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Week 9 [11.12 - 17.12.2017] Easy DIY projects for kid engineers

There are many non-creative people in today's world. In my opinion it's caused by lack of interesting "DIY" projects at school. It would be so developing for kids. Maybe more of them would find out that beeing an engineer is not only about math and physics theory (sure, it depends on your specialization). Here is little example how to encourage kids to make something by themselves and learn at the same time. In my opinion, it would be great to have such classes as i love to tinker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k89OTpDvIU

1. Would you like to have such classes in your middle school?
2. Do you like to tinker?
3. Do you also miss original flappy bird?
4. What do you think about those differences in genders and minorties?

Comments

Unknown said…
I definitely would like to have such classes in the middle school - it is very inspiring and encouraging to have some experineces in class. I regret, because I had almost nothing my entire school. But there are sych geeat possibilities, as chemistry, physics and some IT.
I like, but I'm not very good at it - but when I was younger I really enjoyed helping my father tinker at the comupter or my uncle at some vihicles.
I didn't like the game - I played maybe 3 times, so not at all.
Yeah, of course I would like to have classes like this at my middle school, who wouldn't like? Unfortunately I do not see any chance that in Poland are likely to be like that in near future. There were topic at our forum one or two weeks ago and I've said in it that it's such a shame that (in Poland) there are no specialist gear for classes like chemistry or physics. Also it's sad that there are no classes like robotics, programming or psychology.
Yes, I like tinker and I do not miss flappy bird. That game made me really angry for like thousand times, so screw it :P Still I don't understand why creator of it has removed Flappy bird from app stores - it's not creators fault that some people destroyed their phones, because of anger that came from playing this game.
I don't know how to deal with all this racism/gender thing. In 2017 in well developed countries everyone can do whatever they want so there is no any problem when white boy wants to became NBA star or black girl wants to become robotics genius. It's hard to say for me why this specific field is so dominated by white and asian males.
Unknown said…
Yes, I would like to. The idea is great, it's cool when a teacher is a creative person and can make lessons interesting. But if somebody doesn't like the class, if it's not something he's good at, then even such a good teacher wouldn't be able to change things. I judge only by myself, but for example, if I do not get chemistry, nothing will change, even if the project is very interesting. It's just not for me. And I would feel stupid and spend on the project much more time than somebody who has an ability for this.
Anonymous said…
It would be awesome to have such classes at school. In my opinion schools at any level should try this and discover some child talents.
I like some technical activities. My dad is a car mechanic and when I was a little girl I loved to help him to fix cars. Now I don't have much time for such things...
Unknown said…
I really want this kind of classes. I always want to tinker at schooal. Polish schools restrict children's creativity very much. We have a lot of good schools (in theory) but 95% of these schools make no sense.A lot of people with higher education can't do anything. I'm not surprised that they come back to vocational schools. Today we don't have people to repair the pipe. Lot of people with higher education have a problem with finding good job. For example if you want to work on shop cash people choose candidate without higher education because they think that he will have smaller expectations.
Unknown said…
So I guess the topic of the talk is to introduce cheap and easy teaching material for school.
But does this solve the problem of the uneducated teachers in the class? I think the education system is flawed not because of lack of material but the lack of teachers that know how to use the least material to teach their student.
Everything in this video was right up until around the four minute mark. It was actually saying something here that might have inspired women to enter STEM fields, right up until she started talking about gender and race. That Flappy Bird box idea was brilliant, and it alone could have inspired some girl somewhere to better herself. But I don't think that gender politics is needed in this video :(
Magdalena Popek said…
I would love to have such classes at school! It's a brilliant idea. I think we should definitely encourage children to be creative, and this is great way to do it. It encourages both creativity and logical thinking, and allows them to actually create something they can take home. I think in Poland there are not enough classes to encourage students to develop their interests. We do not teach children to think creatively. We teach them to repeat the schemas, to think in a certain way.
I don't miss the original flappy bird as I was never a fan of that game.
I think everyone at school should have equal chances of development.
Unknown said…
I love to tinker and especially with wood. If there is anything that needs to be fixed at my home I prefer to do it on my own rather than paying other people for their services.
In my middle school there was a subject where you created things like extension cord by yourself. However there was no creative projects. I really enjoyed these lessons and my extension cord still works.
Personally I don't miss the original flappy bird. This game was driving me crazy each time I played it.
Andrzej Gulak said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Filip Sawicki said…
I highly support idea of DIY project in schools. They allow students to use their knowledge in practice and show that theory can be used to create fun real-world applications. Besides that making something on your own allows us to be more interested in subjects that normally we would find boring. In Poland we have little to none such project, which is very disappointing. I love to tinker with computers and used to with “LEGO technic”.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said…
Thanks a lot for the interesting video. Yes, I totally agree with the idea of implemention such classes at school, because it develops children's skills and logical thinking. Unfortunately, I don't like to tinker just because I am not so patient for it. When I was at school, I hated to tinker with the projects given us by the teacher. No, I don't, cuz I am not a huge fan of games. I don't know the reasons of this tendency, though it seems to me that it's rather considered to be men's work
I'm not so sure about it. For example i've been in 3 different highs, in first my physics teacher was awefull and i hated it, in second i had best physics teacher ever and i got everything he said so i had 5 from every test. In last one i got even worst then 1st one and i almost failed.
Don't know how about you but i primary school i had lessons called technika, it was cool at first but it turned out to be just simple box that we had to make to pass. But still it was kinda tinkering. It's a pitty that it wasn't really educational.
Hahah, i know this problem with toys. The worst was part when you think you will do it later and then you can't find any of disassembled parts.
Marcin Górski said…
Yes, I would like to! In my opinion it's superb opportunity for children to find their talents. It depends on teachers because they have to be creative and know how to give classes well.
I think I'm DIY enthusiast because If I have free time, I like "make something from nothing". It has a good influence on me.
Flappy bird? It's very annoying game for me. I've played maybe one day and I had to delete it because I was worried about my phone :P
Unknown said…
It would be awesome if I had a possible to have a such classes in my middle school and maybe even sooner! I feel that such exercises can help much more with childrens development than normal classes which we have already in Poland. I don't miss original flappy bird because it was very time consuming game and if you can want to play with it you can download a copy from google play or appstore.
Unknown said…
If I had such a subject at school it would definitely be my favorite. I think it is not such a big problem to implement such lessons at the modern schools. Just a teacher with passion needed. I am not sure about the engineering, but I know many people who are into DIY projects and it is such fun, and you could create awesome things, develop creativity, which is so necessary for children. If I would have more time, I could even try it at home sometimes.
Unknown said…
1. I would love to have that type of classes when I was in middle school. Unfortunately, polish education system was and I think still is not ready for modern world demands concerning skills and knowledge which students should have. In my class physics was the most hated subject among students and I think that through such workshops more students would get interested in science.
2. I like to tinker with things. When I had my first car, I tried to do repairs on my own to learn about how components work together and why they get broken.
3. I have never played “Flappy bird”
4. Undoubtedly, the positive aspect is that more and more women are choosing careers in engineering. The number of women in IT industry is increasing rapidly as we can see from the surveys and our own observations. I can’t really tell what are the reasons for those significant inequalities when it comes to ethnicity.
Wojtek Protasik said…
I'd like to have such classes in my middle school. I think it's very useful for especially young people, who are still learning because it may encourage them to use their own creativity. In my opinion it's also good to know the basics about how components work. However it's not that popular in polish education system and kids don't have even a chance to try such things as tinkering.
I like to tinker. I like to know how things work and I also like to help when there's something broken to repair.
I played "Flappy bird" maybe once or twice but i've never got into the swing of it.
Engineering was always mostly a man interest but I think everyone should try it and know at least the basics.
Unknown said…
1. Hell yes.
2. Yes i do. In fact i'm constantly workink on some ebony rings in my free time.
3. Nope.
4. It doesn't matter to me.
Vyvyan said…
I'd love to have such classes in my middle school. It would be a nice springboard for children from boring classes and it would definitely raise their creativity. I don't like to tinker because it always ends with broken things :D. I also don't miss flappy bird because it was annoying game. It disappeared faster than I downloaded it.
I think that differences in genders have nothing to tinkering. Everyone should try it.
Unknown said…
I had similar lessons in primary school in Sweden, also in high school we did a project where our team built a radio controlled hovercraft. Such lessons have very much educational value and bring lots of knowledge that you actually can use in life.

I am definitely a tinkerer. As much as I love assembling furniture from IKEA, I also like to upgrade existing things and fix/mend things. Usually, when I'm unable to fix something, I know it's simply garbage and can get thrown away. I already know, than when I move into my own house, I will make many pieces of furniture myself instead of buying them.

I do not miss flappy bird very much, because it was annoyingly addicting. A game session could go on for hours which could be spent in many better ways...
For some reason it's not something we give much attention to in our education process. Maybe it's because until not so long ago we've lived in a country where you couldn't buy anything, so you had to make and repair most stuff yourself. For people who created our current curriculum having such skills were a given.

Well, for me they weren't. I remember when during arts classes in 4th grade I had to make a small box by sewing together a few postcards. I had absolutely no idea how to even start to go about it.

Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately, it was my last experience with such kind of crafting during my education. From then the "technical skills" lessons consisted mostly of drawing some geometrical shapes and learning road signs for the bicycle driving permit exam. (yes, there actually was something like that in middle school :)

Given my experience with DIY, it won't come as a shock, that when once I saw my father take an old metal coat-hanger and bend it into a row support structure for a piece of Christmas decoration it blew my mind such a thing was possible. (I was 10 at the time, so chill out)

Thankfully since then I've learned a lot about DIY and nowadays I couldn't imagine calling a guy and playing him god knows how much to change the proverbial lightbulb. We should definitely put much more effort into teaching this stuff to our children, as it not only greatly develops their imagination and logical thinking skills, it will also undoubtedly save them a lot of money and problems in the future.
Unknown said…
I deffinetly would like to have it! It looks amazing! It would be really creative to make something by your own. I don't have time for tinker but when i have to it make me feel good when i know that i can do someting alone.
If it come about flappy bird i've never played in this game :)
About differences i think that it's true that rather men likes tinkering but now i think that it is changing but it also have connection with nationality and culture of people.
*paying him god knows how much
Unknown said…
I would love to have such classes in my middle school, too bad I didn't. I also love to tinker. As a kid I've disassembled more things that I've assembled for sure ;) but I was always curious how things work and how are they made. I don't miss original flappy bird, it wasn't something new to me. Difference in genders and minorties? It's a hot topic to talk about nowadays. I don't care about it. I don't care if you are a male or a female, white or black or green, wanna tinker with that radio? Let's do it. Wanna disassemble and fix that breadmachine? Fine! Your skin colour and gender has nothing to do with it. But that's me. If we'are talking about inequalities in numbers, well, those minorties numbers are minor because those wouldn't be minorites if the numbers were major, right? I don't get it.
Unknown said…
Of course I would like to have classes like this in my school. Such activities can open the mind. Tasks would never be boring. To be honest I like to tinker. I often want to understand how something works. To be honest I don't miss the original flappy bird. I wasn't a big fan of this game. I'm not surprised that many more men than women are technology workforce. Maybe something will change in the future?
Oh yes, definitely! I love tinkering with everything that I find remotely interesting, and I really miss all the awesome things I could've done with arduino or raspberry pi. Hell, even those typical TV-like chemistry lessons when you add ingredients and see entire thing blowing up could be really interesting, sadly we don't have such experiments in Poland, or at least I didn't :(.

Creativity in our current education system has almost entirely died, this would perhaps push it at least towards "average" level :).
Unknown said…
DIY - I like it very much. That incredible when I make something from nothing. I'm handyman in my house. Such activities stimulate the mind to work. This is a very good form of relaxation. I often make gifts myself, recently I made myself presents for the christmas for my grandparents. Such high school activities should be. I think that every teenager would like to have such classes, I would go to such a class. How to make something out of nothing is the basis for everyone. You have to think creatively.

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