March 2nd
Build Sisterhood:
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
How long would you want to stay?
What would you want to do while there?
Key Vocabulary for the Day:
Computational thinking:
A way of thinking that helps us work logically through big problems by breaking them down into smaller pieces, looking for patterns, and then using the information to come up with a step-by-step solution.
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Questions to Ponder from pages 29-31:
What are things that a computer is very good at doing?
How is a computer different from a human brain?
SPOTLIGHT:
Simone Giertz
Simone Giertz’s inventions include robots that wash hair, chop vegetables, and apply lipstick in the morning. However, her robots rarely (if ever) succeed and are mostly useless, and Simone embraces this failure!
She says that "the true beauty of making useless things [is] this acknowledgment that you don't always know what the best answer is.”
Known to her fans as the Mistress of Malfunction, inventor and robot enthusiast Simone Giertz spends most of her time tinkering with arduinos on her YouTube channel, hosting Tested with Adam Savage, and speaking about her wacky projects to live audiences.
Watch the video below to learn more about the Applause Machine, one of Simone's wacky inventions, and her inspiration behind the product and design.
Unplugged Activity:
Materials: Paper or index cards, pencils, and any materials you need to act out your task.
Prompt: As a Club, agree on an everyday task, like making a sandwich. Try to write instructions that a computer can follow. Then, swap your instructions with a partner, who will pretend to be a robot! See if they’re able to follow your instructions.
Photo used under Creative Commons from BAMCorp