On monday 18 july, the first maker space session was held in room 335 at Collingwood College.
one adult and 6 students from year 3 up to year 10 attended. we spent a lot of time dismantling electronic toys and other devices and discussing what safety precautions we need to take, how to work safely with tools and the value of the materials we were able to salvage. ( i really need safety glasses for the students!)
we created drawbots (see attached), using a motor, battery, markers, cups, rubber bands and tape. this interested the students greatly and most attempted to make one of their own once the first unit was built. this introduced students to the simple idea of a circuit and what is needed to power a small motor. we did not have enough motors for every students so we inspected those that we had salvaged from the toys that we dismantled. we discovered that many worked and could then be used to make more drawbots. an example of upcycling!
the students are very curious and highly engaged in the manual processes involved. Older students showed the younger ones things that they had knowledge of which is a great outcome, and the younger students asked many questions! there are many things they want to make!
Bosch have kindly donated 3 battery powered hot glue guns. Internet connected laptops or simple PC’s in the space would be very useful for looking up information, showing students examples, and supporting those students that are interested in learning about coding, writing apps and working with micro-controllers (robotics, etc).
Unless i have other commitments to attend to I will be manning the space every monday 3:30 – 5:00pm.
greg
drawbot video here: here
image here: