As popularized in the Toy Story movie, and in arcades just about everywhere, "The Claw" machine is a fascinating blend of dexterity, skill and good fortune. In this machine (and it is definitely "a machine") the user plops in some coins or tokens for the opportunity to guide a claw device to a location above a desired object (green alien, plush toy, watch or other trinket). Once in position, a button is pressed to release the claw to drop, and hopefully snag onto the desired prize!
A simple machine? Maybe, and maybe not so simple! However, I believe it is doable with the Tetrix Building System. Can anyone prove me right?
Here is a link to an overview article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claw_crane
In any case, I think it would be a fun problem solving, engineering project for students - one that would display yet another variation of robotics - beyond the mobile bots that we all know and love.
Give it a shot and feel free to share your stories (successes and challenges alike) with me. Written descriptions, photos, illustrations, movies, presentations, and unusual or unique uses of Tetrix components - I would love to see what your students come up with. Share with me via email: <drzoon@pitsco.com>.
Also feel free to come up with STEM Connections for "The Claw" and share those as well!
Dr. Zoon
Somehow, using a computer mouse has become hands-on learning.
Don't get me wrong - I love computers. I've loved them since the time you had to load programs via a cassette player. At that time, flash drive was just a term used to describe a quick trip into town. But I digress.
As wonderful, powerful, portable, and quick as they are - they are just tools. In the hands of a good teacher, they can be a very effective tool. However, using the computer is not a kinesthetic activity. It does not meet the needs of the kinesthetic learner.
There was a choice to be made as the framework for the Pitsco Engineering Academy was being formulated. Computer delivered curriculum? Courses based around computer software? What was going to be the role for computers within the academy? The answer - use them when they are the best tool for the job.
So, most of the current Engineering Academy courses do not require a computer. Why is it not the best tool for the job? Because the task at hand within the academy is to provide hands-on experiences that connect learners, especially kinesthetic learners, to concepts in context. Let's look at an example, projectile motion.
There are numerous software programs that can model the flight of a projectile with accuracy to the nth degree. Students can input the mass, launch angle, launch force and the computer can spit out spreadsheets worth of data that describe the flight. It can tell you the magnitude and direction of the velocity vector at 0.23 seconds into the flight, and can graph the flight in a million different colors! That's OK. It's a good tool for finding specific, detailed, and extremely accurate information.
Compare that experience to a student who constructs a rocket out of a straw, an index card (for fins), and some modeling clay for a nose cone. They find the mass of the rocket using an electronic balance, and prepare to launch their rocket. They set the launch angle, pull the launch rod up to a desired height (which controls the launch force) and release the launch rod, which launches the straw rocket into flight - projectile motion. The student measures the distance the rocket travels (the range), and records all the information about that flight (mass, launch angle, launch force and range). Keeping all the variables but one the same, the student changes one variable - for instance, the launch angle. They repeat the launch with various launch angles, keeping the amount of launch force and rocket mass the same each time. They measure the range for each launch angle and record it in a data table. They plot points and produce a graph of the flight - which to their surprise is a parabola.
If you still think there is a comparison to the computer learning, consider what happens next. A 5-gallon bucket is placed 10.4 meters away from the launcher. The students, from their experience and their data, have one shot to try to land their straw rocket in the bucket. Their success is contingent upon their skills in making accurate measurements, keeping all variables but one constant, and the ability to predict how to best launch the rocket by analyzing their data. They can't copy what their friend has done, all the rockets perform differently. The entire class is watching, how close will they come!
Many of the students will land their rocket close, a few will land it in the bucket - and when they do, it's high-fives for all!
So how does that compare to the computer experience? Which one would you rather have your child experience?
Hands-on learning. It's the keystone of the Pitsco Engineering Academy. It's how kids like, and need, to learn.
Implementing STEM into your classroom can be done incrementally - one small step at a time. And be assured, your student's interest & comprehension of all the STEM subject matters (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) will take a giant leap forward.
One fallacy within some winds of STEM education doctrine is that this change must be systemic - that it has to happen as a whole within today's education system. While that is a good goal, classroom teachers can, and are, making incremental changes that provide STEM connections through hands-on activities. Incorporating STEM into classrooms is a grass-roots level initiative that can provide the impetus (both in support and in implementation strategy) for systemic change.
If you are like many other teachers, taking that first small step is the toughest, so here are some suggestions. Hopefully, one of these will either click with you, or will provide an idea of what would work for you and your classroom:
Constructing a solid framework for holding contraptions is always a challenge. Pitsco's TETRIX building system can help meet that challenge!
Within many classrooms, a Rube Goldberg-style challenge is pretty common – even Science Olympiad's Mission Possible competition incorporates these types of mechanisms. Finding materials to provide a solid framework for simple mechanisms is not always so simple; however, students can use many parts and pieces from the TETRIX building system to create frameworks to meet specific construction needs.
Swiveling joints? It's a breeze with TETRIX. Need large structures to hold multiple levers, pulleys, funnels, gears, string, and channels for rolling balls? TETRIX pieces bolt together in a myriad of shapes and sizes.
Speaking of channels for rolling balls, get rid of those pieces of foam pipe insulation that are difficult to cut and use. Consider using Pitsco's new Roller Coaster Track instead. It comes in a variety of lengths and may be twisted, looped, circled, and so on – configure it as you need. It's made of durable rubber and works very well with 1/2" to 1" balls. I like the steel myself, but wooden and even plastic balls can have a place in the project.
When the Roller Coaster Track is used in conjunction with a TETRIX framework, some very intricate and steady channels can be produced. These are excellent for transferring energy from a rolling ball to a lever, which releases a rotating arm holding a golf club, which strikes a golf ball, which falls and provides the energy (via an attached string-and-pulley mechanism) to lift the end of a plastic cylinder partially filled with water, which fills a cup that is sitting on the elevated end of a teeter-totter, which then starts another ball down a rubber track . . . you get the picture!
And even if you don't get the picture, your students will.
Below are some links to the products mentioned above and a link to a video of a Rube Goldberg-style mechanism; lots of good ideas are included in this!
TETRIX:
TETRIX Resource Set
TETRIX Robotic Base Set
Roller Coaster Track:
20' Track Section with Balls
3/4" Steel Balls
Video Clip (about three minutes worth of action):
Contraptions
Enjoy!
We all know of programs that have been implemented to bring STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) or Engineering into the curriculum. Most are very rigid in their course selections, content, timeframes and scheduling.
Pitsco's Engineering Academy is different - it's flexible.
First off, there are currently twelve different courses available - each covering various disciplines and/or topics within engineering. This allows schools to pick and choose those courses that are the best fit for their school & community.
This flexibility in course selection is closely related to the flexibility of the Engineering Academy in scheduling courses. With most courses being 9 weeks in length, they can be placed within a school schedule in a number of different ways. They can be back to back with other 9-week Academy courses to complete a semester timeframe, they can be combined with other 9-week and/or 18-week courses to complete a full year of courses, or courses can be chosen and scheduled to produce 3 years worth of STEM education - practically a department in-and-of itself.
There is also great flexibility in where the courses can be placed within curricular areas. The courses can augment a math curriculum, a science curriculum or can be a part of a Career Tech program. The ability of the Engineering Academy to augment various curricular areas is due to the fact that the courses are not providing core content - but contextual connections within many educational arenas. Students are encouraged to complete a rigorous schedule of study within core content areas.
And within the Engineering Academy courses, teachers have the flexibility to modify the scope and sequence of the activities to focus on specific areas - whether that is due to student needs, curricular concerns, or specific interests of students and/or teachers. For instance, if a teacher has experience in aerodynamics, then activities within the Aeronautical Engineering course can be expanded to take advantage of that experience. Or if mechanical engineering careers are prevalent within the geographic area of the school, then special focus can be brought to the Mechanical Engineering course to provide more in-depth education within that topic.
With all the courses, a scope and sequence document provides the roadmap for the teacher to complete the course in a specific amount of time. However, more activities are available to include within the course if needed, and activities can be modified, enhanced, shortened or intensified - its all flexible for the teacher to manipulate as the situation dictates.
It could be said that Pitsco has bent over backwards to provide flexibility to the Engineering Academy! Pun intended.
Implementing STEM in the classroom does not have to be an all or nothing proposition – it can be done incrementally.
For instance, if you are a science teacher, you probably have the ‘S’ of STEM education pretty well in hand. Or if you are a math teacher, the mathematics portion of STEM comes naturally, or if you are a technology teacher, the technology and engineering components of STEM may be a breeze. However, few teachers are fully loaded with all the content of these four subject areas. Hands-on activities can help bridge the gap by incorporating these subject areas within guided, contextual, hands-on activities. Here is one example:
Green Force and Motion
In this activity, students build a model solar car from a kit such as the Pitsco SunEzoon or SunZoon Lite. Once completed, further activities (beyond the initial construction of the solar car) can guide the student through STEM concepts in real-world context:
Science
· You can teach how photovoltaic cells convert the energy from the sun into electrical energy that powers the small model vehicle
· The vehicles can be used to illustrate concepts within force and motion
· Illustrate the use of energy and power to accomplish CONTACT _Con-424081A034C work
Technology
· Talk about the different systems that are within the solar vehicles and how they are interconnected
· Work with different gears and gear ratios to determine the effect on the speed or power of the car
· Look at the potential social impact that solar vehicles might have
Engineering
· Have students design a solar vehicle that uses two solar panels
· Students can collect data on their design and analyze its performance
· Develop a competition to see who can build the fastest solar car using two panels and the set of gears supplied with the kit
Mathematics
· Have students time the cars over a specified distance and calculate the speed of the car
· Students determine the speed of the cars running at various angles to the sun and graph the results
· Have students calculate the rpm of the motor based on the circumference of the wheels, the gear ratio, and the distance traveled over time
Many other activities can be done within the STEM arena with these solar vehicles. A good resource for more activities would be the SunEzoon Getting Started Teacher’s guide. Follow the link below to see the table of contents of this guide and a sample of one complete activity. All the activities within the guide are correlated to national NSTA, ITEA and NCTM standards, and all the activities are teacher reproducible for your classroom. Print them off and use them! Here is the link to the SunEzoon Teachers Guide:
http://shop.pitsco.com/sharedimages/resources/59465GSGuideSample.pdf
For information on the SunEzoon kit:
http://shop.pitsco.com/store/detail.aspx?CategoryID=115&by=9&pl=10&ID=2209&c=1&t=0&l=2
For information on the Sunzoon Lite kit:
http://shop.pitsco.com/store/detail.aspx?KeyWords=sunzoon&by=20&ID=2647&c=0&t=0&l=0