Tuesdays, week 1: new skillz

Today was the first day of Tinkering School After School for the fall season of 2016!  We started off strong with a great group of kids learning some new skills and making some new friends.    

Collaborator Lindsay discusses the goals that we had for the Tinkering School session: collaborate and make friends, try harder than usual, make mistakes and learn from them, and make something bigger than ourselves.

After discussing goals and group agreements, it was time to dive into tool training.  We started off learning how to use the chop say and getting comfortable wearing safety goggles and earmuffs.

Sophie displays excellent form while using the chop saw.  everyone got a chance to try it out today after learning some finger-saving safety tips.

Next on the list was clamps.  Although they were not as loud or dangerous as the chop saw, we quickly learned that they could be just as much fun.

Raj and Jules practice rudimentary clamping

Soon we learned how to clamp in many complex ways, and created this cantilevering contraption

After clamps we went into drill training.  Drills are the most versatile tool used at the Tinkering School, so we spent the most time learning them.

Lindsay goes over the ins and outs of the drill settings as well as proper drilling technique.

Jaro, Munir and Nolan go above and beyond the simple task of building a quadrilateral and make a super-strong ladder.  They're learning that its much easier to drill as a team. 

After completing the projects and cleaning up, we have closing circle.  Noe describes how she learned what all the little buttons on the drills mean.  Jules comments on how necessary it is to wear ear protection in the chop saw room.  Everyone is tired from school that day, but tried harder than usual and crammed a bunch of new skills into only a couple of hours.  Until next Tuesday, when we reveal our session project!