I wanted to share with everyone, an interesting opportunity that was brought to me this weekend. My son, who is in 4th grade, attends a local S.T.E.M. (Science Technology Engineering & Math) school here in Idaho. I was visiting with his teacher yesterday and we got on the subject of scale modeling. Currently, the students in 4th and 5th grade are building and programming Lego robots. While we were discussing the scale modeling world, the teacher asked me if I would be interested in doing a presentation to his class on these scale models. I jumped at the chance as an opportunity to hopefully get kids interested in this hobby.
The teacher has asked my son and I to come up with a presentation to go along with the topics they will be discussing this next trimester, after the Christmas break. My current plan is to use a 1/48 EF-111 Raven as the basis of the discussion since it has moving wings and moving pylons on each with and requires the construction of an internal mechanism. I plan on taking multiple pictures and creating a PowerPoint presentation and then take the finished project into the classroom to show the steps taken and the finished project. My goal is to show the kids that what can be achieved by having a plan, following the instructions and working through a step-by-step process. I’ll let you all know how the process comes together.
Man, that really does sound exciting, and interesting too! I think that’s a great way to “open the door” to our hobby to a great many kids. Your lesson plan sounds great and really well-thought through; good luck with the project, and I’m looking forward to hearing more as it progresses. Good on ya!
The spark is a dandy choice as you can touch on what it’s job was and that the ECM requires a lot of electronic engineering as well as the mechanical design and engineering on the bird. Old ECM troop here…
I thought it was an excellent idea. As for the Legos, you need to check out Legos Mindstorms. These are what my son, and several other schools in the area are using. They require software and they are computer programmable robots. Pretty cool. However, I, myself will be sticking to styrene, resin and PE, those type of Legos are way above my ability.
That’s great Jelliott…it’s always exciting when you can get involved with your children and their school projects. Plus you’ll be reaching out to an entire classroom of kids. Good luck with your project and please post Power Point when you finish.