The Lower School Student Activity Center became a center of STEM activities (science, technology, engineering, and math) at the recent Maker’s Night. Lower School mothers and sons gathered to enjoy pizza, sodas, and a demonstration from James Kelly. Following this, they spent the evening constructing technology projects with the help of Kelly, who is a technology expert and author of several books. Kelly is also a Whitefield dad of two boys: Decker and Sawyer.
The mother/son teams each built a homopolar motor. Using a few magnets, a single AA battery, and a short bit of copper wire, they placed the battery on top of the magnets and bent the wire into a symmetrical shape. The wire then spun around the battery.
“It takes a little bit of playing around with the wire to get it into a good shape, but many of the moms and boys were able to get it working,” said Kelly.
The groups also built a small pyramid out of a sheet of plastic. They cut out four sides and taped them together, then inverted the creation. Using mobile phones, the mother/son teams projected special videos provided by Kelly onto the sides of the pyramid to see a hologram-like 3D image.
“Maker’s Night is an evening when moms can bond with their sons over what boys enjoy most – making things!” said Jeannie Brostrand. “It is an absolute joy to see moms bent over a project with their sons, while their imaginations soar!”