David - Our Engineer Mentor

This morning we were lucky enough to have Liam's dad, David, come in to talk to us. David is a mechanical engineer and works in engineering design. He worked for ten years in the US in Silicon Valley. He works with positioning based technology, like GPS.

He talks us through the engineer design process. We talked about what a design is, taking an idea into something that is real, then taking that design to building it, testing it and making changes.

Everything that is not in the natural world needs to be designed - books, buttons, tractors, food etc.

Design

• Specification and planning (what requirements you have, selecting your team, risks, breaking down into tasks, coordinate tasks and people)
• Concepting - brainstorming (this is FUN!!), selecting ideas - how many do I need to make?, designing concepts - colours, shapes etc.
• Learning - what are the gaps and what needs to be learned?
• Design phase - let's start putting this together, how do we need to work together? How can we avoid mistakes? Is it strong enough? 3D design (on a computer), 2D drawings (snapshot). Sketchup may enable us to create 3D designs online.
• Prototyping - used for functional testing and software development, 3D printing (we have access to two from David and Ida!) Some prototypes used to be built out of plastercene! What works, what needs to be adjusted?
• Testing - functional testing (in a lab), environmental testing (out in the real world), failure analysis - David brought along a rugged display tablet which is not yet on the market, it is able to be pressure washed, dropped etc. Digger drivers might use them in their vehicles. How long does it need to last? Do I need to test it in water, heat, sun, for being dropped?
• Design changes - what problems were shown up in the testing and what changes need to be made.
• Manufacturing - how are we going to build it? Manufacturers need to be in on the design right from the beginning to make sure it is do-able.
• Support - from engineering in case something goes wrong, maybe you need spare parts etc.

Prototypes

David showing some of his prototypes

Hugh, Payo and Jonah were in their element as budding engineers!

Rowan and Maya checking out the electrical circuits

Abby and Payo critiquing the prototype

Gardens @ Home  - compost pick up
Your bag of compost is available for pic up.  The next compost collection is this Sunday,7th May,1pm to 1.45 pm at the staff car park / 5 min parking area at school.

Putting our knowledge to the test- circuit making

Solar Energy
Our Eco Energy group had another go at circuits; with and without batteries.   They had to make a complete circuit in order for the light, buzzer or motor to go.  Meg brought along her solar panel and battery that her family uses when camping.

We learnt about living sustainably from the photos Peter (Mrs Olorenshaw's brother) from Nelson, sent to us of his house.  We will skype him next week to ask him our questions.

This house had black painted walls with glazing to retain the heat from the sun.

 It had large windows allowing the sun to shine on the concrete tiles for a good amount of the day, as it was north facing. 
 
 The insulation under the floor helped the heat rise and warm the room. Check out our Eco Energy page for more, including the electric car and windmill!

River Bank Clean Up

Calling all EcoWarriors!! There is a river bank clean up on Saturday 13 May. You can become involved by contacting one of the following websites. This article was in the newspaper.
River clean up 
River Clean up 2
River Clean up 3

Process

This morning Alison, another of our mentors, came in to talk to us about our design process.

• Source of input
• Input
• Activities
• Output
• Receiver of output

We go through a process many times each day - getting dressed, cooking etc. It is important that our outputs are the same each time.

Alison works for ENZTEC  which is a company that designs and makes orthopaedic tools, like hip and knee replacements. Imagine if these were not made correctly each time!

We talked about our research and being able to solve a problem, then what our prototype and product might look like.

What requirements do we need to meet to solve our given problem? Keeping this in mind is crucial.

What tests might we need to do to check? Can we do these on a prototype? Nerhys had great ideas around this.

We discussed which requirements were absolutely necessary and which were negotiable.

Each group or individual began filling out their own design review to keep their ideas on track.

Who is your target market? What are their requirements?

We have one group - Abby, Oliver and Sam - working on a problem that has come to us from a parent. She works at the hospital and has to park a long way away. She scoots from her car to the hospital, but when it is wet the water and mud squirt up the back of her legs. Our team is designing a scooter mudguard! Watch this space for an exciting new product...

Visitor to the " All Around Us Eco-Action Group"

Evelyn Low’s Grandad , Dr John from Montana U.S.A, came to visit

He spoke to us about the water cycle.

We played a game using all the places we get water from ( where we would find the most water molecules )

We rolled dice with the following places on it - River, Lake, Animals, Ocean. Ground, Clouds, Glacier, Plants and Soil

Where it landed we recorded a tally mark for that place.

Next we got into groups of 4 and added our totals for each place.

We discovered that when we analysed our data using the information we gathered we found out that most water molecules spend most of their time in the ocean.

The next most popular place is clouds and water gets there due to evaporation.

We then drew a water cycle from the information we found out from the game we played. This was a really great way to learn about the water cycle. Thank you Dr John for your fantastic lesson.

Waste Watchers

Jasmine  has earned $50 Banqer dollars because she found the bin to recycle soft plastics too. Well done Jasmine.

_____________________________________________________ Look at what else can be recycled at this bin at the New World Supermarkets.