lisabees Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 I am not sure what I am looking for - dd12 is coming home for the first time this fall. She will be in 7th grade. She has always wanted to be an engineer and is attending two quality engineering camps this summer - one at Lehigh and one at Penn. She is not really into robotics, so I am not looking for Lego ideas etc. She loves the idea of designing new products. Maybe a combo of engineering, innovation, MAKE, DIY and Tinkering stuff? My goal would be for her to explore and discover on her own. I like the idea that she has a problem and designs different solutions. Any interesting books? Documentaries? I am concerned about wasting money on things like Arduino and Little Bits etc., if it only used a few times. But I'd be more than happy to invest in those things, it they are engaging. Looking for any and all ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aras Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Have you seen the Engineering is Everywhere curriculum units? http://www.eie.org/engineering-everywhere/curriculum-units They were developed by the Museum of Science in Boston and they are geared toward 6th-8th grades. You have to submit a form to request the free units, then they send you a link to a pdf. I have used their Earthquake Engineering unit from the Engineering is Elementary program for 3-5th graders and it was a huge success. I don't have any experience with the middle school program other than it exists. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 That looks fabulous! Thank you. I also got a 7 day trial of these books on Kindle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Adding... I also thought it would be cool to design a history course around certain inventions/innovations/technologies. Ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Here are some resources for hand on electronics work. If you have any questions about electronics, arduino, or raspberry pi, I'm happy to help. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 She loves the idea of designing new products. Maybe a combo of engineering, innovation, MAKE, DIY and Tinkering stuff? My goal would be for her to explore and discover on her own. I like the idea that she has a problem and designs different solutions. Check where your local makespace are. Some may not be listed in the link. http://spaces.makerspace.com/makerspace-directory She might like this article "High School Student Designs a ‘Wheelchair’ That Lets Users Stand Up" http://theinstitute.ieee.org/career-and-education/preuniversity-education/high-school-student-designs-a-wheelchair-that-lets-users-stand-up This engineering info website is well done with free lesson plans http://tryengineering.org/ Design Squad has some good ideas/lesson plans too http://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/ Borrow past issues of Make magazine from the library. ETA: If she likes Rube Goldberg kind of projects which enthralls my kids https://www.rubegoldberg.com/contests/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 Thank you both! The links are great, Arcadia. She has always loved Design Squad - that is probably where her love of engineering came from. I love the Rube Goldberg site! She and her "team" are spending all week on one at Engineering Camp! I am trying to get a feel for arduino and Raspberry pi and little bits etc. What are the differences? Which may get the most use? Which has the best resources for various projects? Oh - and which Make Magazine is best for general projects that kids can do? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I am trying to get a feel for arduino and Raspberry pi and little bits etc. What are the differences? Which may get the most use? Which has the best resources for various projects? Oh - and which Make Magazine is best for general projects that kids can do? Skip the Little Bits. They are fun when my kids try them at MakerFaire but not good from the cost benefit point of view at your child's age. I'll let daijobu compare arduino and Raspberry pi. For projects that kids can do, the Make books are actually friendlier than the Make magazine. We borrow all of ours off the library. We do those that my boys like and did not require buying lots of stuff we don't already have. We also go to Barnes & Noble to look through the books available for robotics and innovations (science end engineering section) and then reserve those books we like from the library. That saves us a lot of money and time. Books link http://www.makershed.com/collections/books 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 I also thought it would be cool to design a history course around certain inventions/innovations/technologies. Ideas? We did something like that when we covered Leonardo da Vinci for history. Below are some of the books we went through. Leonardo's Machines: Secrets & Inventions in the Da Vinci Codices Amazing Leonardo da Vinci Inventions: You Can Build Yourself (Build It Yourself) Leonardo's Machines: Da Vinci's Inventions Revealed Leonardo's Notebooks: Writing and Art of the Great Master We also did something similar for Archimedes and Pythagoras 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted July 23, 2015 Author Share Posted July 23, 2015 Thank you Arcadia. She would love the history/invention idea. Too many fabulous ideas. It's her first year home, so I'd like to make it as meaningful as possible - integrating subjects and interests. Such a perfect thing to do in those middle school years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Thank you both! The links are great, Arcadia. She has always loved Design Squad - that is probably where her love of engineering came from. I love the Rube Goldberg site! She and her "team" are spending all week on one at Engineering Camp! I am trying to get a feel for arduino and Raspberry pi and little bits etc. What are the differences? Which may get the most use? Which has the best resources for various projects? Oh - and which Make Magazine is best for general projects that kids can do? I agree with Arcadia. I haven't looked at a Make Magazine in some years, but my impression then was that it was way way too advanced for me. But pick up a recent copy at the library and have a look for yourself. The books published by Maker Media are more specific: for beginners, electronics, arduino, etc. Does your student have any programming experience? She doesn't necessarily need to be an expert programmer, but having some exposure to Python can really help with understanding the code in Arduino and RasPi. If so, I would start with Arduino. It's less expensive and there are many different form factors, including cheap chinese knockoffs. Look at my thread for some good guides. We have found RasPi less friendly for beginners, though I also have found some beginner guides to get started with those as well. If you want to get some hands on work done without programming, I highly recommend beginning with basic electronics. It's fun and easy and great experience for a future engineer. The link above also has some good beginning guides to electronics. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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