To create and maintain STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) centered education around cheap Linux based Chromebooks. To overhaul the education system organically from outside and inside the state.
Presently this endeavor includes: Kids using inexpensive Chromebooks to chroot them to Linux to get to Minecraft and on to learning Arduino and Node.js including Robotics which eventually goes onto using programs such as Cura with 3D Printing and such. So far Entrepreneurship has been encouraged and products and services have been created by the kids themselves.
This formed out of Carlsbad, California and Austin, Texas. Initially this group was formed out of kids wanting more than their FLL (First Lego League) program, the desire to get more relevant technology into the hands as possible regardless of their financial situation, the need to get up to date, useful, semi-self-updating laptops into the hands of all teachers (not just the technically savvy.) The hope is for this program to leverage the amazing community of Drupal to spread and come to it's full fruition.
https://github.com/little-hackers
http://atxhs.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://groups.google.com/forum/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!forum/atx-little-hackers
http://lifehacker.com/how-to-install-linux-on-a-chromebook-and-unlock-it...
http://www.webupd8.org/2013/12/things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-on.html
http://tomwwolf.com/2013/11/26/howto-setup-arduino-on-chromebook/
Chrome based Arduino IDE (Excellent, Amazing!) https://codebender.cc/
Creators and active Drupalers of the program (so far) are: Matt Young, Mike Milano, Johanna Bergmann, Rob Ristroph and Mike Minecki.
Interesting article on using Arduinos with Temboo
Kano
Interesting Kickstarter campaign and bundle. FYI, Doug
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/kano-how-the-150-computer-kit-can-te...
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Chrome based IDE for Arduinos and Arduino like boards!
This is amazing, I tried it out with an UNO and it worked without a hiccup. Don't even need to mod your chromebook now for Arduino development!:
Read moreInteresting Raspberry Pi project -
FYI, Doug
http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/04/back-up-and-sync-your-files-inside-a-ma...
"An innovative DIYer has figured out a way to skillfully merge a Raspberry Pi running BitTorrent Sync with a traditional glass Mason jar."
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Microsoft is pushing Minecraft for Education.
I'm both excited and worried. This could mean some great first class materials, but that those materials will likely come at a cost.
http://games.slashdot.org/story/15/07/01/1826254/microsoft-to-launch-min...
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Humble Bundle
There are less than THREE HOURS left on this Humble Bundle, but there is still time to order a whole bunch of books about teaching kids to code!
https://www.humblebundle.com/books
(Special thanks to Joe Schindelar for mentioning this!)
Read moreTwin Cities Drupal Camp Notes
We got together to talk about teaching kids to code. Here are the raw notes with links to the technology and organizations we talked about. It looks like CoderDojo is an organization worth looking into to. It might be a good way to scale the organizational parts of Little Hackers, and Matthew Swift really loved the idea behind our Github Repo as a way to aggregate curriculum. We are already looking forward to organizing another BoF at NYC Camp! The raw notes from the BoF are below:
Read moreNo Google Hangout Tonight
None
Tax week. Still owe all the Arduino missions for Friday Night Lights Program. Will post when complete with latest in Github. There is some new Piezo music I need to acquire as well.
Hope everyone is doing well, Please post any new updates in the group.
Updates:
Doug is trying to retain our Ubiquity AP Pro's back from the Marina BTW for our programs usage.
I am donating a complete full size rack full of servers to the Emcraft building for the Little Hackers usage.
Chrome on a stick for $99
This is pretty cool, have you seen it? DougH
http://www.techrepublic.com/pictures/five-desktop-pcs-that-fit-in-your-p...
Read moreMonday Google Hangout
Met online, but my audio was jacked. Ineffective meeting. 3 people sort of showed up.
Last week was a very effective meeting. Minecki, Hoffman, Myself and Milano all met, but it would seem not many notes were added anywhere (I would like that to be Doug's job for now?)
Between then and now I managed to get into our new github repo and added the Friday Night Lights Arduino LED code. Am presently retesting:
https://github.com/little-hackers/chromebook-arduino-leds-friday-night-l...
After that I plan on entering issues into github to treat as tasks.
Read moreCreated a github organization
Please ping me with your github name and I'll add you. First order of business would be setting up a Github pages site like Carlsbad Crafters. . .
https://github.com/orgs/little-hackers
Read moreHackball
Hey everyone, I just read this article about the Hackball and thought you might be interested. I like it's idea of combining programming and physical activity. FYI, Doug
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3043267/this-throwable-computer-teaches-kids...
"Using a space-themed app, kids write if-then rules, learning the syntax of basic coding. An example: if you drop a ball, then it turns red. Or if the ball hits something, then it will make a noise. These games can be as complicated or as simple as kids want."
Read moreGoogle Hangout Weekly Meeting Day and Time Discussion
Need to decide between Monday evening and Tuesday evening... presently between California time, Texas time and possibly Mexico so far. Let's vote.
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