2017 Recipient Updates

In 2017, Gizmo Garden gave financial grants to schools and libraries in support of the following programs.

Print-A-Pet at Boothbay Harbor Library

A sloth, a hedgehog, a unicorn and a chicken were among the creations of students attending Print-A-Pet at the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library.  When the library opened first-come registration for the program, it filled quickly with eight girls and four boys.  During four meetings led by Desiree Scorcia, students 3D printed animals, and wired them with blinking eyes, wagging tails, and flapping wings.  The library also received computers for their Minecraft club, featured in the Boothbay Register.

Hack-O-Lanterns at St. John's in Brunswick

Halloween hilarity arrived at St. John's Catholic School in Brunswick when Jen Nelson led the after-school electronics group in making Hack-O-Lanterns.  Illuminating the creations were LEDs controlled by a Feather microcontroller (an Arduino-compatible controller), which allowed software to turn the LED on and off.  Intensity control was achieved via a potentiometer.  What a creative use of parts that came in the AdaBox 001 kit!

Underwater Robots

Ms. Browne's sixth graders at Edgecomb Eddy School created underwater robots.  In the photo above, students are learning to solder in order to create the controllers that will guide their vehicles.

Kinetic Sculpture at Oceanside, Rockland

When students at Oceanside High in Rockland were given the choice of participating in either competitive robotics or artistic robotics, they all chose artistic.  Local artists and programmers are helping the students to develop a kinetic sculpture intended for mounting in a skylight.  The motion of wings in the sculpture is planned to be controlled by Arduino microcontrollers.  We can't wait to see what they create!

Lego Carnival at Windsor

Interest is in robotics is exploding at Windsor Elementary where thirty 6-8th graders are participating in the after-school club, which instead of competing, tried creating carnival rides.  What fun!

Girls' Coding at Nobleboro Central

For its first venture into technology education, Nobleboro Central School faced the challenge of having many more boys enrolled in 7th-8th grade than girls.  To make sure all students have the opportunity to flourish in technology, principal Ann Hassett divided students by gender.

During the first trimester, girls followed the "Exploring Computer Science" curriculum under teacher Laurie Stiles.  Meanwhile, one group of boys explored Lego Robotics with science teacher Ken Williams, while another group of boys 3D printed with teacher Doug Parcher.  During the course of the year, students will rotate to each of the technology subjects. 

Nobleboro's Gizmo Garden grant purchased 1:1 Chromebooks for the coding trimester and a Lego robot (with additional robots funded through other sources).  The grant also provided professional development funding for teachers to spend "out-of-contract" time preparing for their courses. For more info, click to enlarge the article from the Lincoln County News.

Other Grant Recipients

Kingfield elementary saw the number of girls attending the "Scratch" coding club jump from two to ten when they offered a single-gender option, and most of those girls continued by joining the robotics program in the spring.  In Winslow, students wired and programmed custom creations with SparkFun kits.