8P6-Strawbees

  Using Strawbees, I created a sort of obstacle course, then, using tape, I made a stop motion animation of the straw traveling through each barrier. This is the first time I worked with strawbees so I needed to do some research on how they worked. I looked up strawbees and watched a few videos on how to connect straws, build different shapes, and make a straw move around another straw. To make my obstacle course, I first made the ferris wheel. Then I made the pendulum, next I took one of my practice shapes and turned it into a ramp. After I attached the paper carriers I realized that the ferris wheel was not strong enough so I had to build two supports. Once my obstacle course was built, I set up my iPad and used tape to slowly move my straw through each barrier taking pictures frequently.

I learned very much throughout this project, a few things are how to connect strawbees into a shape, make a Strawbee swing off of another, and how to make sturdy towers using pretty feeble materials. I decided to use Strawbees before I even knew what they were so when I first started working with them I really couldn't build anything, I finally found a video that demonstrated how to properly build something and then I did know how to use them. I noticed that there are holes through all of the connections and when I put a straw through them they spun, I manipulated this twice in my project and both times worked very well. When I realized that my ferris wheel was too weak to work, I made two supports using a lot of straws to make it sturdy enough.

Of the 7 standards that Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students has set (Empowered Learner, Digital Citizen, Knowledge Constructor, Innovative Designer, Computational Thinker, Creative Communicator, and Global Collaborator) my project best ties to Knowledge Constructor. This project was easy to connect to Knowledge Constructor seeing as I learned so much. I reached this standard because I used a search bar to look up what a Strawbee was and how I was supposed to use them. I found multiple websites that wanted me to buy Strawbees, I know this because they had .com in their web address. After seeing they did not have anything to teach me about Strawbees I would continue looking, I finally found a website that had pictures of students using Strawbees and I saw links to videos on that website that I used. This is the website I used if you are interested in learning about Strawbees. https://www.eduporium.com/blog/tips-tricks-strawbees/ 

One of the challenges that I overcame was that my project was too unstable to actually carry a Strawbee. I decided to turn my project into a stop motion animation and make it look like how my project was actually supposed to function. I had built everything and was ready to record but the ferris wheel hand off to the pendulum was not working so I had to get creative. I set up my iPad so it would get the same picture every time, then I used tape to make small changes and make it look like it was actually doing it by itself.

If I had a chance to try this project again, I would not make an obstacle course. I would probably try to build a pyramid or a tower. This is because I realize that Strawbees are to light to actually hold anything and still work smoothly. I enjoyed making this project because I love engineering things but it was frustrating towards the end when the project wouldn't work.

The Hastings High School Career and Technical Education Program offers Agriculture, Business Management, Computer Programming, Construction Trades, Culinary Arts, Digital Multimedia, Engineering Design, Finance, Insurance, and Marketing, my project ties to Engineering Design. Working with Strawbees is a smaller scale of what lots of adult do for a living. CAD designer, Mechanical designer, Manufacturing engineer, and Design engineer.