Engineering

An interactive display that will have examples of wing construction, design and evolution. Small interactive displays that will teach how a wing makes lift, why all the different designs, why the first designs didn't work, aviation/aircraft today and aviation career paths. These stations will be complimented by volunteers giving kids a chance to build an easy model to take with them or participate in a paper airplane "length of flight contest" with a small prize for each heats winner!

In this booth, we will demonstrate how to make "video game controllers" out of cardboard, foil, glue, makey makey (makeymakey.com) devices, and a laptop. Students will go through 2 different stations: controller design and testing. The design station will be cutting out and decorating a cardboard controller. The testing station will be hooking up the controller to a makey makey and using it to play 1 level of Guitar Hero, Super Mario Bros, or game on Scratch (scratch.mit.edu) on our laptops.

The booth will incorporate several different hands-on activities (yet to be determined, but we have ideas flowing!) that incorporate engineering. Testing is in our nature and we are eager to share this with our community. When do things break? Why does a glass break at a different frequency than a brick? Why does ice melt at a different temperature than plastic? These are the kinds of questions we love to explore and find ways to improve performance of products and packaging.