Tag: MakerSpace

Christmas Challenge

Primary 5-06-7 had a STEM challenge yesterday. The children had to create a sledge to carry a small assortment of sweets down a ramp. We were looking for the one that could go furthest without losing its cargo and the best looking on.

The Biggies are getting really good with their practical skills in the makerspace. The manages the whole thing In a couple of hours. Some beautiful solutions. Lots of problem solving, creativity and communication on display.

Montagesof 4 photos of pupils working on makerspace task

Steady Hands Stage 2

This week we have been converting our Steady Hand games to incorporate our micro:bits. The micro:bits record the number of touches and tell the player the games is over after 5 touches.

We will used these at our Christmas Fayre when we let people play for a small fee. A sweet for the ones that get through with no mistakes.

A montage of 6 'steady hand' games made by pupils. These consist of a cardboard box wire and a micro:bit. They are decorated.
Screenshot of makedoce editor with code for steady hand game
The code we started with, improvements to be added by pupils.

Steady Hands Stage 1

We have started a new STEM project. Building some Steady Hand games for our Christmas Fayre.

Children working on making a steady hand game with wire & cardboard boxes

Yesterday me and my class were making steady hand games in the makerspace for the Christmas fayre. The games that buzz at you when you touch a shaped wire with a hoop.

Nathaniel

We were making a steady hand game it is a game you need to get all the way across if it beeps you are out. We were in the maker space and mr j wanted us to make a cool game. We made it because all the classes need to make thing for the Christmas fair so people would pay 10p to play and if they win the game you will get a sweet.

Alex

I also used my skills to make a box which is stable enough which was done using the make-do so that I can connect the metal wire to the box and have it not fall over.
I have also included a light and buzzer but doing that made the buzzer take all the power and the light wouldn’t turn on and the buzzer barely went.

Harry

I was with Alexia we had some mistakes like when we were duck taping the crocodile clips but the thing kept falling off it was frustrating but we got to the end eventually we just have to connect the wire.

Faith

In the MakerSpace me and my partner learned how to solve problems, one of the main problems we had was when one of the wires was not working, although it was tedious my partner and I got all the wires tested and turns out the one to actually play the game with was broken, when we found that out we had to swap the wire and wire the game up and it was worth it because it worked really well afterwards.

Olivia
6 steady hand games

The pupils worked really well with their partners, using their experience with circuits and working with cardboard. I a looking forward to seeing them when they are finished.

We have a couple more stages to go and will be making other games for the attendees of our Christmas Fayre.

Biggies Highlights W/E September 8th

Another fast week. Highlights for us included the progress we had made in the designs for or elastic band vehicles. A few can be seen on the featured image of this post. Hopefully we can get them all finished and run some distance trials soon.

Poetry

The class have really got into writing poetry and I think we will present some to the parents at next weeks coffee morning. We will put them on the blog too.

micro:bits

Working with the micro:bits on creating virtual pets, some of the more experienced pupils really made great efforts. The idea was to build a simple tamagochi type toy. We had instructions for stroking them to happiness and shaking them to an unhappy state. Some pupils started work on give them health, feeding them and even making them sick if they eat too much. This was all independent work. I was delighted to see the use of variables and loops recalled from last session.

Screenshot of micro:bit code for virtual pet.

Elastic Cars

The biggies went back to the maker space for a warm up of our engineering skills today.

Some Biggies reaction:

I learned that you don’t need a motor to make things go

Today I learned how to make changes in my work, I learned how to make rubber bands into a working motor and I learned how to improve the work I had already done!

I learned about how different weight can affect a moving thing and how different types of rubber bands can change how the speed works

I learned that you can do it you have to just believe in yourself

Makerspace Robot Roundup

We have been working hard in our Makerspace on our Robots challenge.

The Challenge is to create a model Robot with elements of, Movement, Electricity & Coding.

The class has done an amazing job with lots of fun and failure. I’ve been especially impressed how the groups worked together and adapted their ideas as the went along.

I gathered quite a lot of quotes from the class and have added some below in their unedited glory.

General Comments

  • His back there is a skewer that you twist so that tightens the rope to make the flaps go up and loosen it to go down
  • It is a micro bit that plays a song by another micro bit sending it messages to start and stop
  • We had to change the song a few thousand times but we got there in the end.
  • We argued about the wheels and some designs but we didn’t argue much. The wheels worked out well and the coding component is working well too.
  • Yes when we were cutting our blocks of wood to hold up a big platform. The blocks where slanted so we had to make new ones and measure it correctly so it was in a straight line.
  • We didn’t think of how the weight of the head was going to affect the motor. This was because the head was too large. Also we painted some of it and changed a lot of the outer design and make the packages more realistic by putting things in them.
  • It’s moving part is the spinning brush on the front, a motor is hooked up to a battery pack and a switch using wires, when the switch is clicked the motor turns a piece of glue tack spins and the brush is attached to it.
  • My robot is a large Aztec sort of style robot called A.D.A.M. A.D.A.M stands for Ancient Dispenser of Aztec Mummies. As the name suggests it dispenses drawings of mummies.
  • It is called Adam it is like a box and it has wheels dispense mummies

Enjoyed

  • I enjoyed working with others and learning how different things work.
  • I really enjoyed be able to express my creativity
  • Being partners with the people I was and painting and talking to them.
  • I enjoyed creative work and doing fun things with saws and hot glue guns
  • I enjoyed making a lot of the things we made and I think I work well in most of the groups I was put in.
  • I enjoyed working with the micro bits and coding elements.
  • I enjoyed using different equipment like hot glue guns.

Didn’t enjoy

  • I didn’t enjoy the we had a problem with the electronics
  • I didn’t enjoy all the arguing but then again it was mostly needed because of voting.
  • I didn’t enjoy the problem with the wheels and trying to fix that because it took a while to find a solution.
  • I enjoyed everything about the makerspace, and didn’t dislike anything.

Learned

  • I learned that it’s sometimes people need to learn to try help each other more then we should.
  • I learned how to put the movie into keynote and I learned how to do wiring.
  • I learned how to work with others better and how to make different things, I feel like I’m better at arts and crafts as well.
  • I learned that wires were very complicated and annoying and that you may not be friends with your partners but you can get along in some ways.
  • I learned how to use glue guns, what materials are better and not just look better and how to find good solutions to problems but still keep close to the original design.
  • I learned how to use micro bits to control motors.
  • I learned how to use a saw correctly and I learned how to use a hot glue gun.
  • How to have fun and work at the same time while being in my zone.
  • How to make a iMovie video with voice over music and effects and to work in a team to create a machine with electronic components.
  • I learned that you can make anything out of quite a lot of materials and I learned that using iMovie is quite easy.

Makerspace Robot Progress Report

The biggies are making some great progress on their Model Robot Makerspace challenge.

The Challenge is to create a model Robot with elements of

  1. Movement
  2. Electricity
  3. Coding

The class was split into groups and has taken some very imaginative ideas and is turning then into reality.

The Robots

Bobara
A.D.A.M.
Ecco
Mike
Duck

 

Final finishing touches are being added and some video reports started.

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