Any ideas for simple and engaging demonstrations for 7-10 year olds??
I have only done this once before on a day's notice, and it wasn't very organized on their part anyway. I had one of them help me mark off 100' with a chain. I then had them learn their paces with a couple walks back and forth. Aside from showing them what we typically set for property corners, the only other thing I had them do was tell me what number they are reading on a level rod through a level. About 15 of them were at our office for only 20 minutes. So, aside from their deficiency of attention, it worked out pretty well for what it was.
Soon, I will be helping out again, but in a bit more organized environment. Unfortunately our Trimble S6's will be out in the field that day with our crews, so I can't use our (likely) most interesting piece of equipment to them. Does anyone have any other creative ideas for something like this? Keep in mind they're all like 8.
Hi Jonathan... I did one of those for cub scouts here in Houma; at that age their attention span is about 3 seconds. I set up a Nikon TS with reflectorless and a laser pointer and let them look through it and take a shot. We had a Marsh Master in so we let them climb on that and sit in a Polaris Ranger, and we showed them some boats. We also showed them a Schonstedt, that got their attention.
They wondered why I couldn't give them rides on the Ranger, which led to a quick discussion of what "insurance" is...
Yea, I was thinking the metal detector might grab their attention for a bit. I think they're doing it at some large church not far from our office on the Westbank. I'm hoping they'll let me put a couple rods or 60d's in the ground for them to find.
If you can get there early take a roll of quarters and hide them in the grass then shoot them with GPS; let each kid try to find one (with help as is necessary, of course).
Take an old refrigerator magnet and cut it up in pieces. Toss the pieces out in the lawn for Schonstedt practice.
I gave a 5-10 minute talk to one of my son's classes many years ago. After talking about mapping science, I passed out some out-of-date navigation charts to each boy in class. Later, as I was getting into my car I noticed something moving out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and saw a 3-foot long paper airplane sailing across the playground.
I suppose I captured somebody's imagination ...
If you have another TS, although not robotic, I think showing them a sketch, shooting the distance and angle from the sketch to find the 60d you set out there somewhere, then using the magnetic locator to check it, and finding the nail would make a good demonstration.
This is probably a bit beyond that age group, but I did a demo for a HS freshman class several years ago (friend is the teacher) where we had two groups intervisible about 1500' apart. I set up a total station with one group and gave the other group a prism/pole. We borrowed some cymbals and had the distant group crash the cymbals (watched through the total station) and timed how long it took the sound to reach us using a stop watch. We repeated it several times and used the average to calculate the speed of sound after measuring the distance between the two locations. We then used the "typical" speed of sound and used that, plus the average time we measured, to calculate the distance compared to what we measured. I think both calculations were well within 10% of "truth" if I recall correctly.
If you have a solar filter for a older station, set it up let them look at sun pass through the scope and ask them if they felt the earth move?
I'm doing a session for the scouts next month. We're limiting the number and age in our groups to ensure no equipment gets damaged. We've already set up a 5 sided traverse area to have them run a traverse and level loop. We'll see how well it goes and may host more sessions.
I would give them each a compass and set up a little course with candy or what ever flips kids trigger these days .
Give them a pacing lesson and a compass lesson and watch the fun ..
Went to my son's 3rd grade class, the robot blew thier minds...but also took in a google maps areial of the school, bunch of tracing paper and masking tape. Had them trace the curbs, walks, buildings...north arrow and date and you got a map.
You could also pull the deed and tax map for scout meeting place, see if they can find any corners with a compass and tape?
Jonathan, it sounds as though you did pretty well the first time, especially on short notice. Here are a few more suggestions to add to the ones above.
I have done half a dozen presentations for elementary school kids, mostly second graders. One thing that has generally worked is a brief demonstration of determining height by trigonometry.
I stick a piece of tape on the wall at a random height, or have one of the kids do that. Then I shoot a vertical angle with an instrument clamped to a table top, measure the horizontal distance and the height of the instrument above the floor, sketch and compute on a whiteboard, and finally measure from the floor to the tape on the wall to show that it works.
I start out by talking about measuring angles, and pass out some protractors to show what angles are, since the kids generally have not studied them at that age. After reading the angle I tell them, "For every angle there is a number called the tangent, and we multiply that by the distance to get the height." The demo takes 10 minutes or so, and seems to be within the attention span of 7- or 8-year-olds.
Demonstrations aside, what they all have most wanted to do is look through instruments, whether levels, total stations, or transits, so the more instruments the better, and old non-functioning guns are fine as long as the scopes work.
Clamping instruments to a table top is a good way to make them accessible to kids, at least if it's a low table like the ones used in elementary classrooms.
I have made mounts starting with a piece of 3/4" plywood about 14" square. I drill a hole through a piece of 2 x 6 and insert a 5/8"-11 x 2" carriage bolt, countersinking the head, and then screw the 2 x 6 onto the plywood with the bolt threads sticking up. Two C-clamps will then hold the plywood to the table, with blocks underneath to keep the clamps from denting the table top.
The height works out pretty well for kids of that age, and it's pretty unlikely they could knock the table over. I put the instruments at the corners, so one table can hold at least two.
It helps to focus the instruments on something before the kids take a look, leave the vertical motion unlocked, and tighten the horizontal motion very lightly, since they will most likely move the scope without unlocking it.
Another item that has been popular is a replica Gunter's chain that I borrowed from the State society. The kids have all seemed to understand my explanation about its use in measuring land, and that the links are units of measurement. Then they take off with the chain and start measuring anything that occurs to them.
I'll bet the Schonstedt would be a big hit. I never tried it since all my presentations were in classrooms.
