In this series of posts I'm going to start writing up some of the activities I've done with the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) club that I run in the school I teach at.
I'm always on the lookout for things to physically build with the club. I like getting them to construct things; I feel the younger generations are not so well versed in practical skills as I was at their age. I also like to use up some of the scraps that I produce from woodworking projects at home. Whilst browsing Youtube I came across the idea of tensegrity. In basic terms it's a design principle making use of tension in wires or strings to replace some of the struts in a structure. It's probably easiest to get a concept of it by searching Google Images. There are lots of pictures of furniture that people have made using the concept. I followed this procedure for creating one, but instead of the lollipop sticks I used some scrap wood and chopped it into equally sized planks on the table saw. The cord is scraps of cotton from the sewing box. You can see the result below. If you are friendly with your technology department then ask them to chop a load of scraps of wood for you. It's a few minutes work with a table saw and a mitre saw. Your art department should have glue-guns you can borrow and the textiles department should be able to provide you with scraps of cotton. I think to improve it I would drill holes through the centers of the corners of the triangles and attache the cord there.
Comments