Suggestions for One Day Work Shop Ages 5 - 13

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Alex Margiott

One I did in 7th grade... each group of 5-7 students got seven paper grocery bags, scisors, and a roll of tape (scisors could not be part of the structure). The goal was to create a structure that could hold at least 5 pounds of weight over 2 feet in the air, and additional points were given for more stacked weight, until someting either broke or the weights/tower toppled over.

Alex (or anyone) -
What would the 5 lb. weight consist of?

I can't seem to get past the dumbbell thought this morning.
Jane

[Richard Wallace]

We did a similar exercise once using standard sheets of notebook paper and office tape as the 'kit' materials, with quantities of each limited; e.g., three sheets of notebook paper and three inches of office tape. The weight to be supported was an algebra textbook or something similar. The winning team was the one with the maximum textbook height, maintained for at least 60 seconds per the classroom wall clock. In extreme cases the countdown was exciting.

[cbale2000]

My team has done something like this before. We've put on a sort of "take-apart workshop".


Essentially, we get people to donate various small appliances that they no longer want or don't work (Printers, Computers, blenders, toasters, vacuums, etc.). We then give the students toolboxes and have them take apart an item of their choice and try to find as many simple machines in the item as possible.

The kids have a lot of fun (they get to break things after all ) and they learn a lot too.


Some issues to keep in mind if you try something like this:

• Make sure anything you give the students to take apart has any sharp objects removed if possible (blades from kitchen equipment and such)
• Safety glasses are a must as things can (and do) fly off of the appliances as they are being taken apart
• The kids tend to get their hands dirty doing this, some sort of clean up is helpful. We used a kind of orange soap/ hand sanitizer with silica sand and gave them paper towels to wipe their hands off afterwards.
• Make sure you have a LOT of trash bags. They tend to make a mess.

We got a lot of good feedback from the schools we visited when we put this on. There were quite a few "this was my favorite station" comments from the students as well.

[Kelly]

perhaps borrow some ideas from Odyssey of the Mind spontaneous problems for quick "warm ups" to break the ice, etc. They have "hands-on" and "verbal" problems with a range of requirements. Examples: name things that are red (or read) name things that change, name uses for _____, build a tower out of provided materials that holds pennies, build a transport device, etc.
http://www.geocities.com/nepaootmspon/

[Jeff 801]

For anyone who has been to fps state there is a challenge called circus maximums “beside the point.” Its where there are about 5 challenges that you have to complete. One was who could make the tallest tower out of news paper and only that. Another was making the tallest tower out of index cards. Last there was the longest cantilever made from toothpicks and clay. “That was all with an engineering concept.
If any questions about anything described feel free to pm me.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Jeff 888

For anyone who has been to fps state there is a challenge called circus maximums “beside the point.” Its where there are about 5 challenges that you have to complete. One was who could make the tallest tower out of news paper and only that. Another was making the tallest tower out of index cards. Last there was the longest cantilever made from toothpicks and clay. “That was all with an engineering concept.
If any questions about anything described feel free to pm me.

'Bout time you showed up, Jeff.
Jane

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

We've put on a sort of "take-apart workshop".

Essentially, we get people to donate various small appliances that they no longer want or don't work (Printers, Computers, blenders, toasters, vacuums, etc.). We then give the students toolboxes and have them take apart an item of their choice and try to find as many simple machines in the item as possible.

Chris,
1. Are you saying that you dismantle the appliance and then see what you can make out of the pieces - i.e. simple machines?

2. What do the tool boxes have in them?

(I'm thinking about what we would have to supply/carry and what would be allowed - those types of things)

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

Chris,
1. Are you saying that you dismantle the appliance and then see what you can make out of the pieces - i.e. simple machines?

Yes, thats basically it. We give the students intact (or mostly intact) appliances to take apart and find things. The goal is to get them thinking about how things work. And each group will find something different.
Take a group with a printer for example, you'd take it apart and find gears and wheels and such, while a group with a VCR might find belts and springs. It's like an engineering scavenger hunt!... kinda

Sometimes we also let the students take parts they found home with them if they want (so long as they weren't dangerous and their teachers don't mind).

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

2. What do the tool boxes have in them?

(I'm thinking about what we would have to supply/carry and what would be allowed - those types of things)

First off I think I should clarify that the "toolboxes" we used weren't the kind you'd typically find at a store. We made wooden boxes with PVC handles that were just big enough to put a dozen or so tools in and small enough to not take up a lot of space on the tables and be very portable. They're simple enough to make and save money over buying a store one for each group.


As for the contents of the tool boxes, we pretty much just used stuff that any robotics team would have.

• Screw Drivers (a LOT of them, and a wide variety). These will probably be the most used out of any tools you bring.
  
• Wrenches (for bigger appliances)
• Tin Shears/wire cutters or similar (we supervise the use of these, but they are sometimes necessary for getting through items that are molded plastic or have pieces that won't come apart)
• Hammers (these don't get used to much but they have been useful on a few occasions).

There is also some sharing between the tables as some of the groups would have tools that others would need (different size screw drivers and such). We color coordinated all the tools and their tool boxes with different colors of electrical tape, that way each tool got back to the original toolbox at the end of each rotation.

We also kept a box of "odd tools" available as well just in case an item needed an uncommon tool to take apart (I might even recommend a battery powered drill as it might be useful in some situations). I don't recall ever using any though.

It really just depends on if you know what appliances you have to work with, in our case, we asked the school to collect the appliances so we had no idea what to expect, so we brought everything we could. If you knew what items you were working with, you could just bring the tools you'd need for those items.


In my opinion, if every group had enough screw drivers for everyone in it and one pair of some kind of cutters, you would probably be in good shape as long as you also bring in a box of a few other tools you might need just in case (be prepared). The biggest issue we had when we did it was we didn't have enough screw drivers to go around.



I think thats just about everything. I'll ask my instructor tomorrow to make sure I didn't leave anything out.

[Andrico]

In 8th grade we had a bunch of these challenges/competitions towards the end of the year. We did things like egg drops, straw towers, and some of the others mentioned.

One of my favorites was the Popsicle bridge challenge. Each team was give 100 or so Popsicle sticks, some cardboard, wood glue, and 2 feet of duct tape. The goal was to bridge a gap between two desks that was about 2 feet wide and a little toy matchbox car had to be able to drive across it smoothly.

To judge the winner the car must be able to cross the bridge easily. Then you put a bucket, (like a 10 gallon paint bucket) across the bridge so it hangs. Then add weight to the bucket until it breaks. The winner is the bridge that holds the most weight.

[JaneYoung]

Ok so - the workshop is coming up on Tuesday.
Members of the team have been meeting for the past few weeks.
The two challenges will be the blimps and the paper towers. Thank you to Greg and to Brandon for offering those suggestions and also helping me via PMs.

Here's a question if anyone is feeling generous in helping me communicate simply. A few of the younger, shyer children will find their way over to me and will likely ask what a blimp is or want to talk about it. Anyone want to tell me a good definition and how it works? One or two sentences geared towards a 7 or 8 year old.

The team members know what they are saying, I, on the other hand - need some help.
Jane

[Roger]

Non-rigid airships (Wikipedia)

Blimps don't have a frame holding them together, as opposed to rigid airships. Blimps need a constant internal pressure that is higher than the surrounding air pressure to maintain their shape. The Goodyear Blimp has no frame.

Zeppelins are rigid airships, which means a skin is put over a frame. Because of the frame, they could be built larger and lift heavier loads. A Zeppelin (capital z) is a type of rigid airship (brand name, if you will) created by Ferdinand von Zeppelin.

Dirigibles are steerable airships (from the French dirigeable, "steerable"). Wiki is sort of vague about the differences, and generally thinks dirigibles don't generally refer to blimps.

Hot air balloons use a different method, that of hot air is lighter than cold air. I'm sure there must be an easy science experiment somewhere on the internet.

How they work: Fill a bag with a gas that weighs less than the atmosphere. Add a fan in the back, some fins, and away you go.

The Hindenburg ("Oh the humanity!") was a Zeppelin. Unfortunately, due to a war shortage of helium, it was filled with flammable hydrogen. Normally they are pretty safe. Recently in the Boston area a blimp sank into the trees when it got a leak. Made all the news shows with helicopter shots of the blimp laying over the trees.

The way you can tell the difference is that blimps are LIMP. There is a story that first was the Type A-limp then the better version Type B-limp, which soon became the name "blimp". Wiki has a similar story, but also claims it is false. Since I heard it as true on a radio word-game show, I'll reserve judgement.

Don't think that I happen to know all this; credit Wiki for it. Except it's strangly quiet how Led Zeppelin got it's name....

I was curious what you ended up doing for the workshop. Just remember, (from my elementary school Math and Science Nights) you only have to know a little more than the kids, and have plenty of trivial questions and answers. Cow magnets are my favorite.

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by Roger

Non-rigid airships (Wikipedia)

Blimps don't have a frame holding them together, as opposed to rigid airships. Blimps need a constant internal pressure that is higher than the surrounding air pressure to maintain their shape. The Goodyear Blimp has no frame.

Zeppelins are rigid airships, which means a skin is put over a frame. Because of the frame, they could be built larger and lift heavier loads. A Zeppelin (capital z) is a type of rigid airship (brand name, if you will) created by Ferdinand von Zeppelin.

Dirigibles are steerable airships (from the French dirigeable, "steerable"). Wiki is sort of vague about the differences, and generally thinks dirigibles don't generally refer to blimps.

Hot air balloons use a different method, that of hot air is lighter than cold air. I'm sure there must be an easy science experiment somewhere on the internet.

Don't miss the base link also to Airship, which covers the long history of lighter than air travel, and the U.S. Navy's attempts with its' small fleet of airships in the 20's and 30's. There also is a discussion of current research being done with these vehicles.

[JaneYoung]

This photo shows some of the fun the team had this week with blimps. The young child is holding a wire that is attached to the basketball hoop. The balloon had been blown up and released to travel up the wire toward the hoop. It was a great day. A little soggy but everyone had fun.

They can't wait to see what we come up with next year. When we walked in with our purple shirts, they said, 'Oh, here comes the robotics team!' - they have learned to recognize us with and without the robots. So many ideas were presented in this thread that we'll have to revisit it when the time comes. Thank you everyone.
Jane