58 — First MakerSpace Enrichment Club meeting
2016-02-07. By Kelly.
Fig. 1. Students have been designing mazes for the Spheros as a way to teach out simple machines.
Our first MakerSpace Enrichment club meeting started with a solar car challenge. So after a very brief introduction, the students worked in groups to design the fastest solar car. This was followed by the building supply frenzy. I thought I had our materials organized but, as I was cutting out corrugated plastic bodies, wheels, axles, and tools seemed to move of their own accord. It was like a Star Trek episode where tools disappeared from one area to reappear in another location. Next meeting, we will need to include points for good team building strategies such as returning tools to the toolbox and taking time to demonstrate how tools work to other groups. That being said, all eighteen students enjoyed developing their design and relished in the freedom to gather the necessary materials to build their own car. By the end of our first session, many of the students were ready to start assembling their cars.
But the car building time at our next meeting will be shortened to allow time for a new project. A student lead project on Donors Choose called Sphero Heroes was funded just last week. In fact, it is only two weeks after we posted the project and the materials have arrived. The student who is leading the project is eager to have his activity ready to roll. Get it?... the Spheros roll ☺. I will give the student leaders time to run the Sphero Heroes project activity during our next MakerSpace enrichment class. You just can't contain the excitement of this group. So once again, the enrichment MakerSpace is off to a great start with lots of engineering and physics activities to challenge our students.
The caption for the pictures: Students have been designing mazes for the Spheros as a way to teach out simple machines. The students were also able to test run their Spheros in the maze.
Fig. 2. The students were also able to test run their Spheros in the maze.