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"Last week I wrote about utilizing Makey Makey to hack poetry month. I wanted to share a couple more examples of student work from our second day of the workshop. Enjoy!"

"For the past two summers, I have gotten the marvelous opportunity to teach maker education camps to elementary level students, ages 5 to 12. Each week has a different theme and each theme meets for the five weekdays from 9:00 to 12:00 with a half hour break. Our first week's theme was on Toy Making and Hacking. Here are the webpages of resources I aggregated on these maker activities: DIY Science Toys - http://www.makereducation.com/diy-science-toys.html Toy Take Apart - http://www.makereducation.com/toy-take-apart.html Below is a list of activities completed with the students along with descriptions and my reflections on the degree of success with these activities."

"Have you ever wondered if all those people you see staring intently at their smartphones -- nearly everywhere, and at all times -- are addicted to them? According to a former Google product manager you are about to hear from, Silicon Valley is engineering your phone, apps and social media to get you hooked. He is one of the few tech insiders to publicly acknowledge that the companies responsible for programming your phones are working hard to get you and your family to feel the need to check in constantly. Some programmers call it "brain hacking" and the tech world would probably prefer you didn't hear about it. But Tristan Harris openly questions the long-term consequences of it all and we think it's worth putting down your phone to listen."

"After finding these math hacks, I'm convinced that all those years of being forced to struggle through math class really was just a torture ploy created by evil math teachers everywhere. Check out these amazing math tips and you'll agree! Watch out though, you may just unleash the inner math whiz you never knew was in you..."

"Microsoft's Hacking STEM Library is divided into activities that take multiple days to complete and activities that can be completed in one day. All of the activities in the Hacking STEM Library include detailed directions, materials lists including places to acquire materials, and lesson objectives. The homemade wave machine project is an example of a one-day project. This lesson on harnessing electricity to communicate is an example of a multiple day project."

"Toy take apart and hacking is a high engagement activity that works for kids of all ages, including adults who haven't lost their sense of kid, and both genders. I have done it multiple times during my summer maker camp for elementary level kids, my gifted students, and at conferences as part of teacher professional development. Here is a description of this activity from the tinkering studio at the Exploratorium: Do you ever wonder what's inside your toys? You'll make some exciting and surprising discoveries about their inner parts when you don some safety goggles and get started dissecting your old stuffed animal, remote controlled car, or singing Santa. Use screwdrivers, seam rippers, scissors, and saws to remove your toy's insides. Check out the mechanisms, circuit boards, computer chips, lights, and wires you find inside. Once you've fully dissected your toy, you can use the toy's parts, your tools, and your imagination to create a new original plaything.  (https://tinkering.exploratorium.edu/toy-take-apart)"

"Google Docs is a popular word processing tool because it allows ready access to your documents and files from any internet connected device. It permits users to readily share documents and easily collaborate on materials. If you are already familiar with Google Docs, try out these 10 hacks to up your Google game!"

"As part of last month's Hack the Classroom event, we heard from some true education innovators who have hacked learning spaces around the world to provide students with transformational learning experiences. One of the innovators we were fortunate enough to hear from was Dale Dougherty. Dougherty, founder of MAKE Magazine and a Maker Faire pioneer, shared some fascinating insights on why - and how - the global Maker Movement has become so successful, so quickly."

"I've discussed the need to be a learner and lead learner in this era of education which includes maker education. What I find absolutely exciting about being a maker educator is that they need to be learners; dedicated and invested in attitudes and behaviors related to being lifelong learners as the maker movement is ever evolving with seemingly daily advances. I believe that being a lead learner involves documenting and reflecting on the iteration process that is common for maker education. I provided an example of this in my post, Educator as Lead Learner: Learning littleBits. As a learner and maker educator who wants to keep developing my making skills, I decided to hack out an ugly Christmas vest. What follows is what I did and my reflections about the process of creating this vest:"

"This hand selected set of sources will provide teachers who are new to the iPad with the information they need to get started, and offer both new and current users information they need to successfully integrate the iPad into their teaching practices. I purposely limited the list to a few resources that were the richest in content, covering a breadth of important concerns and considerations for new iPad users and teachers who want to get off to a good start with the iPad in their classrooms."

"Children, unlike most adults, have imaginations that are unconstrained by either themselves or society. For an 8- or 10-year-old, anything and everything seems possible. Burning with curiosity about the world around them, they can transform mundane objects into toys, invent entire worlds in a heartbeat, and become lost in daydreams one minute, only to fire off a barrage of (often unanswerable) questions the next. Then, they start to grow up. Curiosity seeps away. Self-consciousness kicks in. Until, slowly, the formalized structures within education, and the expectations of society, begin to take over. It doesn't have to be that way."