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Start girls on a lifelong love of science and engineering with these engaging PicoCricketsPicoCrickets are tiny computers that can make things spin, light up, and play music, helping your female students learn important math, science and engineering principles -- and gain a deeper understanding of the process of design and invention. Your girls (or boys!) can plug lights, motors, sensors and other devices into a PicoCricket, then program them to react, interact and communicate. |
About PicoCrickets:
Let your students’ creativity thrive with the many possibilities that PicoCrickets provide! For example, they can make a cat and program it to purr when someone pets it. Or they can make a birthday cake and program it to play a song when someone blows out the candles. PicoCrickets can be used in a wide variety of activities -- and thus appeal to learners with different interests, backgrounds and styles.
The PicoCricket Kit was developed by the MIT Media Lab, who also created the LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ robotics kits. Both kits teach students robotics and programming principles. The PicoCricket Kit is designed for making artistic creations with lights, sound, music and motion, which appeals to girls, while LEGO® MINDSTORMS™ appeal more to boys.
PicoCricket OverviewDemonstration by Mitchel Resnick of the MIT Media Lab |
What comes in the kit:
PicoCricket Workshop Themes:
PicoCricket Workshop Themes
While many robotics classes are organized around engineering challenges, you can structure PicoCricket classes and workshops around shared themes, such as a “Day in the Park”, where students create moving trees and spinning playground equipment, or “Wearables”, where they make jewelry that lights up. Rather than culminating in a competition among robots, your workshops can finish with an exhibition of projects.
The best themes are broad enough to give everyone freedom to work on projects they care about, but specific enough to foster a sense of shared experience among all participants. For example, for the Musical Instruments theme, your students can create interactive inventions that play melodies and rhythms.
Tips for running a PicoCricket Workshop
PicoCricket Kits provide a rich collection of materials that encourage participants to experiment, explore, and express themselves. That’s why the best way to organize a PicoCricket class is to create the atmosphere of an artist’s studio or inventor’s workshop.
- Make sure that the room has space not only for working on computers (1-2 students per computer), but also constructing with physical materials. Also consider setting up a projector to demonstrate how to program PicoCrickets.
- Set up tables with art & craft supplies (such as construction paper, popsicle sticks, beads, aluminum foil, straws, and natural materials, like leaves), as well as LEGO® bricks, and PicoCricket devices, both of which are included in the PicoCricket Workshop Kit.
- Split up your students to work together in small groups (each PicoCricket Workshop Kit serves 5 groups of 2-3 students per group).
- There is no pre-defined sequence of steps: each group moves back-and-forth between designing, building, programming, and decorating their projects.
- Your workshop can last from an hour to many hours over several days. For the best experience, it is important that participants have time to test and revise their projects over several iterations.
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When students are finished with the projects, you can take apart the projects and re-use the PicoCrickets and other electronic components while the students take home their craft creations. - The PicoCricket kits are intended to be used over and over. This way, you'll only need to replenish the low cost craft materials at your local craft store.
- Preserve your students’ creations through photos and videos!
More video clips of PicoCrickets in action:
Girl Scout WorkshopA math and science camp using an early version of the Crickets |
Invention at Play Part IEmpowering kids to explore and invent with digital technologies. |
Invention at Play Part IIEmpowering kids to explore and invent with digital technologies. |
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