Welcome To The County Fair - Day 2 - Week 2 (Mark Day School)
With our initial designs figured out, today was a big day of building. We started with some brainstorming and discussion around the questions “What is tinkering?” and “Why do we tinker?”
The rollercoaster group worked through two projects today: building up the structure of a two-person car and forming a length of track. Beth led a discussion about potential and kinetic energy. We know gravity will play a big part in the speed of our car. There was excitement in the air when the car was lifted onto the tracks, wheels were temporarily clamped to the bottom, and the car was slowly pushed forward to see if it would roll straight on the rails. Testing is such an important part of what we do at Tinkering School. Test, evaluate, revise, build. And on it goes!
The car team and the track team had to coordinate their measurements precisely.
Figuring out how a monorail might keep the car straight and how best to balance the weight of riders.
Sometimes a “partner push” on a drill can make all the difference, especially when needing extra power to drive a screw in sideways.
The spinny ride is also taking shape nicely. Our tinkerers have been trying harder than usual as they assemble the base and arms of the ride in the hot sun. The testing phase stretched into the morning and included experiments with two different platforms, two kinds of wheels, adding beams to simulate the full size of the final ride, and spinning the ride while a couple riders balanced in the middle. Tomorrow we’ll finish the long arm beams and start a new design phase looking at ways to add fun and function to the ride. We anticipate some good conversations about levers and how mechanical forces move through our structure. Stay tuned!
Measure, cut, drill pilot hole, drive screw… repeat! A lot of work went into assembling this base.
Testing a “spinny” part of the ride.
Tinkerers get familiar with our tool wall and can find what they need throughout the day. We also “reset” our spaces each morning and afternoon after we build. This lets us practice one of our goals, to collaborate and make friends.
After we go through tool training on Monday to learn to use the clamps, chop saw and cordless drills, we sometimes need an additional tool to shape our materials.
A scroll saw for making detailed cuts in thin wood.
A circular saw for “ripping” long sheets of plywood.
A jig saw for cutting out shapes from plywood.
Click through the gallery below for more photos from the day. To see many more photos from throughout the week, visit our Flickr page.
