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Citizen science! It's great when people realize they can answer their own questions with observation and data, and for activism because data is a powerful story

Citizen science! It's great when people realize they can answer their own questions with observation and data, and for activism because data is a powerful story. One friend of mine started https://publiclab.org https://publiclab.org to feed this, and another is doing data journalism to highlight holes in the government's environmental data. https://www.muckrock.com/project/ https://www.muckrock.com/project/ A rules-configurable sensor tool I made a long time ago was used by a non-profit to provide a service that logged NYC landlords' violations of thermostat settings. These combined with the experience of exploring the natural world in my kids' school's makerspace, has made me come back to making sensor tools for the people - would love to hear from others how they use sensor data for change: https://supermechanical.com/pickup https://supermechanical.com/pickup

lifeisstillgood 3y ago
Your kids school has a makerspace - that sounds awesome can you provide any more details?
- jkestner 3y ago
  Helped my kid’s teacher win some Teacher of the Year award where a company gives away grants for PR, and as punishment, she charged me with using the money she won to set up a makerspace in the library. Funny thing is when I went to see what they already had, there was more than enough to start with…LittleBits, Makey Makey, a ton of supplies for paper circuits, etc. Used the money to buy some more things like a microscope and sewing machines, but realized that it had failed before and will fail again because there isn’t enough humanpower to guide the kids in activities. So I’ve enlisted a couple of other parent volunteers and we’re trying to figure out a sustainable program. One step is to make the space (a corner of the library) look cool to attract current and future parents. Think I’m going for a satire of a corporate lab, with snaplock linoleum tile and a steel worktable. Working in ad-how volunteer groups is a new skill I’ve been learning since we started at this public school. Very valuable, but not a personal passion!
  - conductr 3y ago
    > but realized that it had failed before and will fail again because there isn’t enough humanpower to guide the kids in activities See if you can partner with an high school STEM class to have elder students mentor the younger ones. Things like this are required Service credit at our kid's school, it works wonderfully and also if they're around enough the little's look up to the big's. It helps strengthen the character as community & individual
- jkestner 3y ago
  Oh, I realized I answered how we set it up, but maybe not what we do. It's just during regular library time, a parent volunteer presents/reviews a concept (the teachers tell us what they've been working on) and has an activity. Depending on the grade level, it might be playing with batteries, switches and bulbs, bringing in nature to look at under the microscope, building a motorized vehicle with LittleBits, or trying out pulleys. Kids can also take stuff from the shelves to work on themselves, but we need to make activity cards to give the ones who are less sure of themselves a self-guided path.
  - lifeisstillgood 3y ago
    This is awesome - thanks f you would not mind I would love to try and replicate it at my kids school(s!) - can I contact you?
    - jkestner 3y ago
      Sure - link in profile. If you can't tell, I'm trying to figure it out as I go.

lifeisstillgood 3y ago

Your kids school has a makerspace - that sounds awesome can you provide any more details?

jkestner 3y ago
Helped my kid’s teacher win some Teacher of the Year award where a company gives away grants for PR, and as punishment, she charged me with using the money she won to set up a makerspace in the library. Funny thing is when I went to see what they already had, there was more than enough to start with…LittleBits, Makey Makey, a ton of supplies for paper circuits, etc. Used the money to buy some more things like a microscope and sewing machines, but realized that it had failed before and will fail again because there isn’t enough humanpower to guide the kids in activities. So I’ve enlisted a couple of other parent volunteers and we’re trying to figure out a sustainable program. One step is to make the space (a corner of the library) look cool to attract current and future parents. Think I’m going for a satire of a corporate lab, with snaplock linoleum tile and a steel worktable. Working in ad-how volunteer groups is a new skill I’ve been learning since we started at this public school. Very valuable, but not a personal passion!
- conductr 3y ago
  > but realized that it had failed before and will fail again because there isn’t enough humanpower to guide the kids in activities See if you can partner with an high school STEM class to have elder students mentor the younger ones. Things like this are required Service credit at our kid's school, it works wonderfully and also if they're around enough the little's look up to the big's. It helps strengthen the character as community & individual
jkestner 3y ago
Oh, I realized I answered how we set it up, but maybe not what we do. It's just during regular library time, a parent volunteer presents/reviews a concept (the teachers tell us what they've been working on) and has an activity. Depending on the grade level, it might be playing with batteries, switches and bulbs, bringing in nature to look at under the microscope, building a motorized vehicle with LittleBits, or trying out pulleys. Kids can also take stuff from the shelves to work on themselves, but we need to make activity cards to give the ones who are less sure of themselves a self-guided path.
- lifeisstillgood 3y ago
  This is awesome - thanks f you would not mind I would love to try and replicate it at my kids school(s!) - can I contact you?
  - jkestner 3y ago
    Sure - link in profile. If you can't tell, I'm trying to figure it out as I go.