Watch the Latest Episode of DESIGN SQUAD — Judy and Adam Aim for the Sky!

Engineers and designers Judy and Adam worked with Felipe, a 15-year-old pilot, to design and build a human-powered flying machine. Their efforts — the basis of last week's DESIGN SQUAD on PBS — had a  little help from NASA.

Click here to read The Hillwood Herald's coverage of Judy and Adam with DESIGN SQUAD. Both Judy and Adam came to Hillwood to be interviewed about their jobs, television shows, and challenges.

Skips in London with DESIGN SQUAD

In the new design squad video a British girl named Mariam and Bert talks about her new idea of where to plant flowers and vegetables.

This new idea is to plant the food and flowers in skips. Skips are basically "big rubbish cans".

This idea is really cool because its recycling and it saves money that people would use to buy pots.

Instead of using feralizer they use worm tea, a mixture made by worms.

Then she and Bert got a bicycle. They used the bicycle to take her fruits and veggies to restaurants. The restaurants then made there food out of the organic home grown veggies.

Since its really hard to bicycle heavy produce to restaurants Mariam and Bert wishes she could find a better way to bring the fruits and vegetables to restaurants.

This is where Judy and Adam come in -- they help to make a dream come true.

First the four them brainstorm and come up with a trailer idea with two bikes attached and protection from smog and pollution.(as shown below).

Then to build the trailer they go...DUMPSTER DIVING!

They find big peices of wood, giant tubes of rubber and much, much more.

They use bakery trays to hold the fruit in the trailer.

And the finished product is shown to the left:

Thank You, Judy and Adam

Read more about Jude and Adam in my post today.

Kick Stick Challenge with Judy and Adam

Judy and Adam, engineers working with PBS Kids DESIGN SQUAD, made a new challenge, called the kick stick. The items that make the kick stick possible are paint sticks, duct tape, a battery holder, a battery, aluminum foil, a washer,wire, a ping-pong ball, and popsicle stick.

The kick stick is like an automatic ping pong ball hitter. First, you stick the washer on the motor. Then put the battery in the battery holder, and connect the wires so the motor will work. Check to see if your washer spins. Tape some paint sticks together to make that the handle on your automatic ping-pong ball hitter. Then attach your motor to the sticks. Make a blade with duct tape or your popsicle stick, by attaching them to the washer connected to the motor. Now see if your blade(s) spin. Now test it out with a ping-pong ball.

You can see Judy and Adams video at the Design Squad website. Also, you can read older Hillwood Herald posts — both Adam and Judy were nice enough to come to Hillwood, so we could interview them for this blog.

On January 26,2011, Judy and Adam will have a new show coming out on PBS Kids T.V. The show will inspire kids to "Dream it,Build it, and Live it." The show is expected to attract families, tweens, and teenagers to watch the show. Over 10 episodes will be premiered with the help of the co-hosts Judy and Adam.

Also, The Hillwood Herald has been reporting on Judy and Adam for the last month. You can read our posts and watch how our challenges went here.

A Big Thank You to Adam and Judy

   

Last Friday, The Hillwood Herald interviewed Adam and Judy. They talked about all the projects they did, such as the moon walk, the hidden alarm, and the newspaper table. All these challenges and more can be found at Sparkfun.org, as well as at PBS DESIGN SQUAD.

Sparkfun, a website that Adam and Judy recommend to us, is basically a website that has all sorts of  hands-on science experiments, from flying ghosts to lillypad class. For those of you who do not know what Lillypad class is, it is a class that is "Just in time for that Halloween costume, SparkFun is offering a LilyPad Basics Workshop!"

This class filled up quickly, but the website's staff decided to open a few more spots. The class takes place on October 21st at 6 PM and is designed with the beginner in mind. We'll explain how to build simple circuits into almost any fabric!"

The picture below is the frount page on the website.  

In the photo to the left, I am building a hidden alarm challenge.

Interview with Adam and Judy!

Today Adam and Judy came to our classroom at Hillwood Academic Day to talk to us for just over an hour. They are mechanical engineers, and mechanical engineers figure out how things works.

Judy and Adam are part of PBS Kids' DESIGN SQUAD, and they have been working with the television show and the website to highlight some design challenges — challenges that kids can do. Judy’s favorite episode of was working with the fashion designers. She liked it because they had a skill she did not have.

Adam and Judy met all sorts of interesting kids with amazing talents — a pilot, a welder, skate- boarders, and fashion designers.

The fashion designers did a fashion competition. Judy and her teammate made a modern dress. They made it out of paper-like material that has been used in making astronaut outfits. They folded the material to made it very compacted. Adam, on the other hand, made a dress that was an evening gown with motors hidden in the dress. When the model pressed a button it turned in to a short cocktail dress.

Adam's favorite episode was in Nicaragua, where they met kids from a school. At this school, instead of a playground, they had a jungle. The kids wanted a playground in the jungle, so Adam and Judy helped them build one. There were swings and lots of other sets.

In January, their show goes live on PBS television, and you can see them building a skate park in Arizona and custom bikes at Crucible in Oakland.

Adam and Judy's Visit

Today Judy and Adam came to our school. They work with the Design Squad Nation, television show on PBS and a website.

Adam and Judy work together to find children who have dreams. These are kids with a dream to create or build something, and Adam and Judy help them make their dream a reality. Once they worked with two kids from New York who wanted to be fashion designers. They also built a playground for Nicaraguan children and a robotic cake.

The crew on Design Squad Nation comes up with the ideas, while Judy and Adam build them. Judy came to this job after her profile was published on a website highlighting female engineers. Adam found the job when Judy asked him if he was interested in the show. They met each other three years ago.

The hardest episode for them was the one where they had to make the dress because they didn't have much time. If you want to be an engineer you need to study math and science. Sometimes, these subjects can be difficult and it may tough to see why they matter. But, as Judy and Adam, explained, they can also be a lot of fun while making a big difference in the world.

Interviewing Judy and Adam

Today, Judy and Adam visited Hillwood, on their way to Pall Alto. We showed them our projects that we made week by week.

The went to New York and competed in a fashion challenge. They were to make dresses with one fashion designer.

They also made a robotic cake that moved, sat, and made noises. They also stated that it was delicious.

Judy and Adam also took a trip to Nicaragua and taught Nicaraguans how to use tools. Then with the help of tools, Judy and Adam, along with about 30 Nicaraguans made a playground for a school.

You can watch their 10 new episodes that will be posted on: http://pbskids.org/designsquad/projects/video.html, soon.

One new project includes a confetti thrower.

What You May Want to Know About Judy

Judy and Adam will be coming to The Hillwood Herald next week, so that we can interview them about their lives and work. We're very curious to hear more, but for now, we are writing short biographies about them.

Judy is an inventor in the IDEO Palo Alto office. You can learn how to make cool inventions on the PBS Kids website, where she works on DESIGN SQUAD. Before going to IDEO she worked as an Mechanical Engineer for Underwriters Laboratories. Judy was a student in North Carolina State
University. When she was a graduate, she worked on inventions that might interest children. One invention she designed is a product in IKEA.

Some of the questions we will as Judy next include:

• When did you meet Adam?
• Are you good friends with him?
• When did you get the idea of inventing? Why?
• Is it a fun job or is it frustrating?
• Did you enjoy inventing when you were a child?
• When did you want to become an engineer? How did you know that was the career for you?
• Are there many female engineers? Why or why not?
• Is it harder for girls to become engineers?

By Anya and Rubina.

Questions for Adam and Judy

Next Friday, PBS Kids' DESIGN SQUAD's Judy and Adam will be visiting The Hillwood Herald. As news reporters for the blog, we'll be interviewing them about who they are, what they do, and how they came to create all these challenges for PBS Kids.org. We're also going to be able to show them all the projects we have made with their neat ideas.

Here are some questions that I will ask them:

1. Why did our hidden alarm work with 1 AA battery and none of the others did?
2. What made you two decide to create this show?
3. At any point, did you two either get so frustrated or bored that you gave up on the project?
4. What was the hardest project you two did?
5. How long has this show been running for?

Hidden Alarm Success (Finally!)

Anya and I, Rubina, made a hidden alarm in a pizza box. We connected the alarm to the pizza box opener "tab" that is used to open the box. And when we tried opening the box, the buzzer started buzzing. You can watch the video below to see our hidden alarm in action.

When Judy and Adam come to Hillwood to be interviewed, we will ask them these questions:

• Did you guys think of doing these experiments?
• How did you get the buzzer to work with the AA batteries?
• Do you guys have fun when you do those videos with all of those experiments?
• How long does it take to invent these experiments?
• What inspired you to start inventing?

Written by Rubina H. and Anya J.

Pop Fly Challenge

Today Alysen and I did something called the Pop Fly Challenge, from PBS Kids DESIGN SQUAD that features science and technology based projects that Judy and Adam put together.

The Pop Fly Challenge is a thing where you build a design to launch ping pong balls high enough to catch.We even caught the launched ping-pong ball in a cup.

Our launcher was a paint stirrer on top of a paper cup.The paint stirrer had a ping-pong ball on one end and nothing on the other so it looked sort of like a see-saw. At one end of the paint stirrer there was a little piece of paper. We would lean the ping pong ball on the paper then hit the other end of the paint stirrer and the ping pong ball would go flying.

At first the paint stirrer was laying on the cup when we launched it and Alysen caught it. Then we pushed the paint stirrer up a little more, it went even higher. When we finally pushed it to the highest point, the ping pong ball whacked the ceiling and I caught it.

You could try the pop fly challenge and tons of other cool experiments at the PBS Kids DESIGN SQUAD website.

On October 22nd, Adam and Judy from the Design Squad are coming in to Hillwood to talk to us and see our experiments! We will be interviewing them about their work and their experiments.

The picture above to the left is Adam and Judy's launcher. The picture to the right is mine and Alysen's launcher.

The above is a video of the Pop Fly Challenge.

Our Last Story on Adam and Judy

Students: Faryn and Camryn

This will be our last article, at least for now, on Judy and Adam. This week, you will be announcing and previewing the upcoming show on national TV.

Use the press release below, as well as information from the PBS Kids' DESIGN SQUAD website for writing your story. Remember to include links, photos, and source material. If you have time, make an Animoto video about their visit to Hillwood.



Design Squad Hits the Road with
Design Squad Nation, Premiering January 26,
2011 on PBS KIDS GO!


New Series Addresses the Need for Engineering Education by
Encouraging Kids to Dream it. Build it. Live it.
(Boston, MA, Tuesday, November 16, 2010) – Premiering Wednesday,
January 26, 2011 (check local listings), the producers of the Peabody and Emmy
Award-winning engineering and reality competition series Design Squad take their
show on the road with a new spin-off series for ‘tweens, teens, and family-viewing—
Design Squad Nation. Over 10 episodes, engineer co-hosts Judy Lee and Adam
Vollmer travel across the country and around the world, working side by side with
kids to turn their dreams into reality. Whether it is a red-carpet worthy gown for
Project Runway’s Christian Siriano, or a playground for kids in a rural village high in
Nicaragua’s northern mountains, Design Squad Nation shows that engineering isn’t
about hiding away in some lab; it’s about being active in the world, taking risks,
collaborating with interesting people, and using science, math, and technology to
solve real problems.


Design Squad Nation takes a kid’s passion, combines it with engineering, and shows
how to create an array of engineering feats—a cake that is part delicious, part
electronic, and part mad scientist for the cast party of Young Frankenstein: The
Musical; a pedal-powered bike organ; a human-powered flying machine, and more.
Wish you could help the world conserve water? Have a dream of an
invention that can improve someone’s life? Design Squad Nation shows kids
that if they can dream it, they can build it.


In the series premiere, “Apache Skateboarders,” Judy and Adam team up with
Ronnie—a 17-year-old skateboarder from the White Mountain Apache Reservation in
Whiteriver, Arizona to build a skateboarding street course. Engineered to be modular,
durable, and weather-resistant, the skate park includes a pyramid deck, hubbas
(ledges to grind on), and “The Wave” (an angled grind box). With the help of Design
Squad Nation, Ronnie and his friends create a skate park of their dreams.


“More than a TV show, and more than a website, Design Squad Nation is a growing
community built around the belief that with creative problem-solving and engineering,
any kid can make a difference,” says Executive Producer Marisa Wolsky. “Through a
network of more than 5,000 engineering and education partners around the country,
we are working to make this community bigger and stronger, inspiring a new
generation of engineers to dream big and change the world.”


“Kids will see Design Squad Nation and be absolutely amazed at all of the different
ways that engineering can be a part of their world,” says co-host Adam Vollmer. Adds
co-host Judy Lee, “We hope the show and website will get kids thinking about what
sorts of problems and challenges they would like to solve, and to see engineering as
a way to have fun while innovating for the future.”


Design Squad Nation builds on Design Squad’s mission to increase student’s
knowledge of engineering and to improve the public image of engineering, especially
among girls and minorities. The project is a direct response to the critical societal
need to attract more students to engineering and technology studies and careers.
From Design Squad to Design Squad Nation


A reality competition show that was launched in 2007 by the producers of Zoom and
FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman, Design Squad had the goal of getting viewers excited
about engineering. It worked. After researching the impact of the TV series, website,
and educator’s guide, an independent evaluator found a significant jump in young
people’s learning and a uniformly positive, enthusiastic response from viewers,
educators, and kids. Design Squad aired for three seasons and was hosted by Nate
Ball.


Shifting away from the reality competition format of Design Squad, the Design Squad
Nation spin-off takes the engineering and building fun of the original series and
brings it directly to kids around the country and the globe. From conception to
finished product, Design Squad Nation combines engineering know-how with kids’
passions to create amazing things that improve people’s lives.
Design Squad Nation Online at pbskidsgo.org/designsquadnation
The Design Squad Nation website is a destination for creative ‘tweens and teens,
promoting the message: You are creative and can solve problems. You can make
things that help people. We want you to join the Design Squad Nation. Let's dream
big. Let's build something together.


On the site, kids can work alongside co-hosts Judy Lee and Adam Vollmer, posting
real-life solutions to real-life problems and responding to challenges from the show
by sketching and building their own prototypes. The Design Squad Nation Blog
features inspiring engineering and DIY content from across the Web. The blog will
engage with the Design Squad Nation community directly by including calls to action,
how-to challenges, aspirational examples of kid-made content on the site, and firstperson
video and messages from Judy and Adam—sharing both the fun and the
failures that are a part of the design process. Already, more than 12,000 kids are
engaged, actively creating and sharing content in our online community. Design
Squad Nation invites the next generation of great thinkers to get involved at
pbskidsgo.org/designsquadnation. Viewers also can follow Design Squad Nation on
Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DesignSquadNation and on Twitter at
twitter.com/designsquadnation.


About Co-Hosts Judy Lee and Adam Vollmer
Directing the action of Design Squad Nation are mechanical engineers Judy Lee and
Adam Vollmer.


As a child growing up in Cary, North Carolina, Judy loved taking things apart to see
how they work. With the support of her family (her dad is a civil engineer), that love
eventually led to a mechanical engineering degree at North Carolina State University.
After college, Judy harnessed her engineering skills on a wide range of projects—from
designing children’s toys to creating medical devices to providing clean water to
slums in Kenya to testing and destroying products to ensure their safety. Prior to her
work on Design Squad Nation, Judy was profiled on WGBH’s Engineer Your Life and
will appear in an upcoming segment of NOVA’s Secret Life of Scientists and
Engineers Web series. Judy now works at her dream job as a product designer at
IDEO, an international design and innovation firm in Palo Alto, CA. When she’s not onair
brainstorming and building, Judy can be found in San Francisco remodeling her
new home, growing fresh fruits and veggies in her garden, riding a big wheel down
the nation’s windiest street, or playing with her pug, Rosie.


Growing up in Portland, Oregon, Adam wanted to be an astronaut, a LEGO engineer
(before he knew what an engineer was), or…a dinosaur hunter. Thanks to a BS in
mechanical engineering at Stanford and a MS at MIT, Adam has been able to do
most of these things and more. “I played with LEGOs all the way up through grad
school. I worked with NASA during the filming of Design Squad Nation. But I’m still on
the lookout for dinosaurs. I hope to find one soon.” Adam is currently a mechanical
engineer at the international design and innovation firm IDEO in Palo Alto, CA. In
previous jobs, he’s worked in biotech, designed micro electro-mechanical devices,
programmed (and driven) semi-trucks, and built parts for the one of the world’s
biggest physics experiments at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Outside of
work, you’re likely to find Adam on his own handmade bicycle, climbing up a
mountain (or skiing down one), or exploring new corners of the world.
Funding for Design Squad Nation


Design Squad Nation is produced by WGBH Boston. Major funding for Design Squad
Nation is provided by the National Science Foundation. Series funding is provided by
the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA), Northrop Grumman
Foundation, and The Lemelson Foundation. Additional funding is provided by Noyce
Foundation, United Engineering Foundation (ASCE, ASME, AIChE, IEEE, AIME),
Motorola Foundation, and IEEE.

Write a Feature Story About Adam and Judy

Think back to last week. What were the highlights from The Hillwood Herald interview with Adam and Judy? What were the most memorable parts for you?

Write at least 15 sentences reporting on their visit to the classroom. Include photos, and remember to answer the five W's of a news story. You may also want to consult the PBS Kids DESIGN SQUAD website for background information.

We will be making a thank you video for Adam and Judy. Think about one aspect of their work or visit for which you would like to thank them.

Report on the White House Science Fair

Listen to President Obama's speech below (you may also want to watch Judy and Adam's video below, as it's related). Go to the website of the White House for additional information. Then write a news story about. Remember to answer the five W's of a good news story. Also, do not forget to include labels, links, video, and photos in your post.

Adam and Judy spent a week in Boston working with three kids for Design Squad Nation's Trash to Treasure competition.  MaryAnn, Lilly and Daniel were the three grand prize winners for this year’s competition.  

The following is from Judy. Write an article about the contest, embed the video, and then include information from below. Remember to put it your own words. 
But wait it gets better!

MaryAnn and Lilly had the great opportunity to take their inventions to the White House Science fair on Monday, which brought together winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering, and math competitions from around the country.

The White House chose to showcase MaryAnn and her Smarter Toilet. MaryAnn’s trip to the White House Science Fair was an amazing success!  Every White House staffer that spoke with MaryAnn said that “The Smarter Toilet” was their favorite invention at the fair.  MaryAnn also got to meet the new head of NSF and his family.

To top it all off, at the end of the day, both MaryAnn and Lilly got to shake President Obama’s hand, and MaryAnn even got the President to sign a note excusing her from school that day!  

Report on the Adventures of Adam and Judy

Adam and Judy spent a week in Boston working with three kids for Design Squad Nation's Trash to Treasure competition.  MaryAnn, Lilly and Daniel were the three grand prize winners for this year’s competition.  





The following is from Judy. Write an article about the contest, embed the video, and then include information from below. Remember to put it your own words.
But wait it gets better!

MaryAnn and Lilly had the great opportunity to take their inventions to the White House Science fair on Monday, which brought together winners of a broad range of science, technology, engineering, and math competitions from around the country.

The White House chose to showcase MaryAnn and her Smarter Toilet. MaryAnn’s trip to the White House Science Fair was an amazing success!  Every White House staffer that spoke with MaryAnn said that “The Smarter Toilet” was their favorite invention at the fair.  MaryAnn also got to meet the new head of NSF and his family.

To top it all off, at the end of the day, both MaryAnn and Lilly got to shake President Obama’s hand, and MaryAnn even got the President to sign a note excusing her from school that day!  

Tell PBK Kids About Your Design Squad Antics

Students: Everyone

Go to the contact form on the PBS Kids website, and tell the DESIGN SQUAD team about your experiences at Hillwood with Adam and Judy. Include links to all of your Hillwood Herald articles from the DESIGN SQUAD experiments. (If you consistently included your name and "design squad" as a label you can simply search for those word for all of your related work.) Be sure to let the DESIGN SQUAD team know what worked best. Also, write about your favorite part of speaking with either Judy or Adam. Speak with Ms. Moorhead before you send in your comments.

An Update from Judy Lee

Students: Anya, Faryn, Angela

Inventors Digest recently interviewed Judy Lee about her life as an engineer in a world dominated by men. Read the article, and write a news story with highlights and information from the interview. Judy gives a lot  of great advice to young students, especially girls, who might be interested in engineering. Include all that information, as well as links to The Herald's previous posts about Judy Lee and her work on Design Squad.

Remember to include images, as well as a reminder about the upcoming Design Squad broadcast. Here is some information to pull from:

PBS Kids Go! will launch the new Design Squad Nation (10 episodes) series, a spin-off of the engineering-focused kids competition series Design Squad, Wednesday, January 26, 2011 (check local listings).  Targeted to tweens/teens/families, Design Squad Nation will follow engineer co-hosts Judy Lee and Adam Vollmer as they travel across the country and around the world working with kids to get active, take risks, collaborate with different people and use science, math, and technology to solve real problems and create things.  The Design Squad Nation website features activities corresponding to challenges on the show to figure out solutions.  The site also features a blog with a range of engineering and DIY content from across the web.  Viewers can also follow Design Squad Nation on Facebook and Twitter.