SKWK8 STEAM Sharks shook hands mechanically with the hands they built. Students learned about the design challenge and terminology to flex their construction muscles. They analyzed their hands, joints, and fingers and designed prototypes to accomplish two tasks. First, they had to grab an object and move it to a target, next they had to flex and extend the fingers to push an object to the target. Students timed each other rolling the object and then compared results to find the fastest and slowest times. Students walked through the design process, anticipating potential cons of their design so they could engineer it into a solution. They got creative and rethought the concept of a hand and made solutions with 2-5 fingers that articulated to grab and roll the object. Thumbs up for creativity! Using the design process, students collaborated to share their individual concepts then they cooperated to combine winning features to design their group prototype. They divided the build into parts to assign so everyone had a job to complete. The fastest time to roll the object was .75 sec! They discovered thinner strips of plastic make more realistic fingers, but thick pieces have more spring and rebound to push the object further, and strength to grab the object. They troubleshot flaws as they discovered them and worked together to achieve their goal! Some Sharks explored their hands abilities further by rolling an object up a ramp and by testing if they could give each other a well-earned hive five, dap, and fist bump!
