Friday 26 December 2008

STEM 2nd session 24th Nov.08


Here are some pictures of our second session - totally out of order but a record of what we tried nonetheless.

Tuesday 16 December 2008

5th session making Mr. Geekie's hovercraft

One or two problems to overcome - well done everyone. Do not forget to add the bag next session.
I will need someone to help upload images soon - see me for instruction.

Monday 15 December 2008

BGS Stem Club


The BGS STEMsters wish everyone season's greetings.

Tuesday 16th December 2008

Well I cannot believe we are here already. When I was planning our timetable it seemed a long way off ... but here we are.

Tonight, Monday 15th I stayed back .. and with help from Jack ( actually Jack did most of the work ) we made the vacuum formed hovercraft bodies.

This hovercraft was originally designed as a walk along working model. We had two long leads to the motor and held the battery ( 6v ) in our hands. We will try to get it to work with a 3 volt battery pack which will be carried on the hovercraft. This battery pack has a switch fitted which is very convenient for us.

Anyway we will see how it goes. We must be prepared to adjust the balance of the hovercraft - it will nee to be wel balanced to run smoothly.
As an extension we will try to think how we can steer the hovercraft.

Gyroscopic precession - this is a weird effect which might be tricky - do not try to understand this - but in future years I will explain it to you ... hopefully.

Wednesday 10 December 2008

4th session - making the hovercraft kit 2 of 2

Not the easiest kit to assemble and get to work - so well done everyone. Lots of minor problems to overcome here but we all did so very well.

Sunday 7 December 2008

Hello STEMsters - next session

We will try to get the hovercraft kits running this lesson. You can take them home after the session.
I have been developing a model which we can all build for another hovercraft. Hopefully we will finish this before Christmas.

For after Christmas
We briefly mentioned Fibonacci ( one of Technologies and Mathematics ... and of course Sciences' favourite people ) We will look at Fibonacci in some detail l8r.
Perhaps you can find out more about Fibonacci?
The number sequence is pretty straighforward and is easy to work out.
However, can you research more?
Deeper questions like,
When did he live?
How old was he when he died?
How tall was he,
and did he have any brothers or sisters.
Did he have any pets?

Tuesday 2 December 2008

3rd session 2nd December 08

After experimenting with balloons and CD's the students address a kit hovercraft. It is a simple but tricky to make design. Later we will make one I have designed.