ENVISION hosted an event at the Champaign Public Library on September 25 where students learned about how static electricity can be created/harnessed and how it interacts with everyday objects. There were several stations with activities ranging from racing aluminum cans, waterbending with static, and a Van De Graff generator. The goal was the demonstrate properties of static electricity and charge-based interactions as a function of material.
Polymer Event at CPL
In collaboration with Champaign Public Library, ENVISION hosted an after school program about polymers for the middle school students who visit CPL after school. The students rotated through the following activities:
- Make homemade plastic using a microwave
- Make magnetic slime
- Make flubber bubbles
Our goal was to introduce the kids to polymers. We had a great turnout (over 40 kids) and the activities were engaging and fun for the students!
DIY Microscopy & Histology at CPL
With help from one of our members Dorothy Silverman, ENVISION members hosted a DIY Microscopy event at Champaign Public Library. This event is a new bioengineering-focused workshop where kids control mobile microscopes to engage with the Champaign Public Library’s microscopic world. We kicked off the first workshop iteration with 2 hands-on activities. In the first, “What’s in my snack?”, kids dissected and analyzed their afternoon snacks with the uHandy microscope and a smart phone. This activity engaged students with their personal world and interests, in this case their afternoon snack. It gave them the freedom to choose what they want to image, how they imaged it, and how they presented their findings. It was goal-oriented because they are ultimately adding their work to a collective portfolio.
The second activity “Mobile Micro Hunt” is a scavenger hunt challenging kids to solve riddles with a microscope. Using a Foldscope (fabricated with help from the CU FabLab) the students rotated through 8 interactive stations answering questions and analyzing items from down feathers to mold from a cupcake! Each student was given a Foldscope, a 50-cent microscope made with origami, a sample-collection booklet, and a map. Students used the map to go from station to station throughout the room. Each station had commonly found items in a library (dust, ants, magazine paper) that students analyzed to answer a few questions. This activity forced kids to get up and move, interact with one another, and problem solve. It also makes them see their standard environment, in this example the library, in a new way.
This workshop compliments the driving goals of ENVISION. First, it is a hands-on workshop that helps students learn about the science of their everyday lives, yet introduces them topics perhaps not studied in school. It incorporates art and writing into science. And finally, it uses inexpensive tools that even low-income students can procure. It also engages our ENVISION members, requiring helpers to fold the foldscopes, design infographic templates, maps, and riddles. Volunteers at the event will also learn how to encourage student self-learning.
Champagin Library-Engineering Design Day
Event Title: Engineering Design Day
Location: Champaign Public Library
Date: September 22, 2016
The students rotated through three hands on activities during their time at the library.
At the catapult construction station, the students built catapults using craft popsicle sticks, rubber bands and hot glue. The students made adjustments to the launch angle and stick length to maximize the launch distance of various objects.
At the paper columns station, the students made columns using construction paper and learned that circular columns are stronger relative to triangular and square due to the lack of stress concentrations at the edges. The students then made adjustments to their columns to support the most amount of books as possible!
At the ball run station, the students were challenged to design a ball drop to move a ball along the wall in both the horizontal and vertical directions using the minimum amount of materials.
3D Printing at CPL
Check out the 3D printing at the Champaign Public Library! We had a great time sharing the very popular 3D printing activity, if you are interested in having this activity brought to you please let us know.
LEGO Robotics at CPL
Event Title: Lego Robotics
Location: Champaign Public Library, Champaign, IL
Date: March 8th, 2016
Members of ENVISION brought LEGO Windstorm kits to Champaign Pubic Library to share a robotics activity with students from Edison Elementary. The students constructed LEGO Windstorm robots, and were able to develop a code to maneuver a robot around an obstacle course.
