Tuesday, October 13, 2009

What makes it tick…. click, turn, spin,move


Yesterday after introducing our inquiry for the term, we looked at Toys.

Discussing

What is a Toy? The History of the Toy? Why are toys fascinating? links to science and technology.


we created and discussed definitions for:

Innovation

Invention

Mechanical

Automation

Creations


To explore further and to stimulate new ideas we used ‘Tony Ryans Thinking Keys’


Some example brainstorm ideas:

'The reverse thinking key' - Lucas's group- Toys are not just for children

'What if key' - - Ruth's group - What if toys came alive?

'Disadvantage key' - Michael's group - Toy guns can be a bad influence

'Alphabet key' - A - Action Man B- Barbie C- toy Car


We then looked at Automata toys on youtube, this was really inspiring and began to outline the types of materials, theories and ideas the children might use when they build their own toy.


We learnt that there are 6 different mechanisms with which you can just about create any automata you can think of. They are cams, cranks, gears, ratchets, levers, pulleys.


We looked at a number of machines including, mechanical breakfast making machines.

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