Jerry Mahasingh: How "Tom" can help kids..

ROBOTS

Robots help us a lot these days and can also perform dangerous tasks for us.They can help us improve our lives. There's a growing demand for more but who will make them for us? But before we can make them, we have understand the work. This can be achieved by starting with very simple concepts.

BE-STREAMING

While searching for some experiments for the first STREAM festival in Suriname, I saw this "hydraulic excavator" made from scrap on internet.

Before I made it , I wanted to know if kids were interested in it. So I asked some neighboring kids, if they liked it and would like to make it.. The answers were YES!. I went to my nephew, showed him some pictures and asked form some idea's and stuff we could use. Because of limited time we could not fished it. It was just a "robotic arm" that could grasp, lift and release something.

Start Simple

I believe it's very important to start simple. It should be easy for kids to understand or redo. I also used only hand tools and "junk".

Presenting for Beip and IDB 2016

Even-though it wasn't finished I decided to present is as it was to other students, teachers, and people from IDB. To me it was very important because Mrs. Marie Levens told me once that it would be nice if we could teach kids create things by reusing stuf around us like scrap for example.

Curriculum

This activity wil also help to meet the curriculum.

Connections

These kinds of experiments can be integrated into lessons or curriculum in Suriname, because while trying to make these things, there is a lot of math involved and technical skills being developed. This experiments can also be connected to other subjects like Math, Languages, drawing etc..

Math (REKENEN)

Time
If it takes 5 min to 10 objects. How much time we will need to move 100? When are we done to move 2000 items if we start now?
Fractions
Move 2/3th of the items from left to right. If we move 1/4 th , how many are left?
Ratio
If I press 1 cm, it moves 5 cm. etc..
Multiplications.
If we can move 2 items once. How many times we have to move?
Additions/subtractions
There are 12 items in the left box. add 6 more. How many are now?
Costs
These are the prices. What the total cost?

Language (TAAL)

During this experiments students communicate a lot and will also expand their vocabulary. They might also beter understand certain words better.

Example of words

Natuurkunde (Physics)

Drawing

My daughters "redesigning"

Why these connections?

Most of us forget what we have learned after a while. But connecting important things we have to learn with great experiences will help to retain memory. Think of an old beautiful song. It take you back to the perfect time back.

Doing these kinds of experiments will also help teachers and parents to identify what their kids love the most. Students can then be guided or facilitated beter to learn what they want to become.

Kids were very exited from start to finish. This excitement can be very useful in the learning process.

I do believe that if kids try to recreate this, it will become something much better. It might get some electronics or wheels and eventually help us solve real life problems like maybe harvesting tomato's or peppers for us. It might eventually collect garbage for us

This wil proof that letting kids experiment in STREAM we help them become tomorrows next engineers to make life better.

Finally @ the BE STREAMING festival: