Tinkering: Kids Learn by Making Stuff

220 Pages·2015·33.73 MB·English

by  Curt Gabrielson

M
Technology & Engineering
Make: Tinkering a
k
e
SCIENCE
Tinkering
:

How can you consistently pull off hands-on tinkering with kids? How do you deal
with questions that you can’t answer? How do you know if tinkering kids are learning T
anything or not? Is there a line between fooling around with real stuff and learning? in ART
k
e
The idea of learning through tinkering is not so radical. From the dawn of time,
r
i
whenever humanity has wanted to know more, we have achieved it most effectively n
MUSIC
g
by getting our hands dirty and making careful observations of real stuff.
,

2
Make: Tinkering (Kids Learn by Making Stuff) lets you discover how, why—and
n
even what it is—to tinker and tinker well. Author Curt Gabrielson draws on more d

E Kids Learn by Making Stuff
than 20 years of experience doing hands-on science to facilitate tinkering: learning
d
science while fooling around with real things. i
t Curt Gabrielson
i
o
n
This book shows you how to make:
»
A drum set from plastic bottles, tape, and shrink-wrap
»
Magnetic toys that dance, sway, and amaze
»
Catapults, ball launchers, and table-top basketball
»
A battery-powered magic wand and a steadiness game (don’t touch the sides!)
»
Chemical reactions with household items
»
Models of bones and tendons that work like real arms and ankles
»
Spin art machine and a hovercraft from a paper plate!
» Lifelong learners hungry for their next genuine experience G
a
b
r
i
Personal, authentic, and joyful learning. e
l
s
o
n
US $24.99 CAN $28.99
ISBN: 978-1-68045-038-5
Make:
makezine.com
2nd Edition
M
Technology & Engineering
Make: Tinkering a
k
e
SCIENCE
Tinkering
:

How can you consistently pull off hands-on tinkering with kids? How do you deal
with questions that you can’t answer? How do you know if tinkering kids are learning T
anything or not? Is there a line between fooling around with real stuff and learning? in ART
k
e
The idea of learning through tinkering is not so radical. From the dawn of time,
r
i
whenever humanity has wanted to know more, we have achieved it most effectively n
MUSIC
g
by getting our hands dirty and making careful observations of real stuff.
,

2
Make: Tinkering (Kids Learn by Making Stuff) lets you discover how, why—and
n
even what it is—to tinker and tinker well. Author Curt Gabrielson draws on more d

E Kids Learn by Making Stuff
than 20 years of experience doing hands-on science to facilitate tinkering: learning
d
science while fooling around with real things. i
t Curt Gabrielson
i
o
n
This book shows you how to make:
»
A drum set from plastic bottles, tape, and shrink-wrap
»
Magnetic toys that dance, sway, and amaze
»
Catapults, ball launchers, and table-top basketball
»
A battery-powered magic wand and a steadiness game (don’t touch the sides!)
»
Chemical reactions with household items
»
Models of bones and tendons that work like real arms and ankles
»
Spin art machine and a hovercraft from a paper plate!
» Lifelong learners hungry for their next genuine experience G
a
b
r
i
Personal, authentic, and joyful learning. e
l
s
o
n
US $24.99 CAN $28.99
ISBN: 978-1-68045-038-5
Make:
makezine.com
2nd Edition
Tinkering
Kids Learn by Making Stuff
Curt Gabrielson
Tinkering
by Curt Gabrielson
Copyright © 2015 Curtis Gabrielson. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published by Maker Media, Inc.
Maker Media books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online
editions are also available for most titles (http://my.safaribooksonline.com). For more information,
contact our corporate/institutional sales department: 800-998-9938 or [email protected].
Editor: Brian Jepson
Production Editor: Melanie Yarbrough
Copyeditor: Amanda Kersey
Proofreader: Charles Roumeliotis
Indexer: WordCo Indexing Services
Cover Designer: Ryland Grudzinski
Interior Designer: Ryland Grudzinski
October 2015: Second Edition
October 2013: First Edition
Revision History for the Second Edition:
2015-10-31: First release
See http://oreilly.com/catalog/errata.csp?isbn=9781449361013 for release details. The Make logo
and Maker Media logo are registered trademarks of Maker Media, Inc. Tinkering and related trade
dress are trademarks of Maker Media, Inc.
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed
as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and Maker Media, Inc., was aware of a
trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps.
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and authors
assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the infor-
mation contained herein.
978-1-68045-038-5
[LSI]
To Paulo and Zoraya. Long may you tinker!

Contents
Foreword vii
Preface ix
1. Sound 1
Drum Set 2
Torsion Drum 7
What’s Going On? 12
Keep On 13
Internet Connections 13
Standards Topic Links 14
More Tinkering with Music 14
2. The Value of Tinkering in the Learning Process 15
Why Tinkering Is Essential 15
Tinkering Throughout History 17
Not for Everyone? 19
3. Magnetism 23
Magnet Toys 25
Electromagnetic Dancer 38
Keep On 42
Internet Connections 44
Standards Topic Links 44
More Tinkering with Magnetism 44
4. A Good Tinkering Session 45
Tinkering Schemes 45
Frameworks for Tinkering 48
Characteristics of a Good Tinkering Session 50
Students 51
5. Mechanics 55
Basketball Hoop 56
Carnival Ball Game 59
What’s Going On? 62
Keep On 63
Internet Connections 66
Standards Topic Links 66
More Tinkering with Mechanics 66
6. Tinkering Logistics 67
Tinkering Space 67
Stocking Your Space 70
Materials and Tools 72
Tinkering Projects 76
Facilitating Projects 81
A Few More Tinkering Considerations 85
v
7. Electric Circuits 89
Flashlight and Magic Wand 91
Steadiness Circuit 96
Keep On 108
Internet Connections 109
Standards Topic Links 109
More Tinkering with Circuits 110
8. The Learning Community & Differentiated Learning 111
The Learning Community 111
Differentiated Learning 115
9. Chemistry 119
Floating and Sinking with Colors 120
Chemical Reactions 129
What’s Going On? 135
Keep On 138
Internet Connections 139
Standards Topic Links 139
More Tinkering with Chemistry 139
10. Dealing with Questions and Dishing Out Answers 141
Questions 141
Answers 143
11. Biology 145
Arm Model 146
Foot and Ankle Model 150
What’s Going On? 155
Keep On 158
Internet Connections 162
Standards Topic Links 162
12. Standards and Assessment in the Tinkering Environment 165
Standards 165
Assessment 168
13. Engineering and Motors 171
Hovercraft 173
Motorized Art Spinner 181
What’s Going On? 186
Keep On 187
Internet Connections 189
Standards Topic Links 189
More Tinkering with Motor Engineering 189
14. Final Notes 191
A. Academic Research On How Learning Works 193
B. Evaluation Questionnaire for Students 195

Index 197
vi
Foreward
Tom Wolfe wrote a feature article in the Decem- Tinkering is not a field like chemistry or physics,
ber 1983 issue of Esquire magazine called “The yet it is worthy of study, particularly by those
Tinkerings of Robert Noyce.” Wolfe tells the who want to engage kids as makers today. Tin-
very American story of a young man who grew kering is to making as running is to sports, as
up in Grinnell, Iowa, where he went to college tapping your foot is to music. Tinkering is a pro-
before going on to MIT for graduate school. Af- cess. It is an attitude. It is the means to fix, make,
ter school, Noyce headed to California in 1956 change, modify, and customize the world.
where he would invent the electronic future as a
co-founder of Intel and shape what we now call Curt Gabrielson and his colleagues at the Wat-
the Silicon Valley. sonville Environmental Science Workshop are
pioneers in informal education. They are skilled
Wolfe points out that Noyce had a typical Mid- practitioners, thoughtfully organizing learning
western upbringing. He was a curious boy and a experiences for children in a supportive context
good athlete. When he was 13, he and his broth- outside of school. In this book, Gabrielson shows
ers read an article in Popular Science about a how to create these meaningful experiences for
box kite that could lift a person off the ground. students and how adults can be effective as fa-
Noyce and his brothers set out to build and test cilitators of learning. Tinkering can help children
that kite, asking themselves: would it work as build confidence in their own capabilities and ex-
they say? The boys would persist after several plore the world they live in. All children deserve
failures to get the kite up in the air. While Noyce to have these opportunities, early and often,
was a good student, he almost got thrown out of whether at home or even in school. What’s more,
college because of a prank. Fortunately, a teach- I believe that today’s children are demanding
er recognized Noyce’s talent and stepped in to such learning experiences because they know
help. That teacher introduced Noyce to transis- how essential it is for them to grow as learners
tors, while few others had even heard of them, and become creative contributors to society.
and Noyce was curious enough to wonder how Like Noyce, many of them might already realize
they might be used. that you can’t just buy what exists but instead
“you have to make it yourself.”
Wolfe wonders why a generation of great engi-
neers and scientists came from such unexpect- Think what it means to introduce more children
ed places. “Just why was it that small-town boys to tinkering—more girls, more kids from different
from the Middle West dominated the engineer- economic and ethnic backgrounds, more kids
ing frontiers? Noyce concluded it was because in with different learning abilities, middle class kids
a small town you became a technician, a tinker, who are bored in school and more middle-aged
an engineer, and an inventor, by necessity. “In adults? If we can get more of us tinkering, who
a small town,” Noyce liked to say, “when some- knows what tough problems we can solve, what
thing breaks down, you don’t wait around for a discoveries we will find and what new things we
new part, because it’s not coming. You make it will create?
yourself.” Noyce was fortunate to have two kinds
of education: informal as well as formal. Grow- —Dale Dougherty, 2013
ing up, he learned a lot outside of school, as did
others who grew up on farms and in families that
knew how to use tools and how to fix machines.
Formal learning often doesn’t make sense with-
out informal learning. It offers too much theory
without enough grounding in practice. Tinkering
represents this kind of practical education that is
often undervalued in formal settings.
vii
viii