Hydroelectric Generator Project - Day 1 - Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Today we started building our Hydroelectric Generator. Our whole group together started off by gluing a blue diagram sheet to a cardboard sheet. We then cut out the diagram circles which were now connected to the cardboard sheet. Although this sounds pretty simple, we came along some bumps in the road. Like when we were trying to cut we were accidently ripping some of the paper, and we were also having trouble getting the Exacto knife to cut through the cardboard sheet. We then broke up into different smaller groups. 1 of the groups started off by gluing magnets to one of the diagram circles on the magnet's either north or south side, depending on what the diagram showed. We then set that aside. Another group was working on wrapping coil wire around 200 times each. But they had to wrap 3 things around 200 times each, making it pretty hard. That group had a lot of pressure on them because each of the things had to have the exact same amount of coil wire, so if one of the things had 201 wraps, it could make the whole generator not work. This group had trouble keeping track of the numbers and making sure that the wire was wrapping around it correctly. That group also had a lot of distractions going on around them, forcing it to be even harder for them to concentrate, but they did it, and they did it correctly. The other group was working on cutting slits in a cork and cutting up spoons. After they made about  7 slits, they stuck the scoop part of each spoon into the the slits and hot glued them there. Some trouble they had in that group was when they were cutting the slits into the cork, the cork started falling apart, but they resolved that problem by hot gluing the cork together, so that it would stay as they were inserting the spoons. Another one of the groups started creating ideas for the trifold board. Although it was also hard for them because the trifold board needs some sort of interactive thing, or 3-d thing, or something that will catch people's attention and will help them learn about it on a fun way. So that is what we did today and I'm sure that tomorrow will be harder and we will come across some more trouble along the way.