Design and Invention

Design your own car with parts we provide you. You can use anything from gussets of different sizes, wheels, dowels and more. Devise a car with optimal abilities by trial and error. Test out your invention, adjust it, try again. The possibilities are endless! Test your car on different kinds of surfaces, ask questions, make observations, and further your invention.

Learn how geography, weather, culture, tradition, natural resources, and purpose, all contribute to the design and construction of shelter. With an introduction of houses around the world from Arthur Dorros' This is My House*students will build their own houses with front or side yards, chimney, doorbell, fences, trees, steps, porch, flowers…whatever they can 'see' in their mind's eye as they walk toward their own front door. Consider what materials are available and build a family.

The Whitney Relay is a set of interconnectable parts that lets students master the art and science of energy transfer in the tradition of the Rube Goldberg Machine or its contemporary Japanese masterpiece: the Pythagoras Switch. Each student receives ramps,  marbles, blocks, and assorted parts to construct a chain reaction that could include your whole class. Thoughtful lessons in mechanics, invention and teamwork. 

The power of machines guides and eases work. The screws, threads, levers and pulleys of this machine organize effort into power you can feel. Students assemble interchangeable parts and invent a personality for their machine while experimenting with all Simple Machines and testing them first hand.

Bridges are a natural laboratory of engineering: they test the strength of materials and the durability, connections, patterns of distributing loads, shifting loads and environments. 

Construct model bridges that help you identify the many challenges that bridges must master. A Keystone bridge which can hold more weight than you'd imagine and a puzzle bridge designed by Leonardo daVinci. Both are built without glue and still hold strong.

The English Scientist, Neil Downie, has written three volumes of Saturday Science Projects. His designs are remarkably original and thoughtful, explaining the math and science of every project. Sometimes you have to strip away all the non-essential parts to see an idea at work. Neil Downie proposes a clever study of the exchange of speed for force. A second array of pulleys float between input pulleys and the output pulley. An elegant display of force in motion. Counting on friends: what can your little acrobats tell you about the changes in speed or power (torque)? nspired by: Neil A.

Build a remarkable drawing machine from 1913 adapted by our apprentices and designers. Since its first adaptation, it's been revised many more times. We will teach you some ways to program it. Then you will go on to invent your own programs. The possibilities are infinite. Add color and shadows. In order to understand this machine, you will need to understand coordinates in order to record and create patterns. There are 6 separate settings that must be changed to experiment with the patterns also. There are a large number of permutations and variations.
 

Study motion by building a spiral track for a marble to follow. Understand gravity, friction, inertia. Do you build from the bottom up or the top down? Make discoveries while creating a fun game. 
 

Ever wonder why different birds' beaks look the way they do? Why are some bird's beaks pointy? curved? long? Short? The same questions hold for animals, plants and humans (not beak shapes of course – but other features.) Discuss bird beak adaptations and learn about Darwin’s discoveries and observations of Finches during his expedition to the Galapagos Islands in 1835.