Summer SAVY Session 1, Day 5 – Creative Contraptions (Dunbar)
Day 5: Thank you so much for sharing your children with Mrs. Williamson and me this week. This was such a wonderful, kind group of scholars and I enjoyed getting to know all of them. I learned so much from working with them and hope they learned and enjoyed the class as well. Our culminating activity was to build a contraption with at least two simple machines. The invention was given a name and the students had to come up with a reason they decided to invent their contraption. Some students worked together while others wanted to work alone. They begin working on it after lunch yesterday and continued until lunch today. The students then prepared for another class to go on a gallery walk to look at and ask questions about their inventions.
The gallery walk was really fun, and the kids did a wonderful job describing their inventions. Many disclosed some of the redesigns once they tested them. They answered questions, spoke at the correct volume, and shared information about their inventions. After everyone had an opportunity to share and the other class left, we debriefed. We went over the content they had learned, made connections, and shared about things that surprised them with their inventions. Every student finished their invention and made it through the process. They weren’t all happy with how their inventions turned out, but they all tried and didn’t give up. This was a very kind and motivated group, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with them.
Extension Questions:
- How would your contraption have changed if your supplies and time were not limited?
- Did anything about the invention surprise you during the creation process? If so, what? Would it have changed your invention?
- What problems did you encounter and how did you resolve them?
- Did you make any changes to your invention? If so, why?
- What other invention ideas can you think of that incorporates at least 2 simple machines?
- What connections have you made about simple machines, force and motion, and inertia that deepened your understanding of how and why things work?