When howtosmile.org was being developed, the site's creators dreamed of community members like Michael Edwards: informal educators who would use, comment on, contextualize, and extend our ever-growing collection of online math and science activities. Educators on fire for hands-on science and generous with their time and expertise.
The Director of Programming at Science East in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Michael is just such an educator. Other howtosmile.org users appreciate his lists of activities and no-holds-barred comments; the howtosmile.org community also recognizes his participation with badges and points—in Michael's case, five badges and a whopping 380 points.
Recently, we asked Michael about his background and about how he uses howtosmile.org.
SMILE: Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Michael: I came over to Canada from Aberdeen, Scotland, to do a PhD in Biology. That turned into a Masters after I developed an allergy to the potato beetles I was working on. To be honest, I wasn't really enjoying the slog of doing research and was much more enamoured of being a teaching assistant.
I had been to science centres before and loved the learning environment they offered, so when I heard of one starting in Fredericton I got in touch with them and started doing some stuff for them as a volunteer—that was back before they even had a permanent centre. While I wasn't really paying attention, it turned into a full-time job. Fifteen years later I'm still doing it.
Science East, built in the former York County Gaol (Jail), is the only science centre in the province of New Brunswick. We're a little on the small side—only 9 full-time staff—but we go all over the province and work with all ages, from pre-kindergarten all the way up to university students and teachers.
I love trying to build stuff, test out ideas and mess about with them to see what happens. It doesn't always turn out successfully, but that's half the fun.
SMILE: What piqued your interest in science, way back when?
Michael: Like so many people involved in science education, I had a teacher who actually nurtured all my questions and gave me books and other things to help deal with my curiosity. And that continued throughout my time in school, even in university.
SMILE: What's your favorite howtosmile.org activity and why?
Michael: I love the Magnus Glider for a few reasons. First of all, I love how easy it is to make, and nobody ever expects that it will fly. Then when you show them, they can't stop playing with it. I also love the flexibility of it—you can modify and change it in so many ways as you play with the concept. Finally, I love how howtosmile.org finally gave me a name for the activity. I always just called it the Flying Cups. but Magnus Glider sounds a lot more impressive!
SMILE: What Howtosmile.org feature do you most appreciate?
Michael: My favourite feature is simply the reliability of the site. Teachers and parents always ask us where to go on the internet to find good science activity ideas. Before, it was tough to recommend just one site, because of dead links, quality control and the other problems that the internet is rife with. But now I can quite happily send them to howtosmile.org and know they will find something useful.
I'm also a big fan of the community aspect because it makes it much easier to find the really good stuff. Plus now there is a site full of good science ideas that we can share with teachers whenever we do Professional Development sessions with them, and that makes me even happier.
SMILE: How would you like to see howtosmile.org grow and change?
Michael: Just keep adding more and more activities!
SMILE: Do you read the SMILE blog?
Michael: I've enjoyed the series of frog articles for no particular reason. Learning that there is a toad that smells of peanut butter amuses me immensely.
SMILE: Where else (besides howtosmile.org) do you look for hands-on math and science activities?
Michael: I'm a fan of Instructables although I find too many things there that are beyond my level of ambition and ability. I do scour the internet, Googling my way around, but that gets very time consuming; hence my love of your site.