This class is no longer available, but we found something similar!
Engineering Design Challenge: Beat the Earthquake!
The Tech Interactive
Using only materials from home, students in this three-day camp will design and build a structure that can survive one of our greatest natural threats--earthquakes!
Class experience
This camp meets online three days a week (M/W/F) with two instructors for one hour each day. Learners will continue camp for 2-3 additional hours at home on their own time to complete that day's assignment. Learners will be working with materials, so it's important that they have some space to build and test their engineering creations. SESSION 1 This first day will be split between the science behind earthquakes and the engineering of stable structures. Students will use household items to...
Students will learn the fundamentals of the engineering design process, from brainstorming through final product. They will experiment with building a stable structure from recycled materials and practice skills like communication, research, collaboration and perseverance. The curriculum will cover information about earthquakes, architecture, and seismographs.
All of our instructors have experience facilitating science labs and design challenges in classrooms at The Tech Interactive. They are comfortable with both in-person and online instruction and, most importantly, are all nerdy for science!
MATERIALS FOR THE WEEK: Please note that our materials lists are organized by category. You do NOT need to buy/find every item within that category--we like to provide lots of ideas/options for you to choose from. We encourage creativity and the use of recycled materials whenever possible!. Notebook/paper Writing implements & ruler Tape Scissors or box cutter (older engineers only) Hot glue (older engineers only) MATERIALS FOR "STRONGEST SHAPE" ACTIVITY (These materials will be needed for Monday's meeting) 9 disposable drinking straws 18 paperclips MATERIALS FOR SHAKE PLATFORM (These materials will be needed for Wednesday's meeting - you only need one of the sets of the below materials, you do not need all three) 1. Shake Board options **Hardback book, cutting board, or piece of cardboard **Table, chair, or smooth surface 2. Shake Table options **Two sheets of cardboard (or a similarly rigid, flat material) - approx 8.5”x11” **Ruler or paint stick **Rubber bands or tape **Balls of the same size (tennis balls/bouncy balls/ping pong balls) 3. Shake Box options **A low box or box lid; baking pan **Rolling/moving items (marbles, small balls, pencils, rice, sand) **A rigid, flat material (cardboard, smaller baking pan, smaller cutting board, hardback book, smaller box) MATERIALS FOR TRIANGLE CHALLENGE 4 pieces of paper or thin cardstock Ruler Live load - small toy, cookies, thin early-reader book Scissors Tape MATERIALS FOR STRUCTURE (Reminder--you don't need all of these! These are just examples of things you might have around your home. Be creative!) 1. For the frame *Cardboard, cut into different sizes and shapes *Thin cardstock, food boxes (cereal, pasta, etc) *Thick boxes *Toilet paper rolls *Paper/plastic cups or plates *Wooden craft sticks *Plastic utensils *Chopsticks; wooden or plastic dowels; pencils *Straws *Paper, junk mail (can you engineer this into a strong building material?) 2. Connectors *Rubber bands *Paper clips *Binder clips *Twist ties *String; yarn *Pipe cleaners/chenille stems 3. Live load or weights *Small toys *Small play-doh/putty container *Small water bottles *Deck of playing cards *Anything else you would like to protect in an earthquake! MATERIALS FOR SEISMOGRAPH (These materials will be needed for Wednesday's meeting) (Remember, these are suggestions, and you don't need all of them!) Small cardbox - a shoebox or small delivery box would be ideal, it needs to be quite rigid String or yarn Regular sized disposable cup (approx ⅓ size of your box) Marker or Sharpie (preferably red or a dark color) Long paper - adding machine paper would be perfect, but if you do not have that cut 2 sheets of plain paper in half lengthways and tape ends together Tape; masking tape Scissors or hole punch Optional - ⅓ cup of marbles, small rocks, or pennies MATERIALS FOR PLATE TECTONIC ACTIVITY (again, just some ideas we had, but please use whatever you have on hand and make an awesome, and unique, model!) Graham crackers and frosting Sandwich-type cookies or snacks Cardboard and material Play-doh, plasticine, or modeling clay An orange or a lemon!
Learners will not need to use any apps or websites beyond the standard Outschool tools.
Younger students may need some assistance from parents in finding materials and/or cutting. One of the homework assignments calls for walking around the neighborhood, so parents may want or need to accompany their camper during that time.
Design Squad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBHJtWbsiaA World's Largest Shake Table: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7kKcIsBKDo Strength of Shapes: https://www.teachengineering.org/content/cub_/lessons/cub_trusses/cub_trusses_lesson01_presentation_v5_tedl_dwc.pdf Plate Tectonics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA2-Vc4PIOY
The Tech Interactive
We are San Jose's favorite science center for families, with more than 20 years' experience in hands-on Design Challenge Learning. We believe that everyone can be an innovative problem-solver, and we use Design Challenges to teach young engineers...
Group Class
$105
for 3 classes3x per week, 1 week
60 min
Completed by 6 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 9-13
3-18 learners per class