DIYbanter - The Future of US Kids Making Stuff...

On 23 Jan 2010 04:35:17 GMT, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2010-01-19, Frnak McKenney wrote:
On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:01:30 -0500, wrote:
On 18 Jan 2010 21:43:20 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2010-01-18, Frnak McKenney wrote:
On Sun, 17 Jan 2010 18:31:39 -0800 (PST), sparky wrote:
On Jan 17, 6:48*pm, "anorton"
wrote:
"Pinstripe Sniper" wrote in message
...

[ ... ]

There is assembling, building, and engineering.

[ ... ]

clare,

Okay. If I follow you, your distinctions are based on what is being
done to/with the available materials:

o Assembling simply combines pre-selected materials according to
supplied instructions.

o Building requires adapting pre-seleceted materials and/or
instructions.

o Engineering involves creating new instructions (either from
scratch or by heavily modifying existing instructions) and/or
selecting the materials to be used.

Seems like a reasonable breakdown. Thank you.

Any suggestions on how we can inspire kids to enjoy and participate
in any of these? Or, from the other direction, ways we can
encourage kids (or adults, for that matter) to keep on doing these
things once they start?

Well ... part of it is to make kits available aimed at kids of
various levels -- and get parents to supply these kits. Things which I
remember from early on a

Erector kits (and Tinkertoys) -- learn to build things, and what works
and what doesn't to make things stand
up and bear weight.

I found this for my Richmond nephews and niece:

Designing Automata Kit
http://www.makershed.com/ProductDeta...uctCode=MKCMT1

As it turned out, this is a tinkertoy-like kit for creating
mechanical puppetry and the like, not -- as I had thought -- a set
of wooden digital logic parts. Fortunately for me the kids still
found it fascinating. I supplemented it with a copy of Rodney
Frost's "Creative Kinetics" (search Amazon.com Books for "automata
toys").

When I explained what it was to Malcolm (the youngest), he asked me
what a "tinkertoy" was, and I nearly had a heart attack.
Fortunately for family relations, before I could get fully wound up
on How My Nephew Was Being Creatively Deprived his mother reminded
him that he had a set of them upstairs in his room. Malcolm's
response: "Oh, yeah!". grin!

Gilbert microscope set -- got interest in what tiny things
actually look like

Gilbert Chemistry set -- got interest in what could be done by combining
chemicals in various ways. (Now probably very
politically incorrect. :-(

Yeah. When we sold the family house in 2006 my old windowsill still
had a few sulfuric acid stains. grin!

Electric motor kit -- Armature laminations, shaft, commutator parts,
frame, enameled wire, insulating paper, etc.
Follow the instructions, and yo have an
electric motor, about 3-4" high, which would
run off a dry cell and could drive things
built from Erector kits or Tinkertoys to give
motion.

Yes! I recall building one from nails and magnet wire, either from a
Scout manual or possibly that classic "700 Science Experiments for
Everyone".

(Wonder if the Scout knife is still a required part of the uniform.)

Junk parts -- have junk parts and wire and such around to
allow making things like telegraph sets run
by battery power.

Have ropes and pulleys to experiment with the
physical laws which govern motion.

And *encourage* playing with such things, by
admiring what they bring to show you.

I think I'd add:

o Use old lawn mowers and VCRs to show them how much fun it can be
to take something apart, and how one can use the wonderful parts
once you've done that.

My niece Maggie, around eight(?) at the time, was once fascinated
by the photointerruptor, wheel, and LED display I salvaged from an
"electronic" bathroom scale. You turned the wheel and the numbers
changed!

(Counterindicated in today's ultra-neat
homes, unfortunately.)

Fortunately, I don't have that problem. 'Course, at this point I
probably need to learn how to throw stuff _away_. grin!

Frank
--
Show me a man with an empty garage, and I will show you a
man with no dreams. -- Anonymous
--
Frank McKenney, McKenney Associates
Richmond, Virginia / (804) 320-4887
Munged E-mail: frank uscore mckenney ayut mined spring dawt cahm (y'all)