Faculty of Engineering | University of Ottawa

Locations

Ottawa-Gatineau region

From September 2016 to June 2017, we have reached a total of 408 schools, over 19,200 kids and have given over 800 workshops in the National Capital Region.

Community events and birthday parties

To book the Maker Mobile for community events or for birthday party, please inquire about availability at makermobile@uOttawa.ca.

Outside of Ottawa-Gatineau region

The Maker Mobile sometimes travels to other regions in Ontario and Québec. If you are interested in having the Maker Mobile come to your school or region, please contact us at makermobile@uOttawa.ca, call us at 613-562-5491 or sign-up to be notified if we are visiting your region.

Workshops for students

Language

English, French, and Immersion

Duration

Each workshop is 75 minutes

Exception: Advanced 3D printing or Laser cutting workshops are each between 2 and 2.5 hours. These two workshops count as two workshops in the schedule.

Cost

At your school or location:

$515 for a full day (4 workshops, for up to 4 classes)
$995 for a full day (8 workshops, for up to 8 classes)
$325 for morning only (2 workshops, for up to 2 classes)

On campus:

$375 for a full day (up to 4 workshops)
$295 for half a day (up to 2 workshops)

Group size

Maximum 30 students per workshop

The number of participants applies to workshops only. If you want us to be present as a kiosk at your next event, please indicate this in the request.

School Structure

Our dynamic instructors will come to your school with the Maker Mobile!

The teacher must always remain in the classroom and will be required to complete a short evaluation at the end of the workshop.

Requirements:

Classroom or laboratory with at least 2 electrical outlets.
Weather permitting, the workshop could be held outside in a parking lot or on school property. We have tables and stools for all students.
Access ramp to bring in the machinery (if available)
“Advanced 3D printing” and “Laser cutting” must be the first session booked in the morning or afternoon since these workshops are a minimum of 2 hours. This is to allow for processing time of printing or cutting. For this reason, there's a maximum of two “Advanced 3D Printing” or “Laser cutting” workshops that can be booked each day.

Available workshops per class grade

Please note that each workshop is tailored for your class's grade and ability.

Kindergarten: Bee-Bot, Codemakers Programming
Grade 1: Bee-Bot, Codemakers Programming
Grade 2: Bee-Bot, 3D Printing, Codemakers Programming, Little Bits
Grade 3: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Codemakers Programming, Little Bits, Robots and Creative art
Grade 4: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Codemakers Programming, Scratch, Little Bits, Coding with Micro:bits, Robots and Creative art
Grade 5: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Codemakers Programming, Scratch, Coding with Micro:bits, Robots and Creative art
Grade 6: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Codemakers Programming, Scratch, Arduino, Coding with Micro:bits, Robots and Creative art
Grade 7: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Scratch, Arduino, Programmable Electric Car, Coding with Micro:bits, Robots and Creative art
Grade 8: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Arduino, Programmable Electric Car, Green Engineering, Coding with Micro:bits
Grade 9-12: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, Arduino, Programmable Electric Car, Green Engineering, Electricity

Workshops

Choose between two options:

Introduction to 3D printing | Grade 2-12 | 75 minutes

In this interactive workshop, participants will be introduced to this new technology, and will discover its functionality and applications. In small groups, they will have the opportunity to create their own 3D model of a Lego character’s head using Tinkercad, a user-friendly 3D modeling software. We won't have time to print each individual student's design, but each student will get an example, 3D printed during the workshop.

Advanced 3D printing | Grade 2-12 | 2.5 hours

(counts as 2 workshops)

In this advanced interactive workshop, participants will discover this new technology from how it works to its multitude of uses. They will have more time to create their own 3D model in small groups using Tinkercad, a user-friendly 3D modeling software. Depending on their grades, they will design a more complex prototype then during the Introduction workshop. Next, they will learn how to print their design with the 3D printers, and turn it into reality. During the printing time, students will also work on more design challenges.

Grade 2: Cookie Cutter
- Students will turn a 2D drawing into a 3D shape, which they can use as a cookie cutter.
Grade 3-6: Creative Character
- Students will create their own character while investigating the 3D design process.
Grade 7-8: Catapult
- Students will learn how to design in 3D and build their own catapult using a 3D printed part and other materials.
Grade 9-12:
- Science: Students will design a top. They will investigate forces, inertia and torque as well as the design process.

Adruino | Grade 5-12 | 60-75 minutes

In this interactive workshop, students will get a chance to learn about microcontrollers by programming an Arduino board and controlling its various inputs and outputs (lights). In this day and age, open source microcontrollers like the Arduino have become mainstream and have been adopted by electronic hobbyists around the world.

This workshop gives participants a good introduction to the world of electronics and electrical engineering.

Arduino Advanced | Grade 7-12 | 60-75 minutes

This workshop is to be booked as a second workshop after the first Arduino workshop or for students with previous programming experience. More advanced programming concepts such as loops and arrays will be explored.

Students will learn to program their own interactive stories and games. In the process, they will learn to solve problems, design projects and express themselves creatively on the iPad or laptops.

We will provide the iPads or laptops for this workshop, so access to other computers is not necessary.

Codemaker programming | Kindergarten - Grade 4 | 60-75 minutes

Grade K-3: Scratch Jr on iPads
Grade 3-6: Hopscotch on iPads

Scratch | Grade 4-7 | 60-75 minutes

Grade 4-7: Scratch on laptops

Coding with Micro:bits | Grade 4-8 | 75 minutes

In this interactive workshop, students will learn basic coding concepts and will create their own game using a Micro:bit board. A Micro:bit is a small board, half the size of a credit card, that has a micro-processor, accelerometer, sensors, a display of 25 LEDs and two programmable buttons. It’s now used around the world to encourage children to get actively involved in writing software and building new things.

Engineering Design (Wind turbine) | Grade 7-12 | 2 -2.5 hours

In this interactive workshop, students will learn the step-by-step process of Engineering Design, from conceptualizing, to designing and creating renewable energy by making wind turbines. Students will learn how to transform the wind’s kinetic energy into electrical energy using their wind turbine. They will get to design, build and test their prototypes and will have to adjust their design in order to produce the most energy. Our giant light board will be used to show the amount of electricity that they produced.

The Engineering design process includes many steps. The first part of this workshop will be to design their turbine. After having built their wind turbine, students will have a chance to test it and will return to their station to adjust their product for the final competition.

Laser cutting | Grade 3-12 | 2-2.5 hours

(counts as 2 workshops)

This workshop is all about using a high precision laser to cut and etch materials. Using the software Inkscape, participants will design a project in 2D, that will be cut by the laser, and assembled to make a 3D object. They will learn all about this versatile tool and its applications.

Grade 3-4: Bird House
- Students will design and build a small bird house made of cardboard (in teams of 2-3) that will be laser cut.
Grade 5-6: Glider
- Students will create a 3D airplane from a 2D design (in teams of 2-3) that will be laser cut.
Grade 7-8: Candy Box
- Students will create a 3D box from a 2D design (in teams of 2-3) that will be laser cut.
Grade 9-12:
- Science: Students will learn about the benefits and challenges of a nature bridge (a place where animals cross the highway). Students will then design their own nature bridge (in teams of 2-3) and cut it out of cardboard on the laser cutter.
- Technology: Students will design a chair to scale (in teams of 2-3), and cut it out of cardboard on the laser cutter while learning about the design process.

Workshops for parents

Programming for Parents

The goal of this workshop designed specifically for parents, tutors or guardians is to teach them how to code and enable them to support their children in developing this new skill.

Coding is a new skill that we believe every child should learn. It is the best way to understand technology and allows kids to develop problem-solving, critical thinking and logic, while encouraging creativity! Since coding can be learnt at a very young age, we will be running a 2-hour long workshop, divided in two parts of one hour each.

Part one: Coding for parents of grade K-3 using Scratch Jr on iPads.
Part two: Coding for parents of grade 4-8 using Scratch on laptops.

Parents can choose to participate to either or both parts of the workshop. Participants will be able to learn the basis of coding by doing hands-on activities, such as coding simple stories, using iPads or laptops that will be provided.

Cost: $325 for 2 hours

When: Workshops can be held as an after school activity. You may choose a date that is convenient for your school to be holding the workshop.

Another option that could be offered to your school would be a “Coding night for families”, where both parents and children would learn to code together (maximum of 30 families).

Booking a workshop is simple.

Explore the workshop options and choose the one(s) that will best suit your students’ interests and your curriculum.
Select two potential workshop dates. Registrations for workshops are done on a first-come, first-served basis.
On the Maker Mobile workshop page, click on Register HERE today!, fill out all required information and submit your application. This step must be completed on a computer (phones and tablets will not work).
You will receive an email from the Maker Mobile team 1-3 business days following the receipt of your application. Occasionally, it can take up to 5 business days for us to contact you. If you do not hear back from Adventures within a week, please send us an email at: makermobile@uottawa.ca.
Once your registration has been processed, we will send you an email with a tentative schedule. You must review it thoroughly then reply by email to either confirm your registration or make changes.
Once we receive your email confirming the tentative schedule, we will send you a final confirmation.

Yes. In order for the uOttawa Maker Mobile to be able to sustain its programs (including workshops at schools), we rely on sponsorship from a number of partners. Therefore, we must provide accurate statistics, including the number of students participating in each workshop. We thank you for taking the time to provide us with all the necessary information required in the registration form.

uOttawa Maker Mobile