Avoid permanent adhesives as much as possible is one of the cardinal rules of all the pro-makers. Using permanent adhesives such as glues and cello tapes doesn’t provide room for alterations to our product once the adhesives set. In addition, using screws, nuts & bolts as fasteners gives the makers with lot more advantages such as the ability to reuse indefinitely.
With this activity, we can introduce our students to the art of joining material together without using any adhesives such as glue or cello tape. The objective of the activity is to let the student make a vehicle using cardboard but without any adhesives. Instead, the students are provided with fasteners such as screws, nuts & bolts to fasten the cardboard together. The activity can be performed by the students individually or as a group. With this activity, the students can be introduced to different types of fasteners and also various techniques for joining cardboards. Let’s get started!
Resources needed:
Cardboards
Pencil, Eraser, Sharpener
Ruler
Scissors
Small sizes screws with nuts
Screwdrivers
Time needed:
4 hours
Skills developed:
Creativity, Adaptability, Problem Solving
Instruction for students:
Step 1:
Research and come up with your own design of the heavy machine that you will be making.
Step 2:
Start cutting the cardboards to fit your design. Ensure to make proper arrangements for fastening while cutting itself.
Step 3:
Once the cutting of basic parts is done, assemble them together. Remember you can’t use any adhesive to put the parts together. You can also assemble individual modules and then put everything together. For instance, make chassis, body, hydraulic arms and wheels separately, finally put everything together.
Step 4:
Tada your heavy vehicle is ready!
Instruction for teachers:
Division and distribution
Take the material availability into account before deciding if the activity is performed in a group or as individuals. Four is the ideal size of the group if the activity is done as a group. Ration the material properly such that there is no shortage during the activity.
Timing
The whole building process may take easily more than an hour to complete. Hence, you can plan to do it as a half-day long workshop or let the students do it over several sessions.
Prior knowledge
Before the students start building, introduce them to different ways of joining using cardboard (You can also refer to this resource) and also discuss the different types of screws, nuts and bolts.
Ideation and cognition
If the activity is done in groups, observe the process of ideation in each group closely. See, if they follow certain procedures of ideation. If not, keep a track of the common mistakes and discuss them later. Take note of the common themes and contextual references that come up during the discussion. Encourage everybody to speak, however, guide them towards a feasible idea they can easily incorporate.
Failure
With this activity, the student might tend to fail often. Make sure to keep the spirits high throughout the session. Encourage the students to iterate until they get the results. Keep reminding them Edison’s famous quote “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work”.
Narration
Once the groups are done, have them come together and present what they have made to everyone. Check whether they are discussing amongst each other before presenting. Praise students for coming up with a coherent and engaging presentation.
Have fun making and share the works of your students with the hashtag #projectprayogshala to get featured!
Before you go, check out the video below!