Scribbling machine

“The process of becoming stuck and then “unstuck” is the heart of tinkering. It is in this process that authorship, purpose, and deep understanding of the materials and phenomena are developed (p.55).” This is how Petrich, Wilkinson and Bevan (2013) argue for the significance of tinkering and also what exactly characterized my tinkering experience with the “scribbling machine”.

My first attempt to make it move was a total failure. During the MILL session, I was so frustrated by my inability to make a moving machine and the frustration was even more exacerbated when I heard the crazy buzzing sound of the motors from other people’s successful endeavors, which were invariably accompanied by the equally crazy exclamations of celebration (Yeah!). I was stuck dead. But I didn’t accept defeat!

I took the motor and battery back home and they kept me engaged for a whole afternoon and the following day. This agreed with the finding reported by Petrich et al. (2013) again: “We find that as learners become comfortable with moments when their understanding is challenged by the results of their own designs, they become more engaged, spend more time investigating and/or constructing, and take ownership for and build confidence in their ability to learn and understand (p.56).” The unrelenting scrutinizing following my frustration brought with it a breakthrough.  I realized that I misunderstood the function of the motor by assuming that it would motivate the device by vibrating. A close examination of it revealed that the thin axis sticking out can rotate, a simple fact that other students might have noticed much earlier than I did. This was a great feature I could use for propelling. So I attached a wheel to the axis and when the motor was connected with the battery, the wheel turned around. But this was still far from success.

 The problem I needed to solve at this stage was to mount the wheel and motor on something that can also hold a marker. I found myself stuck for quite a few times before I finally came up with a working design. The problem that prevented me from going forward was the size of the wheel, which I found in the lab and from which I would have to improvise. I tried several kinds of materials, and they were either too thin and weak to hold the marker, the motor and the battery, or so thick that the wheel was hold in the air without being able to touch the floor in order to propel. Even after I reached the design shown in the video below, which was a near success, there were still some adjustments to do, such as the angle of the marker, the place where it could be ideally attached and the length it was allowed to protrude. 

Success finally came!

After this attempt, I leveraged the function of the turning wheel and extended it into another different design, as shown in the following video.

In doing this project, I experienced the process of inspiration, creativity, frustration, and breakthrough as was described by Petrich et al.  I was driven by a general goal but I was not sure how to get there at first.  It was through a constant conversation with the materials (Resnick & Rosenbaum, 2013, p.165) that I developed a growing understanding of them and learned to improvise with what was currently available. For example, I found it very inconvenient to attach the cable to the battery with a small piece of duck tape every time I wanted the scribbler to work. So I came up with an idea of using an alligator mouth shaped clip (something we found in the MILL) as a switch to facilitate the connection.

 I would like to quote Resnick and Rosenbaum to conclude my experience in this tinkering project. “We see tinkering as a playful style of designing and making, where you constantly experiment, explore, and try out new ideas in the process of creating something (p.165).”  

References

Resnick, M., & Rosenbaum, E. (2013). Designing for tinkerability. In M. Honey & D.E. Hunter (Eds.), Design, make, play: Growing the next generation of STEM innovators (pp. 163-181). London: Routledge.

Petrich, M., Wilkinson K., & Bevan, B. (2013). It looks like fun, but are they learning? In M. Honey & D. Hunter (Eds.), Design, make, play: Growing the next generation of STEM innovators (pp.50-70). London: Routledge.