Medusa is complete!

Kayla, Jenn, and I, Rubina, have finally finished Medusa. She is an exercise catapult. You fling her by using your own arm strength and if you do that for a while, you might develop some serious arm muscles. Jenn has experienced this muscle work and knows what it feels like.

That is our catapult. Medusa and her Minions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Written by: Rubina

The Hillwood Hearald Takes On the Design Squad Challenge

Today is the day we finish up our PBS Design Squad Challenges. We will be uploading videos of our contraptions, as well as a description about our teams and design and engineering plans.

The questions we will be answering are: 

• Tell us about your team. 
(What's your team name/story? Who's on your team?)

• Describe your project. 
(What activity did you build big and why? How did you build it?)

Here is a video from last week:

Medusa and Her Team.

Our team is called "Medusa and her Minions". Our team consists of Jennifer, Kayla, and Rubina. We are making a huge pop-fly for PBS Kids. Our whole group goes to Hillwood. Our pop-fly is going to be made out of

• Bungee Cords
• Planks of Wood
• Paint
• Nails
• Hot Glue Gun

Next week we are going to make the form and the week after that we are going to paint the invention. Then, our pop-fly is going to be done and we will present it and see if it even works.
Our pop-fly is going to be 3.5 feet long and 4.0 feet wide.

Our whole team has seem Judy and Adam and we have submitted some of our other mini works to PBS Kids. Our whole class, 5-6, has interviewed Judy and Adam.

For more information about Judy and Adam posts that we made, you can just type in Design Squad or read this post.

WATCH THE LASTEST EPISODE OF DESIGN SQUAD-Judy and Adam Aim For The Sky!

Written By: Rubina, Kayla, and Jennifer.

Friday Assignments

Congratulations, everyone — the yearbook is headed to the printer. What were a few of the last-minute changes? A change of uniform:

Today, we will settle on our PBS Kids Design Squad entry and make the supply shopping list. We will divide up into two teams: Anya, one team will be making your design; Nikita, Jay, and Erion, you three will combine your designs into one.

Each team should answer the following questions from the entry page (first answer them in a blog post; next week, we will include them when we upload our entries):

• Tell us about your team.
  (What's your team name/story? Who's on your team?)
  
• Describe your project.
  (What activity did you build big and why? How did you build it?)

If we have time, we will watch a TED video about a 14-year-old Malawian boy who built a windmill to power his family's home. Now at 24, William Kamkwamba, who spoke at TED, shares in his own words the moving tale of invention that changed his life.

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.

Making the Kinetic Sculpture Move

Today, Faryn and I made a kinetic sculpture, which is one of the DESIGN SQUAD challenges. It took a lot of brain power, but we somehow managed to make a sculpture that only somewhat failed.

We started out not knowing how in the world we could make something that could spin by just blowing on it. At first, we had an idea with pipe cleaners until Faryn had one of her famous ideas and we decided to use paper cups. It didn't look so pretty, but it worked. Also, it took a lot of time and effort. Typically, challenges that look easy to make are not so easy!

At first I thought maybe we should cut out a swirly type pattern out of colored paper, but Faryn had an idea that we could maybe use the metal washers to hold up something that could spin with the power of wind. We tried to connect the paper cups to the metal washers, but it just wouldn't stick. Then we tried colored beads around two centimeters long to attach the washers to and, well let's just say they worked and our sculpture includes colorful beads.

Design Squad is made up of two engineers named Judy and Adam (see photo to the right) who help kids create their dreams through engineering. On their website at PBS Kids, Judy and Adam have lots of different challenges that you can try and plenty of videos for you to watch. You can read about The Hillwood Herald interview with Judy and Adam here.

You can watch the latest episode of DESIGN SQUAD on the website. Also, don't missing seeing Judy and Adam in person at the nearby Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of Berkeley.

• WHAT: Meet Design Squad Nation hosts Judy and Adam, watch sneak peeks of new episodes, and try engineering challenges inspired by the show!  
• WHEN: Saturday, February 26th  from 11:00 am-4:00 pm 
• WHERE: Lawrence Hall of Science 

For more information, visit www.lawrencehallofscience.org.

Photo credits: PBS Kids (top and bottom photos), The Hillwood Herald (middle photo)

The Awesome Rubber Band Car Wins!

Erion, Nikita, and I made a rubber band car. We made it differently from the directions told us to, because we wanted it to behave differently. We also had some ideas about how we might make it better. You can read the basic instructions on the PBS Kids website.

Deviating from the directions worked for us! We beat Jake and Zeke's rubber band powered car in a race. The car was fast and could last, or run, a long. We used putty, duct tape, skewers, faucet washers, CDs, and a rubber band to make the vehicle. The cardboard was 5 by 6 inches long. The rubber band car had a extra pair of wheels and customized wheels.

The following video clip shows a giant rubber band car made for humans to ride. It is from the Makers' Faire in Austin. The two DESIGN SQUAD engineers are not Adam or Judy. Rather, they are hosts from an earlier season of the show.

Rubber Band Car Pushed to the Limit

This week, The Hillwood Herald has a new reporter, Zeke, who has just started at the school. Together, we built a rubber band car.

Building a rubber band car is pretty easy (click for directions). Our car beat the other team once, but then our car fell apart. We had a lot of fun building it and also got some video and pictures of it, which will be posted on the site over the next few days. Now our car is all in pieces. Fortunately, it only took about fifteen minutes to build, and it was worth it.

We got the idea from Design Squad on PBS Kids. The project ended up being a lot of fun. If really was a challenge, but one we did quickly.

We built our car by first making a body out of a cut out of a piece of cardboard. Then we put a skewer through the piece of cardboard. From there, we put two CD's on the skewers and stuck them to the skewer with putty. Finally, we attached a rubber band to the body and skewer and it worked. We won twice and the other team lost both times.

By Jake and Zeke

The Dance Pad for Ants

Today Alysen, Erion, and I made the dance pad from the dance pad mania challenge from Design Squad.

The problem was we created it so small that it was basically a dance pad for ants. We decided to make that our prototype and then make a new one next Friday.

The next one will be a bit bigger and a lot stronger. Alysen was a lot of help and so was Erion with help duct tape and keep track of all the wires. It was a bit challenging to create, but in the end we were happy with what we made. We made it by taking one battery and running four wires to each end of the batteries. We attached two of those wires to a light and two to a buzzer. The light barely turned on but the buzzer worked fine. We the duct tapped everything together and then duct taped it to a small piece of cardboard.

Construct A Cake on PBS Kids's DESIGN SQUAD

Today, I went on PBS Kids and had a chance to sketch a cake. On the website, you can log on and pick a wish that says, "I wish I could make a cake that moves." You can then sketch a cake that you think might be able to move. You can be as creative as you desire. Like I did, my cake was a cake that an alien had crash-landed in from mars. Other people took a more literal approach -- and like Judy and Adam of DESIGN SQUAD -- actually used some engineering know-how to make theirs.

DESIGN SQUAD is made up of Judy and Adam.

Judy and Adam were the two who helped engineer a cake that could move. Judy and Adam also have lots of other videos where they construct other things that are loads of fun.

Judy and Adam's main purpose is to help regular kids construct their dreams through engineering.

Here at The Hillwood Herald, we had the awesome opportunity of meeting Judy and Adam. We also got to talk to them about how they got the ideas to make all of their amazing creations. You can read my post about their in-classroom visit and the Herald interview here.

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.

Judy and Adam's Visit with The Herald

Today, on the celebration of Halloween, Judy and Adam, who have been creating design challenges for PBS Kids' DESIGN SQUAD,  took time out of their day to come and talk to us! Judy and Adam are both mechanical engineers who also have a show for kids where they make experiments and film them to show kids everywhere how to build all of the projects they made on the video. As I've written before on The Herald, these projects have been pretty fun. As reporters for The Herald, we asked  Judy and Adam about their inventions, and we showed them the inventions we made. We also interviewed them to figure out some of their favorite times on the show. (Their actual show on PBS airs in January, with a confetti launcher, but many of their challenges are already online at the DESIGN SQUAD website.)

It was very interesting to hear about all of the projects they made and all the places they got to visit to make the projects. Both Judy and Adam went to New York, where they got to make dresses for a fashion show. The dresses were made with mechanics inside of the dress to make the dress shorter.

They also got to go to Nicaragua to help build a playground for a school that had a jungle in front of it instead of a play structure. They even went to Boston to made a cake that got up and actually walked around! It was seriously mind-blowing.

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.

Design Squad Hidden Buzzer Failed

Jennifer and I tried to make the DESIGN SQUAD Hidden Buzzer by getting a piece of cardboard, tin foil, double A battery, masking tape, scissors, buzzers.

We took the wires from the buzzer  and put the wires up against the sides of the battery. It didn't WORK! It vibrated, like you could feel the energy. But it didn't make any noise. Making noise is what it was supposed to do.

Jen is trying to see if the wires from the buzzer need to be more exposed. We learned that masking tape works better than duct tape.

I hope it will make noise next week — we'll try it again.

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.

PBS Kids: Get Ready to Interview the DESIGN SQUAD's Adam and Judy

You will be doing the Moon Walker Challenge (remember to watch the video and follow the project instructions — and to link to these pages). You will also be writing a bio about either Judy or Adam. Review your interview questions, as well.

Adam and Judy have helped with several of the show's episodes, and together, they created several challenges for kids. Click to the PBS Kids site, and play around on the website. 

Read the ABOUT page, and write a story about what the DESIGN SQUAD website is trying to do. In your article, you should introduce who Adam and Judy are. Include the information that they will be coming to Hillwood either in person or by iChat to be interviewed. 

If you finish early:

• Make an Animota video highlighting your DESIGN SQUAD work.
• Or make a Halloween picture using Picnik. (See image of Clinton, the albino cat, above.)
• Use the website Flower Power to make an illustration, or image, for The Herald. 

More DESIGN SQUAD Challenges!

Today, we will have a special guest, Lindsey Z. She has been tapped for San Francisco's Secret Society for Creative Philanthropy. She'll be here to tell us about this organization and what it might mean for the upper-grade class.

Feel free to visit the DESIGN SQUAD website to view briefly the latest episode. Then, begin your next DESIGN SQUAD Challenge. REMEMBER to photograph it with the digital camera, so it can be uploaded to the DESIGN SQUAD site later. 

Kinetic Sculpture
Click on the link to the video on the right-hand side of the page. Slide the video bar to the time stamp of 26:21, and then watch Judy and Adam make their Kinetic Sculpture. 

• Angela
• Faryn
• Clara
• Alysen 
• Jake
• Zeke
• Camryn (Yes, Camryn, we're still posting possible assignments for you! You can easily do this challenge.)

Motorized Car
Group 1:

• Anya (try to save time to write about Judy's pug's fashion show [scroll down the page])
• Rubina (try to save time to write about the Toodala Ramblers and Hillwood kids performance)
• Jennifer

Group 2:

• Nikita
• Jay
• Erion

If you have time, email the show feedback about what you like most about the show.

http://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/resources/motorized_car.html

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.