Date: January 2011 Choosing the Invention
Activity: We choose the invention because it was local and really interesting. We thought it was interesting because we got to make loads of stuff out of k’nex and I had lots of fun doing it. If we had to do it again I would love it too and I would not be bored.
By Ellie 3rd Class
Date: January 2011 Activity Sheet 1
Details: Engineering is all around us, in the items we use every day in our homes and elsewhere. Engineers make things possible! If you have ever crossed a bridge, sent a text message, or flown in a plane then you have experienced the work of engineers. There are many types of engineers but they all use science and maths in their work.
By Ciarán
Date: February and March 2011 Research
Activity: Research into Renewable Energy and Open Hydro. See our presentation here.
Date: March 2011 Monthly activity 2
Details: When we were brushing our teeth we put a jug underneath the tap and see how much water we used. Most of us left the tap on when we were brushing our teeth. It is bad if you leave the tap on when you are brushing your teeth because you lose lots of water. Then we made the Archimedes Screw it was really fun. We got a bottle and wrapped a tube around it. There were two basins and one was filled with water and the other one was empty. We turned the bottle around and the water went into the other basin.
By Joe
Date: March 2011 Making tidal turbines out of k’nex.
Details: We are going to open hydro to learn all about tidal turbines. So we decided to build them out of k’nex. We worked in pairs to recreate the invention we looked at the open hydro website to see what the tidal turbine looks like in action it was really fun!!!!
What we learned: We learned how to work in pairs. Lots of people didn’t know how use k’nex. We learned lots just by building with k’nex .
Would we change anything? I wouldn’t change anything because I think it was one of the projects ever I have done in my life!!!!!!!
By Rebekah woods
Date: April 2011 Visiting the engineer and Open Hydro Factory
Activity: We were going to see open hydro and we were really excited. When we got there we got a quick lesson on energy we learned that when you are kicking a ball you are giving it energy! After that we saw lots of different tidal turbines. There is even one 16 meters wide. We had lots of fun and we got some juice and biscuits and asked some questions and we got lots of answers.
By Megan
Date: April 2011 Activity Sheet 3
Activity. We talked about Engineering a cleaner world 🙂
We are going to tell you about a city of the future. We think we need bigger roads and less cars we need less litter because Dublin is covered in it. We were amazed by how many engineers it takes to build a roller coaster . It takes 6! A civil engineer ,a Structural engineer, mechanical engineers , industrial engineers and an aeronautical engineer .
By Lee, Jake, Lucy and Sofia
Teacher Evaluation
This is the second year that I have completed the Xperience Engineering project with 3rd and 4th class. The topic of Environmental Engineering really motivated the children and I found it easy to integrate within the curriculum, particularly with Science, Geography, Maths, English and Art, and was guided by the activity sheets.
We are really fortunate to have OpenHydro in our locality, who were very accomadating with all of our requests. The trip to the factory to actually see all the different elements of the turbines and their huge scale made a lasting impression on the children. I would certainly complete this worthwhile project with my class again.