MeteorITo - an open source educational program

Designed and developped in Hacedores Makerspace

Education

MeteorITo is an educational program which aims to bring kids interests about science, technology, engineering and maths while creating conscience about climate change.

We have designed open source courses based on experimentation for kids and students of primary and middle schools. Concretely, kids experiment physical phenomena (pression, humidity, …) and coding to make their own meteorologist station.

Technologies used

3D printing Laser cutting Electronics Computing & softwares

What’s the project story?

US embassy was looking for a company to develop a new approach of pedagogic content to improve Mexican science education. Thanks to a partner, Jacaranda education, Hacedores was selected to develop the program. 3 members were hired in Hacedores to design the courses : 2 engineers and a meteorologist, all with pedagogic and making background. In few months, with the experience and ressouces of the makerspace, meteorITo emerged : in 2017, 120 students from 20 schools benefited from one of the 11 sessions organized by the team.

What’s the project’s greatest success so far?

The program helps to communicate and spread the maker mouvement among kids and teachers. The team always enjoy watching kids having fun and being excited about physics thanks to the making and experimenting process. Teachers feedbacks are very positive. However, the biggest surprise and success was to attract mostly girls during these non mandatory courses and to see them coming back in the makerspace. During some sessions, the percentage of girls has even reached 90%.

What’s your greatest failure(s) & lesson(s) so far?

The spontaneity of the kids allow us to gather quick and efficient feedbacks during the course. It enables us to improve it continuously and to make it better each session. However, the difficulty was to find a location not too far for kids which fits the budget. Mexico is very expanded so it often happens to have last minute cancelation because kids are too tired to travel 2 hours to attend the course.

What’s your vision for the project & next steps?

For the next year, we would like to emphasize the part regarding human impact on climate change. However, after a year, we consider the program mature enough to be taught by anyone interested. All the material is open source in a dedicated website. Our objective is to design a new program about robotics which should be deployed by the end of the year.

How can anyone interested can contribute to the project?

We would be happy to receive ideas, comments or feedbacks about our material. Don’t hesitate to contact us if are interested in teaching the course or if you need assistance to start.

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