Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
(OP)
I need some help on this one. My 6 year old son told his teacher that I am an engineer and I should come speak to his class after one of their recent science discussions. She has now requested that I come do this. I am up againist tough competition. A few weeks back a fireman came in to discuss fire safety. He gave them a goody bag with all types of neat things in it. Please give me your ideas for a good topic that will make these kids remember the engineering career choice in the future.
My son tells me I need to bring something for each kid if I really want them to remember the presentation or demonstration.
My son tells me I need to bring something for each kid if I really want them to remember the presentation or demonstration.





RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
For handouts? No question, pocket protectors:)
Regards,
Mike
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
Take it apart - better yet - Have the kids (boys and girls!) take it apart with wrenches, screwdrivers, and the proper tools.
As each part comes off, talk about the stress in the steel, the forces, the movement of the part, the tensions, the strains in the thread, the lubrication in the grease, the plastics, the paint, the chrome, the rubber, the grip of the tires on the road, the looseness (or tightness of the screws) the sizes (bring a little caliper and a tape measure, the diameters. Bring a magnifying glass = Have them look at the scratches and the rust and the threads.
Don't just talk. DO! (Better yet - Have them "DO" it....)
(And I'm the one who pulled our sailboat and trailer to the high school for my daughter to use as a training "aid" for HER freshman presentation on "How to make a sail boat" ... )
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
http://www
Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
"Luck is where preparation meets opportunity"
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
Rubber band airplane, Estes rocket or better(safer) a water rocket. Mentos and Coke!!
Look at few Myth Busters...
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
David
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
rmw
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
He/she wants to see something striking and dynamic--flying rockets spaceships, and lots of associated noise.
You're not going to make future engineers, just entertainment at this point.The fireman has it easier.
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
I have often combined "art" with a hands on demonstration were the class can do the activity at once. Bring some popsickle sticks and glue a bridge together, want to save the wood for the environmentalist movement, then use plastic straws. I once used a chemistry breaker and small torch to boil water to push a windmill that raised a small weight for a Grade 1 class. Obviously you do the demonstration, get the kids involved with a discussion on what they think is going on or predict what may happen. You'd be surprised.
But most importantly, you need to have fun with it! The kids find "fun" to be contagious. You may even plan that small seed into their heart that will inspire them some day. After all, wasn't it that one special teacher that reached through to us and turned us on to mathematics, science and technology?
Kenneth J Hueston, PEng
Principal
Sturni-Hueston Engineering Inc
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
http://juliussumnermiller.org/
It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. (Sherlock Holmes - A Scandal in Bohemia.)
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
If I answer, (1) the certainly don't know any more than when I started, (2) they look bored, and (3) they are usually looking around or at their watches or mentioning that they hear their mothers calling them.
I suggest you take the question to a school teachers forum, not an engineering tips site and ask those that are schooled in how to deal with 5-6 year olds for hours every day and actually teach them something.
If you can't find such a forum, then start asking around amoung your contacts, social, church, gym, neighborhood, pub, etc for some Elementary School teachers to talk to, and be sure to ask for "Early" Elementary teachers.
The wife's profession is EE (Elementary Education, not Electrical Engineering) and I am amazed when I watch her work with young children. It is a world entirely different than what I am schooled for and she has skills that I can't touch.
If this assignment were mine, I'd have her heavily involved and I would be listening to what she had to say (which she would say would be a new thing.)
rmw
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
Richard A. Cornelius, P.E.
WWW.amlinereast.com
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
Richard A. Cornelius, P.E.
WWW.amlinereast.com
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
while steel isn't that attractive to small children (due to weight, it isn't "clean", has sharp corners, and welding, machining, isn't practical at school), wood is.
Couldn't you do something using one (or several) of those?
Maybe have them build the highest tower, a bridge with the longest horizontal span, such things?
Perhaps even using wood glue as bonding agent (so they can do something they haven't done before)?
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
We're all used to explain our ideas/point of view to collegues, dealing with complex situations, solving problems, and so on,
however for talking (let alone communicating in both directions) to 6-year olds, we're with our backs against a wall.
Over 15 replies, and no-one can tell you exactly how to handle this "trivial" assignment.
Best of luck!
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
At the end of the day too, don't stress it too much - do any of us remember things we learned in school at 6 years old?
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
I mentor high schoolers in a program called First Robotics which has been very successful at getting kids geared toward science, engineering, and other tech related careers. They spend the Spring semester building robots to meet a challenge presented to them and then compete all around the U.S. and internationally.
It just so happens they have a similar program for elementary students called First Lego League.
http://www.firstlegoleague.org/
I see the First robotics programs inspire students the same ways NASA did for me when I was growing.
If you're in the states, maybe there's a local team nearby by that would lend you some lego robots? maybe some videos? I can ask around too if you're interested.
DFLewis
www.phoenix-engineer.com
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
http:/
I made one with my 3 year old out of a scrub brush, a random motor 2 9V batteries (one was sacrificed for the connector), a random fan with a blade cut off (CPU fan?) and a rubber band.
http:/
They sell these for $10 under the brand name Hexbug nanobot
http://www.hexbug.com/nano
I hope this helps.
Rob Stupplebeen
https://sites.google.com/site/robertkstupplebeen/
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
Presents for the kids? Maybe get some little plastic horse heads for then to give to their appropriate friends.
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
Richard A. Cornelius, P.E.
WWW.amlinereast.com
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/
http://www.frontiernet.net/~docbob/scifair.htm
http:/
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
A demonstration of the power of levers and pulley systems to attain a mechanical advantage for lifting objects.
Great educational information for kids who want to be better pranksters. Worked well for me...
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
First I got the kids to try moving the weight on their own, then we used the lever, the plywood and rollers, the pulleys, and the cable winch. Lots of chances for the kids to do rather than just watch, and plenty of chance to reinforce the basic ideas of mechanical advantage etc. I kept reinforcing that knowledge makes you stronger: look, even little kids can move this big, heavy weight if they know how.
I then showed a few photos from work of our millwrights using the same basic ideas to move REALLY heavy things.
I didn't even try to get into the difference between science and engineering etc. It's beyond them at this age.
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
My first thought was to build a marshmellow catapult or balista and then set up a target and have all the kids try and hit it but I seem to recall schools no longer being big fans of projectiles in the classroom for some reason... how's a kid gonna have any fun??
As for giving out things our company always sends us with Snafooz (foam cube puzzles) but the candy is a pretty good idea too. You could do the mentos pop rocket and then pass mentos out after; I'm sure you'd hear about how much "fun" the kids had at lunch with their sodas.
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
Hangar Visit
...The teacher said 'put your listening ears on.' The kids held their ear lobes and looked my way... 'See that tall bldg? That's a control tower.' I tuned in ATIS: 'Visibility ten.' A boy called out 'ten.' All numbers called out were repeated by the kids... I held up a cleco and said 'what's this?' No answer. I said 'this is a cleco; say cleco.' 'CLECO.' I joined two pieces of aluminum together with a cleco, and said: 'this is what cleco's do; they hold pieces together. When you go home tell your parents you learned a new word, cleco. When you get a new cat or dog name it cleco.' I gave the teacher a cleco for her desk...
From 'The Flying Life' by Lauran Paine, 2010 Cascade Publshing
Keep it simple, and it will make a memorable impression.
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
Years ago, there was a movie called "To Engineer is Human". The movie basically covered the evolution of the human quest to create ever increasingly elaborate designs (buildings, aircraft, bridges etc.) until something goes wrong. Then we figure out what went wrong, solve the problem and start the cycle again. That may not grab their attention, but there is one scene in the movie where a nuclear containment vessel is tested by hitting it broadside with a diesel locomotive at a pretty good speed. Pieces of the locomotive fly everywhere - the containment vessel won the contest in a dramatic fasion.
Kyle
RE: Engineering Presentation to 5 and 6 year olds
http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/
http://amasci.com/amateur/videos.html
Adriaan.
I am a Mechatronics Engineer from South Africa.
www.martin-electronics.co.za