July NUBtalk

A few weeks ago (July 27) I gave a NUBtalk about camp and its view on education. I had a lot of fun doing it!

NUBtalks are a lecture series organized by some friends of mine, who recently started a workshop called NUBlabs. They've been inviting people that they think are neat to come talk bi-weekly.

My talk is linked to from their site and here. If you listen to it, tell me what you think!

Some of the anecdotes I tell I've talked about in this blog and some I haven't. They are...

1. Making a robotic spider an example I considered for the Art of Hands-on science article in Education Week.
2. Ben and decompression
3. Kids teaching other kids, in this case through doll-making
4. The example of lightsabers to get kids into the idea that everything can be made and modified. I also use this as a point to explain the role of adults in an environment where kids get so much autonomy -- they seed this idea that kids wouldn't pick up otherwise in our society.
5. Another point about the role of adults -- teaching electronics as an example of showing kids how to do things they want to do but don't know they want to do.
6. Having both men and women lead electronics activities, in order to make the activity equally accesible.
7. I cite the Star Simpson case as an example of society feeling tense about electronics, and highlight the importance of environments existing where people can learn about electronics and thereby feel more comfortable with and less scared of them.