In this handson activity, participants create windpowered land yachts to deliver 3Dprinted cupcakes to hungry beachgoers. This activity is a great introduction.
Guests will engineer land yachts, vehicles which use a combination of wheels and wind power to move around.
Yacht designs must include some sort of receptacle for the cupcake to sit in. Once assembled, guests test their creations on the fanpowered “beach” track.
Archives
Chain Reaction
The objective is to see if a little input energy can be continued through a system in either a single event or a variety of ways. Users build sequences of events such that one action triggers another action which triggers another action and so on. Falling dominoes are a basic form of this. Rube Goldberg inventions are the most intricate. There are multiple beginning and end points for chain reactions; each depends on the actions of the individual builders, and all are made meaningful by what happens in the middle, especially the process of building and problem solving. Users are invited to try out an idea; build toward it, test it, redesign, build and test again. And again. Things fall apart. Things fall over. Working with My Chain Reaction often means figuring out how to make something do what you want it to do through multiple attempts and arrangements, or thinking of ways to use a specific item to continue a sequence of action.
Dowels and Rubber Bands II
Participants will use the engineering design process to create structures made of 3’ dowel rods and rubber bands.Encourage guest to build a structure with dowel rods and rubber bands. The design is determined by the guests, as is the method for attaching dowel rods together. Facilitators may use prompts to direct the design process: i.e. can you build a structure within which you can stand?
Bobsleds
Bobsled racing combines science and engineering to design the most efficient sled. Participants will explore friction, gravity, and air resistance and their impact on acceleration.
Working individually or in small groups, visitors use recycled materials to design, build, and test their bobsled on our 8-foot long bobsled track. Get a first-hand experience of the design process that scientists and engineers undergo by conceptualizing the problem, designing and testing a prototype, and making modifications as necessary to optimize the solution.
The goal of this challenge is to create a miniature bobsled that is either as fast or as slow as possible. Start with one bobsled base – ours are the trays used to package pipette tips; if you’re going to try this at home, you could use soap dishes.
Shipwrecked
Can you and your class or group survive on a deserted island?
Working in small teams, students design, build, and test solutions to survive on a deserted island.
Ready Set Fly
Inspired by Flugtag, the human-powered flying machine event, we turned our Hands-On Science Workshop into a flying machine shop where you’ll get to learn all about the forces of flight, build your own flying machines, and test them out on our human-powered launcher.
Inflatables
Inflatables is an open-ended design activity that focuses on 3D spatial reasoning. In this activity, learners use recycled materials and simple tools to create inflatable creatures or sculptures. This activity is adaptable for a wide range of age. For example, older learners can make and test complex creations, while younger learners are happy with decorating a small bag and then launching it off the fan.