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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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The Future of US Kids Making Stuff...
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. 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. :-( 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. 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. (Counterindicated in today's ultra-neat homes, unfortunately.) Enjoy, DoN. -- Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564 (too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero --- |
#2
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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) |
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