Our Discovery AfterSchool Instructors share stories from their classes in this guest blog series Discovery AfterSchool Stories. For more information on our AfterSchool Program, please visit – http://wesleyan.edu/greenstreet/youth/afterschool.html. Spring registration is open!
By: Emily Furnival
After a semester of being astronomers, designing spaceships, learning about planets, and looking for extraterrestrial (alien) life, Science Club ended the year with a project a little closer to home. We built two chairs out of nothing but newspaper and tape!
First, we had to learn about the shapes that would allow us to build stable chairs. We tested different ways of folding paper by seeing how many books each shape could hold up. We found out that the best shapes were circular columns and, surprisingly, triangles, because the weight was distributed better in those two shapes. We learned that “trusses,” triangles stuck together to make rectangles, could hold up many books.
And then we were off! Two teams made chairs, each using rolled up newspapers as “columns.” One engineering team focused on columns, while the other focused on triangles.
While making the chairs, the engineers often stopped to test their structures, first with books and then with bodies. They learned how to reinforce weak points and evenly distribute weight. It took two classes, but both chairs were finished, able to hold even the teaching artist and assistant! The chairs were then decorated, and will be available for viewing (and possibly even sitting!) during Solstice.
