I'm mentoring some children in a STEM class, and the state of stem is a sorry thing. They think printing out a an object on a 3d printer is learning, but they don't teach modeling or any kind of related subjects. Any suggestions? I was thinking some cheap small chinese breadboards as a base of the project, and pre-tinned wired. The actual project needs to be buildable by nine year olds with zero technical skills.
Well it sort of is. It's like those illustrated science magazines. It demos the capabilities of science in a very real way to get people interested. And, maybe, one or two persons (pupils) will be impressed enough to try and learn the science behind it. Althought it is very lazy and unenthusiastic.
How about teaching a thing or two about console repairs? Taking things apart is hands on and fun, and I'm sure you have some spares around there. Might be able to teach them a thing or two. Also bring a bare motherboard in to show what makes it work.
There are a lot of smaller devices out there if you want to spend the money that allow tons of customization. Even something like Lego Mindstorm kits can do a lot. It comes down to how much you want to spend. Start small, they are 9. (I'm teaching K-5 this year). Using something like a 3d printer is a great way to get someone interested, but yeah, there needs to be something more there. You can use Minecraft to do the modelling if you wanted. Edit: You posted as I was typing. Take home is different too. You can do very simple electronic testing with tin foil, a battery, and an LED, in completing a circuit. You can have them create a study guide with it. Start more simple than you might expect. Remember that we aren't typical users of technology. Teach what something does, and get them hands on with as much as you can.
Hi, first of all Big Thumbs up your spending your time trying to teach kids some, and for sure give them a chance to get into something, as mentioned before kids 2day get so much input day in day out they dont have a lot of chances to get into something and grow interest or even a passion for it! There may be a brillant kid inovating our future products or software sitting that will never get into electronics / It-Tech or chemistry whatever it is, if no one arouses their interest talents will stay unpromoted, you never get your hand on a guitar or a soccer ball you may be brillant at it but no one will ever find out! But to get to the point, as read the posts same idea Borman mentioned came to my mind, there's 1000 of small electronic projects out for starters and the costs are low, in Germany theres Kit's to be bought at a electronic market named "Conrad" f.e. you get a working radio to build on your own all parts included a little soldering in it but created for kids to be done by them learning step by step(i guess the radio + a soldering iron starter kit pack starts at 20€ [~23$-25$])! Don't know what's the budget but you may also just get some led's / Switches / Batteries / Wire / Blank PCB Boards on ebay for little money and let them solder their first light including switch or maybe some work around this you make up their own "mini flashlight", could be taken home and if they pay attention they should learrn at least some about +/- volatage and how / why a switch works and get an idea what a electric curcuit is and dose l Might wanna ebay for "arduino kit" or "rc kit" If there's money for it i think some like this would be fun and a awesome show off at home: http://www.ebay.de/itm/321991036238?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649
Arduino and Raspberry Pis are what come to mind here. Do you by chance know what 3D printer they're using? If so I'd be interested to know as you can learn what limitations exist from 3D printers just based on what models they have. Lack of support material being the biggest one that can cause HUGE stops in the road.
I use to use my "Makey Makey" with childs, in order to make them use diffrent objects in order to interact with a program. They can learn base things about electricity with it. Bying "Makey Makey" for a whole class may be expensive so the breadboard thing can be a better option. Scratch on a Rasberry Pi (and also on a linux based computer) is great to learn kids how to program !
Let them build an Arduino robot that follows a line they paint with black marker. Ofc you would have to do the programming beforehand or just use an existing program but putting it together should be ok for 9 year olds, as long as you prepare everything and maybe solder some connectors to the cables, and then when they bring it home they can go crazy with that black marker on their parents new laminate flooring. Mission 1 complete! http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Elec..._7&btsid=59b98b5d-8bd8-4cfb-8a16-1aaba505a923 As an alternative you could also just buy a bunch of those diy solar robots from aliexpress, they are cheap and look like fun. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-..._7&btsid=2c8c4f3e-3ed6-4ed2-984e-d9824ec24bd7
The important question is, what's the budget? Pis etc could be too expensive. You can get arduino kits quite cheap, but could be too advanced for 9 year olds. You can get snap together circuits but again, depends on the budget and doesn't really suit taking it home - they are quite bulky to make them easy to work with. How long is this happening for? Maybe the bulky snap together stuff to learn the basics in the class room, then an arduino kit for later?
I got bought one of these as a gift (from a UK retail shop and A LOT more expensive). The quality is terrible, it broke and went in the bin before it even got finished.
I'd stay away from programming. I've found that the divide is too great between kids who are naturals at it and those who aren't. The who aren't will give up and tune out very quickly. Do they still do those projects these days where you try to build something to stop an egg from breaking when you drop it? The 3D printer could be used in something like that.
True. Not only are some people just not naturally inclined but people just don't build/fix things like they used to. Changing batteries is the most technical thing some kids that age can do. If you can combine them into teams mixing different skill sets/levels you can make something more complicated. But you mentioned they take it home so I guess this means each kid does his own thing. I've used those solar robots before. They are cheap, both in price and quality. The car is the ones kids seemed to like the most. They also seemed to break less quickly. The 8-9 year olds I was working with had no problem assembling them. Another thing the kids seemed to enjoy were those electric wire maze things. Like a home made version of operation. They can be as simple or complex as each kid wants. You can have varying levels of electronics difficulty by latching the warning, using solid state or relays, having audio in addition to a light. They also get to bend the wire, possibly make an enclosure so it can involve more than just electronics.
You can make simple circuits with paper or anything. Some hackers in my region are making cool stuff with kids that involve paper and conductive tint. One link that I found: http://paperduino.eu/doku.php Their objective is to stay away from soldering and doing it the cheapest way.
The problem with classes like these is you get kids who have no idea what they are doing and then you have some that are more advanced. They get bored with whats going on. I would just bring in a bunch of old electronics and screw drivers. Have them tear stuff apart and ask them what they think each part does. (EX: VCR heads. Ohh, I think these read the black tape.) Then see if they can build something else from the parts they salvage.
I would only comment that STEM is more than just tech-related stuff. I realize that you are going to get a lot of electronics projects here, but without knowing the demographics of your kids (the most important being: is this a required class or an optional one), it's hard to pick one thing that will be good for all of them.
Teach them how to construct an bomb. JK, but you said modelling right? Try Blender/SketchUp with them, it's free, Autodesk have free software for students too, but the school must be registered for it.
