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

 

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

Automata Finished

This week the pupils all finished their Automata. There are a few photos in the video before footage of the machines in action:

Today we presented to the parents & guests about our STEM (or STEAM) learning, including a section on the automata Project. The children did a brilliant job of writing scripts, creating presentations and talking to an audience.

Creative Thinking Icon
Practical Skills icon
Problem solving icon

Scale Model Dens

Last year, the class went out to the playground and measures lots of the den building materials:

Outdoor learning Day November 2022

This year we took these measurements, scaled them down by a factor of 10 and then made scale models of dens.

Children working on scale models

Children working on scale models

the class also made scale models of themselves at the same scale as the dens.

The children then made wee videos of their learning using iMovie or clips.

There are a couple of videos still to be finished and we will add these to the playlist when done.

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