Inventors Club Spring 2014 - Week 4 plus Meet the Makers

The last session of Inventors Club for the 2013-2014 school year is in full swing now.  As usual, we spent the first two weeks doing introductory group activities, and learning all about the tools and materials of the student workshop.  Now that we just had the third of 6 Saturdays, we’ve begun working on everyone’s individual project which they’ll take home after the big show at the end.  This last Saturday was also a unique day because in between the morning and afternoon groups we had a special Meet the Makers program, where former students presented some of their work to the current students.

On the first day of the session, in the morning group we played some getting-to-know-you games so we could all get a little more familiar with each other.  Then we did an activity to help with using drawings to communicate our thoughts to others.  In that activity, all the students managed to tell their partner how to reconstruct a simple collection of miscellaneous small wood and plastic pieces by drawing their creations from the top, side, and front.  Then, after being safety trained for using the workshop, they paired up and built their own simple alarm systems which we then tried to disarm in an attempt to steal the precious treasure inside.

In the afternoon, we spent the first two weeks making art machines which we submitted for Science Friday’s Art Machine Science Club.  Two of the results can be seen on Youtube:

We also had a Meet the Makers session in between the two groups this last Saturday.  We’ve done this before a couple times, but always had a mentor or professional maker come in to discuss.  This time we brought back two former students to show off things they made in our programs.  The two students are also a part of our Green Energy Art Garden team, which is pairing 5 students with a local artist to create an artwork which utilizes some form of green energy, and will be displayed on our green roof this summer.  You can follow their progress and learn about them here.

Now it’s time to work on everyone’s individualized personal project, and in 3 more weeks they’ll show them off, and take them home.  We’re all looking forward to seeing the results!