SUNDAY MAY 20,2012

It was a very exciting weekend. With sports, music concerts and the eclipse.

• MAKER FAIRE

Almost half the children made it to Maker Faire. The participants  talked about their favourite projects. Hopefully over the month of June, they will submit a write up of their favourite projects and describe how the projects were put together. Only choose projects where you learned how it works even if it is a basic or general description.

• BIG JUNE PROJECT

They all received a copy of the magazine and need to choose a project that they would be interested in working on.  They can also chose to work on a Rube Goldberg machine or an old assignment from the Tech Challenge or Odyssey of the mind.  The latest challenge has been posted for next year for some of the contests. 

Hopefully they can find a partner and work in pairs. Geoffrey and Henry want to work on a Arduino Project which they learned about at the Faire.
 

• MAY PROJECTS

Over the first few classes, they had  more open ended challenges. Now the children have one that needs to work mechanically.

They started working on a balloon dragster and will complete it and test it next week.

• POPCORN WEBSITE

THOSE WHO HAVE NOT, PLEASE COULD YOU SEND THE PARTICIPANTS GMAIL ADDRESSES SO THAT GEOFFREY CAN SIGN THEM UP FOR THE WEBSITE.

PBS - BUILDING BIG LINKS

This is from the pbs site




HERE ARE SOME EXCELLENT INTERACTIVE LINKS

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/shapes.html


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/materials.html


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/loads.html


http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/lab/forces.html 


Check out the major types of bridges

CLICK HERE: BRIDGE TYPES

ECLIPSE AT FOOTHILL

Los Altos Hills

Foothill College Observatory (12345 El Monte Rd.) will be open, with telescopes in and outside the dome, from 5:30 pm to about 7:30 pm.  Join the members of the Peninsula Astronomical Society for free eclipse observing and explanations. For a map and webcam, see: http://www.pastro.org/dnn/Observatory/FoothillObservatory.aspx

I will decide later about watching it from home or Foothill. Will post it here.  I will have extra viewing glasses thanks to Sanjana.

HERE IS A FAIRLY DETAILED DESCRIPTION ABOUT BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

http://pghbridges.com/basics.htm

(Please print and bring to class or bring a laptop so that you can view it online.  Its quite a few pages.. between 15-20)

 

Here is a link to a bridge building contest

http://www.balsabridge.com/

If you scroll down below one can see a picture of the 100 gram bridge that took a load of 209 kg

Also if you click on the different links by year, they show how students are constructing their bridges


Important Terms in brief:

anchor arm: The portion of a cantilever bridge that counterbalances the
cantilever arm.

cable-stayed bridge: A bridge supported by straight cables radiating
outward from one or more towers.

cantilever arm: The portion of a cantilever bridge that projects beyond an
intermediate support.

deck truss: A truss bridge with the deck located at the level of the top chord.

suspended span: A central span of a cantilever bridge. The suspended span
is supported by the cantilever arms.

through truss: A truss bridge with the deck located at the level of the
bottom chord.

SUGGESTION REGARDING COMMENTS

After reading the posts,  please post a comment or write READ. So that we all know who has read which posts.

The young Prestigians' email addresses please

Please forward email addresses of the participants so that I can invite them to join the blog.  I hope each of them on joining will find one cool science article to share with the group.

SOLAR ECLIPSE THIS SUNDAY AT 5:30-7:30

TIME CHANGED TO BETWEEN 5:30-7:30 

  http://mashable.com/2012/05/14/ring-of-fire-solar-eclipse/

SIMPLELAND IDENTIFIED

As mentioned in the first post, Simplefied is the pseudonym for the the authors who write about the workshop.

TWO CHILDREN WILL WRITE ABOUT WHAT WAS DISCUSSED AT THE WORKSHOP every week.

They will describe the workshop challenge and the overall experience.

They should proof read each others writing and post it. It does not have a big thesis.. just keep it fun. 

They can attach any links or pictures/videos. 

There is no deadline for the post but ideally it should be asap.

MAY 13 WORKSHOP BRIDGE BUILDING I a)Hightlights of the video - identification of main types of bridges and key terms : Varun. B)Highlights of the workshop and Models: Mike.

MAY 20 WORKSHOP BRIDGE BUILDING II A)Highlights of the visit to Maiker Faire reports: Reva B)Highlights of the bridge building exercise and over all workshop Darius and Kevin

ALL CHILDREN ARE ENCOURAGED TO POST ADDITIONAL COMMENTS/info  AND PICTURES OF THE MODELS and ANY INTERESTING LINKS ETC.

DETAILS REGARDING YOUNG MAKERS FAIRE

YOUNG MAKERS FAIRE

The fair takes place on Saturday and Sunday May 19-20.

 Please make notes about your favourite contraptions.

 Please print out the list of questions to answer as a worksheet. 
 a) Why did they choose this model?
 b) How did they make it?
 c) How it works?
d) Any major challenges that they faced when making it?
 e) If possible draw a diagram of the model  and take pictures/videos of the model and post it at Prestigia.

 YOUNG MAKERS FAIRE SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES:

http://makerfaire.com/bayarea/2012/schedule/index.html

WHERE TO BUY TICKETS:

YMF FAQ including where to buy tickets.. whole foods

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE FIRST FEW WORKSHOPS

At the first workshop, our Prestigians had to knock down 16 cups distributed over 20 square feet standing behind a line from three feet away. 

At the second workshop, they had to design a bridge with no assistance applying the concepts that they had seen in a video documentary AND also using their common sense. 

The third workshop will be more of an instructional evening. More detailed instructions will be provided.  They will build different types of bridges with straws, toothpicks and other common materials.. They will also have to talk about the models they saw at Young Makers Faire.  Its going to be a very special Sunday: Sanjana is going to help us view the solar eclipse.

WELCOME TO PRESTIGIA

       Welcome to Prestigia- the blogspot for the Sunday science and creativity workshops. 

Prestigia and Simpleland are two imaginary countries identified at a recent workshop. 

• Prestigia is the name for the workshop blog.

• Simpleland will be the pseudonym for the authors that report on workshop activities.

• Check in here for  news, feedback, upcoming events and pictures, videos etc. I will not be sending out individual emails to the group. 

•  Feel free to post activities and links etc as well. You have all been authorized to post information on the site.

•   Regarding comments: In the spirit of staying positive, please post only positive comments. Any criticisms and potentially negative comments should be mailed to me directly and privately.
•  All participants and their parents will have access to the group.