April 28, 2004
Students build tower of power
Idea Factory works on project with Community Learning Center
By
Herald staff writer
What can you do with 10 sheets of newspaper and two yards of masking tape? - Build a one meter tower, able to support one of a variety of balls, for at least five seconds.
Students in the Traverse Heights Community Learning Center's after school program proved that point when they took on the "Lebowski Challenge" last week.
The challenge, which uses basic engineering and design concepts, was presented by the Idea Factory, a group of 11th and 12th-grade students from the Manufacturing Technology Academy at M-TEC.
Children in preschool through sixth-grade, worked in teams to design, build and test their towers with the help of youth leaders.
"It is about working together as a team, coming up with an idea and working it until you get it right," said Ray Stone, a senior from M-TEC and Kalkaska High School as he gave instructions to the young engineers.
With their task in mind, teams experimented with various ways to roll, fold and stack paper trying to come up with a winning idea.
"We used three legs to make a tripod with a cone in the middle," said sixth-grader Jenna. "I thought it was fun to be able to create something and work together as a team.
Teamwork is what brought The Idea Factory to the Traverse Heights youngsters last week. The program, a science and engineering after-school program created by the Great Lakes Children's Museum in partnership with the Manufacturing Technology Academy, was originally held in the museum.
The program was recently expanded to offer the experience at Community Learning Centers in area elementary schools through the support of Sunrise Rotary.
"We were so happy to have the Idea Factory come in today. It gives the children a chance to be a part of something that they might not necessarily be able to be part of otherwise, in a comfortable after-school environment," said Community Learning Center coordinator, Kim Forsyth.