The London-based group Technology Will Save Us features the human circuit game for kids. Using low-tech stuff, kids simulate sending electrons (such as pieces of fruit or clothes pins) through a human “circuit”
There’s a handy “instructions” sheet and printable resources for the circuit including batteries, switches, lightbulbs, and so forth. Although this is useful for a classroom, could you make it work at a kids birthday party in some form of “pass the parcel”?
I recently discovered Public Lab, a DIY science community,
“where you can learn how to investigate environmental concerns. Using inexpensive DIY techniques, we seek to change how people see the world in environmental, social, and political terms.”
I saw their balloon mapping kit, which you can buy from them or source yourself. The aim is “to provide a low cost, easy to use, and safe methods for making maps and aerial images.” They also offer a photo-stitching app to put your photos together.
Here’s an example of the kinds of results you can get. This is made by Jaroslav Valuch, Czech Republic.
The kit is reusable, and gives a family the chance to tackle a range of interesting challenges that yield a unique result. It looks as though practice is advised before attempting something specific: here’s a blog post from someone who tried it, together with a video compilation of the result and some lessons learned.
Here’s an image of the balloon kit in use, from Public Lab’s kick-starter campaign (over now, goal reached).
In many ways, mapping is a nice way into a lot of science and technology topics. Let me know if you have any experiences with it.
You know we’re interested in the combination of “art” with science and technology, so we loved this project which hacks the traditional “green man” signal for walking across an intersection. This Smart Company (as in Smart Car) project hooked the “man” up to motion capture of an individual dancing in a nearby booth.
Many people went in to the booth and the dances were broadcast to the pedestrian light in real time. The idea was to improve safety by helping people wait for the light before crossing. The dancing made waiting less boring and more entertaining. And it worked; 81% more people stopped at the traffic light, and enjoyed it, according to this short video about the project.
From a sustainability standpoint, we like technology that makes life better for pedestrians and cyclists.
My kids loved the video but be aware, the music has a bad word (a**, as in “shake your…”).
An Australian after-school program has set out to teach kids the value of money by putting them into a hands-on “mini economy” reports news.com.au. At Kids at Switch, children (aged 5 to 12) choose jobs and do work, such as app developers, authors, small business owners or website coders.
Their work in the simulated learning economy earns “money” to pay rent and bills. For example at the program they must either rent a chair to sit on or save up to buy one. They can even buy a second chair to rent to classmates. Kids also run a shop during each session.
The program helps kids develop financial literacy. For example, students divide their money into categories for investing, spending (according to a budget), saving, and sharing (donating). Their online accounts are accessible during the program and from home.
What would be interesting from a sustainability perspective is teaching kids about how our “money” economy currently doesn’t account for damage to natural resources—like the air we breathe or the ground water we drink. How would these lessons look in a “green economy” complete with collaborative consumption (the sharing economy) and carbon pricing? !
This story reminds us of how one school district used the building of a new school to involve kids in hands-on STEM learning form professionals working on the school, ranging from plumbers to architects. Read the post here.