AASBD STEM Fair
The Soap Box Derby held a STEM Fair at their race day July 23rd. Participating companies included FirstEnergy, Rockwell International, University of Akron Sports/STEM and robotics, Ellet Library, American Winds, Akron Fossils and Science Center, Rubber Division of American Chemical Society (ACS), Soap Box Derby, Derby historian Ron Reed, Props & Pistons, STEMSports, Skyhawks Sports Academy, and NEOStem…and me. I loaded up my 2 cases and brought many ideas to share, but really focused on two. The main one was “build a car with stuff”. The “stuff” included cardboard, wood, pop bottles, straws, coffee stirrers, toothpicks, pipe cleaners, buttons, cardboard circles, bottle tops, and beads. Luckily one company didnt need two tables, so they gaveit to me to put all those materials on. “My” table had some hot glue guns and my other challenge. The second challenge was “battery & bulb”. Light up an LED with one CR2032 battery. Then we could issue challenges like how many lights can you do on one battery, how many colors can you get on one battery, what colors work together. On this table I also had a microbit running an LED strip that was rolling through rainbow colors. A couple of kids asked about it. It was a fun day of watching and building. It was a little breezy most of the day then around 1 p.m. a storm started coming in and things really started blowing around, so we had to pack up a little early (supposed to go til 2 p.m.), but most everybody was heading for cover anyways.
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I love design templates for drawing (since I cannot draw well). I also love making and DIY. I want kids to be able to make their own thing, what they need or want. So the question was how to go from store bought templates to your own A Twitter friend recommended this mylar product. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PVYHH4M 12”x12” sheet that is 10 mil thick. NOT balloon mylar. I measured it to be 0.26 mm (mil is another measurement) and closer to 1/64th than 1/128th of an inch, so I verified what it is/should be : Now I also wanted to play with https://cuttle.xyz , a browser based design site. I created a file with some shapes that would fit on a 12” x 12”. Then I used the “Export SVG for Cricut” since I don’t have a laser (i would like to try to create these with a laser because it would be faster). I imported into Cricut Design Space and tried to make it using various settings on the dial….to no avail. It was scoring the material, but not cutting through. I ended up going to the hamburger in Design Space (three lines) and “Manage Custom Materials”. I was looking for the highest pressure number for my Cricut Air 2 and how I could set something to that. I found “Stencil Film - 0.4 mm” and set the cut pressure up to 349 and three passes (350 is the highest). It cut through most shapes. So I changed it to 4 passes. It finally worked for all 3 shapes. (I changed my cut file to be only 3 shapes instead of all of them) This might be the extreme edge for the Cricut Air 2 (hence the Cricut Maker) , though you could always add passes.
Or I might need a new blade Or you could try the 7.5 mil material… A laser cutter would be a nice option also. Now kids can make whatever drawing/painting template they want. STUFF Obviously you can do designs on a computer or tablet or phone..but we need to build things. Prototype. Tinker. So it is time to get some STUFF, maybe even buy some STUFF. Cardboard is a great building material that can often be free. You can often find some awesome corrugated cardboard behind various stores. Ask people to bring in amazon boxes if you want. School kitchens might need to “get rid of” corrugated boxes. Food box cardboard is also a wonderful building material that can be readily obtained through donations. There are some specific items for assembling cardboard. Makedo (https://www.make.do/ ), BoxLox (https://atwoodtoys.com/collections/box-lox ), 3Dux (https://www.3duxdesign.com/ ) and WondrBolt (https://wondrbolt.com/ ) are some brands that I often see being used. You will also need tools to work with cardboard. Firstly you will need to cut the boxes into manageable, storable size pieces. Look for actual cardboard scissors. I have found that these Canary scissors work well (https://www.amazon.com/CANARY-Cardboard-Scissors-Blue-PS-6500H/dp/B000EFZKRY/ ). Many people like the electric powered cutters (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019CSHSW8 ). There is also a Canary cutter (https://www.amazon.com/CANARY-Corrugated-Cardboard-Cutter-DC-190/dp/B00KW4N9IY/ ). Depending on the ages & responsibility of your students, you could also go with ceramic cutters (https://www.amazon.com/Slice-10515-Position-Keychain-Magnetic/dp/B07KYWLVCQ/?th=1) or Xacto knives (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GP535BZ ). You might also consider self healing cutting mats. They come in a variety of sizes and colors. ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018DH6SJ8/ ). As well as some metal straightedges/rulers (you want rulers no matter what) (https://www.amazon.com/NOKKO-Metal-Ruler-10-Pack-Measurements/dp/B09BZZCVTY/ ). Other measuring devices you would want to have are meter sticks, measuring tapes and calipers, even a couple of digital scales. Another good building material is coroplast. Think election signs. Besides using a knife to cut, there is a Klever cutter designed for them to cut down the channel. These cutters can also be used on corrugated cardboard. (https://www.amazon.com/Klever-Stainless-Package-Utility-Assorted/dp/B085W4CW3B/) We need glue sticks, hot glue guns and glue sticks. We also need basic scissors and a variety of tape. I also like having small screwdriver sets around. They always come in handy (https://www.amazon.com/Meet-Beauty-Screwdriver-Flathead-Precision/dp/B09Q8TS83Y/). You will need pencils, colored pencils, crayons, markers, and Sharpies. A variety of paper is good (computer, construction). Even large rolls of paper are very useful for planning/designing. In addition to white, think about blue paper (and white colored pencils) for students to do blueprints. Somehow that color combo just makes us think differently (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006IE1Q/). Index cards or cardstock will also be useful. There are many free or low cost items that we can use to create. Any arts and crafts materials are great items. Some can be donated by your community. But you might want to make & publish a list of items you want, and pick a week for them to be brought in. Maybe pick one week in the fall and one in the spring. Can you create an online wish list or Amazon wish list? Remember, anything and everything is a Maker Material, but here are some thoughts to get you going : This should get you started.
What else is a favorite Low Cost material of yours? Remember to get some books… story books, project books, books about makers… Literacy is important and I think every project can have an associated book. (obviously I started a list of books... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/195AiQqtUZwlMuTolePU08L8jbr12hjIoHQW1WqjuODM/edit?usp=sharing ) Coming soon, we will talk about machines to look into for Digital creation (Digital Fabrication), as well as some physical computing/robotics ideas. |
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