters on the ISS
The ISS is really travelling at 17500 miles per hour around the world!
Outside of the ISS where the Space Camp attendees "repair" the ISS mockup
Outside of the ISS where the Space Camp attendees "repair" the ISS mockup
Saturn 1 model in the Rocket Park
Saturn V replica in the Rocket park
Saturn V hall entrance
The jaw dropping WOW moment of walking under the five F1 engines of the Saturn V
The jaw dropping WOW moment of walking under the five F1 engines of the Saturn V
Secret of stage 2 of the Saturn V- to save weight it does not have a solid aluminium skin- but a mesh with foam insulation
Mock up of the Lunar Excursion Module
Original Apollo 16 Command capsule
Ablative shielding on the bottom of the Apollo 16 command capsule
Original Apollo guidance computer. It had 4kb fixed memory and weighed 31.75kg
Inside the Mobile Quarantine Facility from Apollo 12
Inside the Mobile Quarantine Facility from Apollo 12
Inside the Mobile Quarantine Facility from Apollo 12
View into the bathroom of the Mobile Quarantine Facility from Apollo 12
Skylab O2 Tank fragment. This is the largest fragment of the Skylab and it crashed onto mainland Australia near Esperance Western Australia
Inside the Skylab training module
Inside the Skylab training module
Inside the Skylab training module
Inside the Skylab training module
View of the Instrument Unit ring- the computer brain of the Saturn V
Apollo white room where the astronauts prepared and boarded the command capsule.
View of the top of stage 3 looking back to the top of stage 2 of the Saturn V
Top of the second stage of the Saturn V
Part of the Instrument Unit- the computer brain of the Saturn V
Part of the Instrument Unit- the computer brain of the Saturn V
The J2 engine
The full F1 engine
The full F1 engine
The full F1 engine
The full F1 engine
The full F1 engine
Gemini Training capsule
Saturn V wind tunnel model

While visiting the Saturn V Hall, we met two rocket scientists who worked on the actual Saturn V- Jay Foster and Luke Talley. Jay worked with Dr Werner Von Braun coordinating supplies and logistics for the whole Saturn development team, and Luke worked on the Instrument Unit of every Saturn V rocket. Listen to Luke explain how the Saturn V worked

Luke gave Katherine some booklet resources about the Saturn V that she will be bringing back to her school.

Georgina Monster

World Puppetry Day 2020

misshannaford Professional Learning, STE(A)M March 21, 2020March 21, 2020"Beyond the Sock", mechanisms, Project Puppet, Puppet, Puppet making, Puppetry, STE(A)M 0 Comment

Well, it is the early morning of World Puppetry Day 2020. The world is currently facing a serious pandemic, but it is important to find sparks of joy. One of my sparks of joy is that I have been blessed to meet a young drama teacher, who has become my puppetry apprentice. Over the last 2.5 years since I met him in 2017 at a Professional Development workshop I was leading, Pete Davidson’s puppetry career has sprouted wings, and he is now soaring. Today, he launched his very own puppetry podcast- Talking Sock and I am one of the first guests!

It is so wonderful to now be able to hear and share the voices of Australian Puppetry. I follow many puppetry podcasts, but this is the first Australian puppet podcast!

Here are the first three interviews

Adventures in STEM- making robotic progress with Ardunio

misshannaford makerspaces, Professional Learning, STE(A)M, Technology in the Classroom, Technology in the Library December 22, 2017December 22, 2017animatronics, Arduino, mechanisms, online learning, Professional Learning, Puppet building, Puppetry, Stan Winston School of Character Arts, STE(A)M 0 Comment

Arduino is not only a fabulous circuit board, but it is also it’s own language with its own grammar and syntax rules. Using the Arduino basics course from Stan Winston School of Character Arts, I was able to program my Arduino Uno board to do some very simple functions.

Such as:

Programming a buzzer to make sound,

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc2wpS1DkmI/

Programming a servo to move,

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc2zdigDI8r/

Making my first code!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc5f4qmjA_9/

Which has all lead towards me assembling my first actual robot!

https://www.facebook.com/katherine.hannaford.9/videos/817606211744671/

I am calling my robot Rosie after the robot in the Jetsons. There are not enough female robots in popular culture and my long term goal is to eventually have Rosie talking like Rosie from the Jetsons! My Rosie is a 2 wheel drive platform from Jaycar, with an ultra-sonic sensor on the front so that she avoids obstacles. Assembling just the platform was tricky as the instructions were hard to find and not linked in the assembly instructions for the whole robot!

The first modification I want to make to the robot is to add a switch so I can turn her on or off. At the moment, I can only turn her off my removing a battery from the battery holder. I also want to experiment with the robot on different surfaces. I was noticing during the first drive that, the wheels got stuck on the thick nylon carpet in my house. I want to compare how Rosie runs on low pile carpet, tiles, and concrete.

What I haven’t been able to achieve yet is to take the Uno board and several other components and write custom code for it yet. So far, I am relying on code that is available in the Arduino Library or on project sheets. My next experiment for Rosie is to add a line trace module to Rosie’s base chassis and see if she can follow a line. My next experiment in coding is to see if I can combine a button press input to a potentiometer and make a joystick work.

Miss H

Adventures in STEM- Learning to play with Arduino

misshannaford makerspaces, Professional Learning, STE(A)M, Technology in the Classroom, Technology in the Library December 18, 2017December 18, 2017animatronics, Arduino, Library, mechanisms, online learning, Professional Learning, Puppet building, Puppetry, STE(A)M 0 Comment

In 2018, I will be teaching stand alone STEM classes instead of puppetry. First thing I want to say is I don’t like the acronym STEM which stands for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. I prefer STEAM with the A standing for the Arts. Creativity is a very important component when solving real world problems, and in STEAM, creativity is included under A for Arts. For the purposes of this blog, I will refer to the new course as STEAM. So, if you prefer to leave the A out, that’s fine, but I will be all inclusive and call it STEAM.

I have never taught STEAM as a subject before. I have taught many students and colleagues a great deal about using technology to solve problems in teaching and learning but not within the framework of STEAM. I have also used a great many principals of STEAM within my puppet building, through project based learning, iterations and 3D printing. I will be teaching stage 4, which so far, has no program or resources that I am aware of, that can guide my preparation over summer. My school does have access to the amazing iSTEM Syllabus and online resources but the course I am teaching cannot overlap that sensational course.

So what am I doing to prepare myself for an unknown course?

I am creating a STEAM pinterest board of activities and classroom organisation which might help me in the year ahead.
I bought an Arduino starter kit from Jaycar Electronics to start learning how to code my own robots. The best part is I can apply this learning to my puppetry to make my first animatronics move using coding!!!!!!

Plastic box containing multiple small electronic components — My Arduino Learning kit with everything to create my first robots!

I am using the Stan Winston School of Character Arts course on Arduino Programming Basics to help me understand the potential that is within this kit.

I have completed my first little project of making an on-board LED light turn on and off by pressing a button! Here are the instructions from Arduino’s website!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc1QyqTjTgg/

Onto my next project!

Miss H