Visiting the library and reading books are two of my favorite pastimes and I’ve tried to instill the same appreciation in my children. Every year I look forward to the children’s summer reading program and this year I was delighted to see the theme was “Fizz Boom Read!”– a blend of reading and science and technology-related programming.
My local library embraced the science theme and invited a hands-on STEM learning center, Einstein’s Workshop, to host some really cool science workshops. When I saw that one of the events was advertised as “join us for some water-powered fun” and “build your own hydraulic lift”, I immediately signed my daughter up. Einstein’s Workshop is a relatively new company in the area and while I haven’t visited their on-site location, I was curious to see what the class was all about, so I joined my daughter and her friend and watched from the sidelines.
The class was available to kids 10 years and up and 16 arrived for the 90 minute class. The instructors, Neil and Naman, were friendly, helpful and very easy-going– the perfect traits for teaching teenagers. They kicked off the class with a brief overview about hydraulic machinery– using liquid to apply force in a direction– and how it might be used, e.g., in irrigation and construction.
The instructors proceeded to walk the kids through, step-by-step, how to build their own mini hydraulic lifts using pieces of wooden pegs, dowels, screws, threads and bases. The kids were patient and attentive and about an hour later were rewarded when they got to test their lifts using water-powered syringes that raised and lowered their wooden platforms.
I was impressed with the structures they build, and that they got insight into how hydraulics, physics and mechanical engineering worked together. Most importantly, the class got a positive review by my daughter and her friend.
I was curious to understand Einstein’s Workshop’s philosophy for developing this class, so I talked with Neil after the workshop. He said “his main objective was simple- to have students complete a basic hands-on mechanical-engineering project and understand the scientific concepts behind how and why it works, thereby providing the students with a positive experience that they could feel proud of.”
That was my takeaway too– I loved that the kids got to learn by doing and come away with something tangible. Neil also added that “ultimately, the goal of the course was to spark interest in students, and urge them to continue through their education with a ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool; Wasn’t as tough as I expected it to be’ attitude.”
I really liked Einstein’s Workshop approach because it introduced mechanical engineering concepts with a hands-on, approachable manner. The class wasn’t intimidating. Neil explained that this was intended to be “an informal course, in which students know that they are there simply to ‘learn and do’, without evaluation or competition, allowing the students to think of the course as a ‘fun activity where I may learn something!’ rather than a source of pressure and stress.” I couldn’t have agreed more and think that kids benefit when they get to work in a collaborative environment.
Based on my experience with Einstein’s Workshop, I would definitely visit their onsite location in Burlington, MA and would consider signing up for a structured class like robotics or computer programming. If you live in the Boston area, you can view their full list of classes on their website at www.einsteinsworkshop.com.
