A recent assignment from one of my kid’s science teacher was to build a device. The contraption had to travel 8 feet on its own power, it had to be totally home-made, it had to carry a can of beans, and at some point the thing had to obliterate an egg. The restrictions: Students couldn’t use compressed air to power it nor the Internet to get “ideas.” You had to use RAW MATERIALS and not manufactured parts. Students were permitted to have help from an adult. Unfortunately the only help my poor kid had available was me, as my husband, who usually helps tackle this type of Mission Impossible, was out of town.
I’ve been a mom for a long time. It’s not like I’m a neophyte. We know from projects around here. And I don’t DO the projects but even teachers know that when they assign projects - make no mistake - parents are involved. Even if you don’t lift a marker or scissors someone has to go to the craft store/butcher shop/hardware store and get the stuff.
Over the years my kids have been assigned some of the following school projects:
Fill a can with objects that describe you
Fill a shoebox that embodies “Greece”
Create a prairie habitat diorama complete with predators, prey and weather system
Create a video extolling the benefits of hockey, a poster about the benefits of calcium, and countless representations of why drugs are bad.
Illustrate each chapter of a novel and bind it with lunch bags and tape.
I can not draw and my crafting skills hover at about a 4th grade level. My children have inherited my art impairment. Projects involving any artistic skill at all make us break out in a cold sweat. But we forge ahead and they always learn something. Of course often times it’s not exactly what the teacher intended. (The box representing “Greece” included a lesson about what happens to garlic stuffed olives inside an eleven year-old’s backpack.) But this project was WAY beyond my advisory capabilities.
So again, you’ve got to get something to GO on its own. While it’s going it has to hold a can of beans and then break an egg. Huh? Seeing as you were allowed help from an adult my child did as I advised and called my dad. Bob’s a mechanical engineer by education, he then called my Uncle Tom, who most recently worked at Ford Maumee Stamping. I left my child and the two retirees to their own devices to come up with a device.
The picture above is the result. A string lifts the bean can.. then gravity brings down the can which propels the wheels, then the can smashes the egg. It’s genius. The kid and the retirees produced something unique and something I couldn’t have even imagined.
From all accounts the students did great on this project. I’ve heard some kids used mouse traps as an energy source and sling shots to catapult the egg. Cool. And as always my kid learned quite a lot from this assignment such as:
Mom panics when the words “raw materials” are bandied about
Retired men are the PERFECT people to ask when you’ve got invent a device
Uncle Tom is a genius
Gravity is a source of stored energy
Mom knows who to call in a jam
You break a lot of eggs while innovating
So it’s probably not exactly what the science teacher had in mind but the kid did learn.
(oh and the photos were taken with a camera phone despite my recent pledge to take nicer photos - it just seemed like a project)
12 Comments
Well, that thing’s pretty darn cool! I think mom’s been resourceful as well. I’m not so sure anyone here could have come up with such a beastly thing. “Slingshots to catapult the egg …” The whole of it from the class sounds like something that should be on YouTube! BTW, garlic-stuffed olives are some of my favorite snacks. Any leftovers?
OMG! Matt had to do the same thing! Had the project since before X-Mas, and 2 days before it’s due, we’re at Michaels buying balsa wood and wooden dowels. He pulled plans down from the internet and for the most part, built it himself. It looked a bit like your son’s, except he painted it blue and orange. I made him get a balsa wood plane that had a propeller he could use as an example. It wasn’t pretty, but he did manage to make it go 3 feet (not the full 8 darn it!) and the egg did break, so big sigh of relief in our house. Personally, I liked the leaf project much better.
Did you hear about the one that had a guillotine that came down and broke the egg?
guess I missed the part in the instructions about not using the internet!
I NEVER assign those kinds of projects because I am even more incompetent than you would believe, just ask my boys!
Phyllis, wooden dowels can you stand it? Guillotine, now that’s just Revolutionary!
Lori thank goodness the kids and the family have it together. I can barely work our t.v. remote anymore.
wonder what the next egg-citing project will be? I forgot they also had to build the container that would protect an egg in a 10 foot drop, with bonus points if it survived the fall from the 2nd story. Matt spent the evening chucking egg-laden stuff out the window on that one. At least that one was easier–a few rolls of paper towels and some duct tape–no power tools involved!
Excellent job!! I remember having to create a device that held a raw egg and would protect it when dropped from the 3rd floor of Monroe Jr High. Thinking back now, we had the windows open on the 3rd floor, hanging out, dropping all our projects to the ground below. Crazy times!
Congrats on the science project.
See I should have called you Angie! I forgot about you being an ACTUAL rocket scientist!!
Way to go, very cool! While I was reading I thought this sounded so familar, Austin must’ve done it to, I distinctly remember broken eggs, those projects have “hubby” written ALL over it!
Now in 7th grade when he had a diarama, historical poster, written book report all due within days of each other. I helped the poor fella out. He was playing baseball, umping for 3B and going to school. Of course this was weeks before school let out and I just thought it was totally unfair to put this much on the kids. So I chipped in, we had fun too!
Projects are always family affairs I think. Maybe that’s the real point!
Becky, Becky, Becky — I consider myself the Martha Stewart of Bedford, and I was at a loss with this convoluted “science” project. Basically, I handed it and 20 bucks over to my brother and said: “Have at it!” Of course Emily helped, and she passed with flying colors, and I like to think in some small way it was also a vicory for me: After all, it was my money and my stunning ability to designate the rightful craftsperson for the task. Come to think of it, it was entirely my victory.
LONG LIVE PUBLIC EDUCATION!
Laura you and I are of the same mind. We know people who know stuff and really isn’t that the key to success?
Brava to us both!
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