Setup: Space, Equipment, and Materials
Setup: Space, Equipment, and Materials
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Space
Space
Although some classrooms are more conducive for engineering projects than others, all classrooms can be configured for maker projects. The only essential setup is that you have to have spaces for groups of students to work together. Tables or lab stations are best but even desks can be arranged so they are conducive for working on projects.
Group Roles
Group Roles
It is good to be able to adjust group size based on the scale of the project. For smaller projects, smaller groups ensure that all students can participate. For larger-scale project, groups of 3 or 4 students work best in order to provide a larger pool of diversified ideas. For these larger projects, assigning roles can be helpful. Below are some examples of group roles.
Group Facilitator:
leads the group, helps facilitate decisions, delegates tasks
Designer: makes sketches and helps bring together group ideas-- especially during brainstorming sessions
Project Manager: keeps the team on pace and makes sure that the team has all the materials they need
Construction Expert: facilitates the build, answers construction questions
Equipment
Equipment
Although you do not need advanced equipment to integrate engineering projects in to your classes, more equipment can allow students to build more sophisticated projects and can speed up builds. At the bare minimum I would invest in a class set of glue guns, it is amazing what students can construct with some cardboard and glue guns. Below you will find a list of suggested tools and equipment. For expensive tools, like a drill, you can get away with having groups share a tool. Other tools, like a jig saw, are dangerous enough that it is good to only have one per class so that you can monitor its use.
For Each Group:
Glue Gun (low and high temp)
Pliers (Note: you can also buy a Set of Pliers)
Soldering Kit (most affordable option- includes a multimeter and soldering iron!)
For Class
Cordless Drills (These will be in high demand, I would invest in a few)
Portable Work Bench (for drilling and sawing)
Materials
Materials
It is amazing how many recyclable materials you can gather from students' homes. This is inline with one of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainable Production and Consumption Patterns. Reusing materials demonstrates to students that many of the materials that we throw out have the ability to be reused. I also suggest that teacher make one of the main rules of building that students have to be able to disassemble their builds once the project is done. This means taking steps to ensure that students can take their builds apart, like using screws instead of nails. This teaches a cradle-to-grave mindset where students need to plan for what will happen to their builds after they are done with them and take steps to ensure that waste production is minimized.
Below is a list of materials that students should look for and bring in from home.
Reused Materials:
Legos and other building blocks (most students have a bin of them at home)
Old Toys with parts that can be reused (i.e. motors, axles, wheels, gears, etc.)
Old CD's and Records (they make great wheels)
Cardboard of various thicknesses
Cans (make sure they are well washed)
Plastic Caps
Fabric
Scrap wood (a lot of students have garages full of it)
Paper tubes (from paper towel tubes to more sturdy poster tubes)
Craft materials (yarn, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, straws, toothpicks, etc.)
Balls (ping pong to tennis balls)
Old hardware (ihinges, latched, brackets, etc.)
Reusable Materials:
Screws of various sizes
Dowels
Wood (various lengths and thicknesses)
plastic tubing
plastic syringes
Binder clips of various sizes
Consumables:
Tape (masking to duct tape)
Glue sticks (for glue guns)
Paperclips
sturdy kite string
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