Blog

Posted on

Dragster

This time around we built the dragster and it’s launcher, all the students were able to complete the build.

Ethan, Yiming, and Lenix work very well together often asking eachother for help. Their enthusiasm for building shows, though it would be nice if they would take to their assignments with such vigor. While they are usually loud this time around they were relatively quiet and respectful.

Olivia’s attention to detail is keen and her organization abilities are excellent.

Jenna was the first to finish today and she seems to have a decent spatial awareness though I have not been able to reliably prove this just yet.

While the students were reluctant to clean up this is expected and they did a wonderful job of putting their part back this time around

Posted on

The Dragster

This turned out to be a very enjoyable and rewarding class for the children. All of the kids finished their tasks which consisted of doing their projects and understanding their assignments. This class introduced them to the topics of acceleration, weight, and velocity. After they finished, they started playing with their cars and raced each other. This class was on the sixth week and so the project they worked on and the upcoming one in the next class will be the most challenging ones. Next week they will be working on the Fishing Rob, another exciting and interesting project.

Posted on

Communication ECA Phase III Class 3: Boat Pulley 20170124

The topic of today is the energy transfer study using the boat pulley model. The students first built a mimic boat pulley model, then they conducted the experiment to lift load up and record the energy consumption. The students also calculated the energy efficiency of the boat pulley, which is the useful energy divided by the total energy consumption. It is one of the most essential engineering concepts. The STEM information behind this section is the energy transformation between the electrical and potential energy as well as the energy efficiency. All the students finished the model building part. More importantly, they all finished the experiment section and conducted the energy efficiency calculations. They enjoyed the class.

Posted on

Communication ECA Phase II Class 6: The Tower Crane

The Crane was a fun project for the kids to play and experiment with. It was their most challenging task this term and although some of them finished early, some of the kids took a bit of time to finish. Overall, they enjoyed the process and reviewed concepts such as weight and force, while engineering a structure that could pull up a heavy object. Next week we will be learning how to design lego structures with the LDD software. Please remember to bring a laptop with the software installed to class, so the kids can finish the assignments in class.

Posted on

Communication AmbroseU Phase I: dragster 20171017

The Dragster was an interesting project for the kids to play with. It combines two different components that together make the small car move forward. So it is a great practice on acceleration, potential and kinetic energy, and scientific measurement. Not only did all of the kids finish early, they also got the chance to play with each other and see whose car goes faster. Next week we will be working on another interesting project, called The Fishing Rob.

Posted on

Communication ECA Phase I Class 6: The Dragster 6:00 pm

The Dragster was an interesting project for the kids to play with. It combines two different components that together make the small car move forward. So it is a great practice on acceleration, potential and kinetic energy, and scientific measurement. Not only did all of the kids finish early, they also got the chance to play with each other and see whose car goes faster. Next week we will be working on another interesting project, called The Fishing Rod.

Posted on

Communication ECA Phase I Class 6: The Dragster 20171018

The students first built a Lego Dragster, which is the second course to understand the rotational moment of inertia. They conducted the experiments to observe the travel distances under the different dragster rear wheels. During the experiment, the students need to use the wheels with different weights, thus the rotational energy to get up to the same approximate initial speed are different. Due to the gearbox of the dragster is geared up to the launcher, the heavier the wheeler is, the more amount of energy can be received to transfer to moving or kinetic energy later. The STEM information behind this section is the rotational moment of inertia and the gearbox system. All the students finished the model building part and did the experiment with different level. They all enjoyed this section.

Posted on

Communication AmbroseU Phase I The FlyWheels 20171010

The kids worked on the Skywheels, a car that works based on the concept of inertia. After giving the car a little energy, it will carry itself forward depending on its weight. So the kids learned new scientific concepts in class through direct experimentation. After finishing the project, they enjoyed their time playing with the car they made, and trying new things with different lego pieces. In the next class they will work on another interesting project, called the Dragster.

Posted on

Communication ECA Phase I: The FlyWheeler 20171011

The kids worked on the Skywheels, a car that works based on the concept of inertia. After giving the car a little energy, it will carry itself forward depending on its weight. So the kids learned new scientific concepts in class through direct experimentation. After finishing the project, they enjoyed their time playing with the car they made, and trying new things with different lego pieces. In the next class they will work on another interesting project, called the Dragster.

Posted on

Communication ECA Phase II Class 2: Principal Models 20171011

The kids continued their work on the principal models from last week. Each of the models in their assignment thought them a new scientific concept which they learned through experimentation. Some of the kids used their creativity and tried new ways to build their projects, which was very fun for them. Next week we will move on to new models, either Power Machine or The Walker, which will be both exciting and educational for them.

Play2Learn Education