MOS Courses: Glowing Circuits and Chain Reactions

The past two weeks, Kristin, Eric, and Victoria lead a pair of the Museum of Science's youth summer courses. The first week involved teaching the kids basic circuity via paper circuits and then taking that a step further by sewing their own stuffed creature and adding LED lights to it. During the second week, campers were taught basic programming through Scratch as well as working with popsicle sticks to create catapults and stick weaves. They then designed their own Rube Goldberg machine. The campers had great variety in personalities and skill, yet both weeks they were able to help one another to accomplish tasks such as making an art bot or making a band in Scratch. The amount of creativity present was overflowing. The highlight of each week was Friday, where campers showed off their creations. Amelia, an eleven year old in the circuit camp, made a turtle whose shell lit up in several places while her campmate, Abby, made Iron Man out of felt and made its eyes light up. However, the highlight of the two weeks was the Rube Goldberg machine the campers constructed. Using materials such as cardboard, dominoes, PVC pipes, and tape, campers created a machine which popped a balloon full of confetti. Some of them even incorporated the skills they learned from Scratch and using Makey-Makey, when the ball rolled through their respective section, the music they created played out loud. Check out the video below. These past two weeks have been incredible, the amount of collaboration, creativity, and teamwork shown is indescribable.

https://www.facebook.com/FlagshipClubhouse/videos/1632060793472626/- Video of chain reaction