Can you create a music box that is powered by the sun? Learn how solar panels convert light from the sun into electrical energy. Explore how the electrical energy can power a motor to add a spinning figurine to your music box design – as your figurine rotates you will see the energy at work!
Click here for a DeSTEMber activity!
Are you ready to be a robotics engineer?! Examine your arm, wrist, and hand, and brainstorm how you could reverse engineer these body parts to design your own robot arm prototype. Reverse engineering is when engineers design an object based on an existing object. Compare your “robot arm” to your arm and note their similarities and differences.
Click here for a DeSTEMber activity!
Computer scientists can do some pretty amazing things! Tech Tuesday is all about learning the basics of programming using Blockly. Blockly is a series of games and challenges made by Google that will prepare you to use conventional text-based programming languages.
Learning to use specific instructions is a really important skill for computer scientists. A computer, app, game, etc. needs to know what to do in every possible situation to run properly. It needs a “rule” to tell it what to do in every scenario. We recommend trying out Blockly’s games and challenges to practice some of these skills and get better at programming.
Start programming with Blockly by clicking here.
*Girlstart has no affiliation with Blockly; we just think it is a cool software to get kids excited about programming!
A MaKey MaKey allows you to replace different computer keys with other unique objects. Instead of pushing a certain key on the keyboard you can touch an object like a penny, and it will perform the same action on your computer screen as that particular keyboard key. However, the specific objects must be able to conduct an electrical current. If you create a closed circuit (meaning the circuit has no breaks) the MaKey MaKey sends your computer a keyboard message, and the computer just thinks the MaKey MaKey is a regular keyboard or mouse.
Brainstorm different objects that you think would be good to use in your MaKey MaKey project. We recommend trying to see if you can get a piece of fruit to work! You will probably discover that some materials are better conductors than others, however MaKey MaKey has a low threshold for electrical conductivity which is why some things that would not be traditionally thought of as good conductors work with MaKey MaKey.
Make + Key = MaKey MaKey, according to www.makeymakey.com!
You can purchase your own MaKey MaKey kit to start designing today at www.makeymakey.com.
If you need a project suggestion to get started, here is a past DeSTEMber activity that highlights how our summer campers used MaKey MaKeys to control their mythical creatures: http://www.girlstart.org/news-and-events/item/coding.
