Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology

#1

Post by dv35z » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 3:42 PM UTC

Hello! I need some tech “show and tell” ideas for 5th graders.

I've been asked to come to a 5th grade (ages 10-11) at a school with mostly underprivileged kids, from low income, immigrant families. The presenters are encouraged to do a cool "show and tell" about their job, get the kids excited etc. For example, I heard a lawyer set up a fictional courtroom and gave the kids a script to perform. A baker came in and had the kids decorate cupcakes. A FBI agent came in and let the kids try on a bulletproof vest & an FBI windbreaker.

I'm a software engineer, now R&D product manager at a cloud platform software company. Aside from programming, I'm into video games, photography, video editing, drones, and similar techy/creative hobbies.

I'd love to hear what ideas you all might have to totally wow some kids, get them excited about science/tech... And obviously out-wow any firemen, FBI agents, that might be presenting. Give me a fighting chance anyway!!

Thanks!

Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology

#2

Post by gshdg » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 5:18 PM UTC

Can you create something interactive and put it on a tablet for them to pass around and play with?

Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology

#3

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jun 01, 2019, 6:36 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology

#4

Post by rooam-dev » Sun, Jun 02, 2019, 10:06 AM UTC

Some kind of software controlled drone/robot should do it, since there are 2 parts, software and hardware.

Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology

#5

Post by hhvvvvv » Sun, Jun 02, 2019, 4:55 PM UTC

rooam-dev wrote: post #4

Some kind of software controlled drone/robot should do it, since there are 2 parts, software and hardware.

Perhaps using a Raspberry Pi and leveraging CV / NLP off the shelf tools.

Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology

#6

Post by lamchob » Mon, Jun 03, 2019, 7:39 AM UTC

Something we used for "tech-days" at our university, when 8th to 10th graders came to visit, was a robot following a black line on the floor, built with Lego Minsotrm. A set includes the base unit w/ two engines and some sensors, which should be enough to build a simple robot.

After we explained the algorithm how the robot can follow the line by keeping the line between it's to photo sensors, we let them implement and experiment on their own. The programming GUI is intuitive and works with function blocks that can be customized and linked together.

Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology

#7

Post by 40acres » Mon, Jun 03, 2019, 3:40 PM UTC

I have run similar workshops and find that kids this age respond to technology that they can "program" in the broader sense. Setting up a microboard with LED lights that they can change via manipulation of switches or simple programming, and things of that nature. Programming is so abstract, I find kids respond to making it concrete.

Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology

#8

Post by oulipo » Mon, Jun 03, 2019, 3:43 PM UTC

You can take a look at what we are building at https://snips.ai to do a 100% on-device and private-by-design Voice AI, it works in english, french, german, japanese, spanish, italian, and more coming

It is 100% free for makers, and it is very easy to build your own voice assistants which work with it. I'm sure that the kids will love it ;)

Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology

#9

Post by pryelluw » Mon, Jun 03, 2019, 3:45 PM UTC

Ive done something similar before. Went with a videogame and showed them how it editing the code changed the game. They started requesting silly changes and went from there. Super fun.

Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology

#10

Post by throwaway413 » Mon, Jun 03, 2019, 3:46 PM UTC

If they are patient enough to try something one by one, I think a VR headset would be a great idea. If you don't already have one, you could pick up a low-end Oculus for a couple hundred bucks (and sanitize/return it afterwards, hah). Then you could take them "around the world" - there are some really cool travel/exploration apps with 360 shots of different places, and from my experience can quickly and easily provide that "wow" factor to non-techies. Probably because it's so visual.

Besides that, maybe doing a real-time demo of how fast it is to get a simple P2P chat webapp going with some off-the-shelf libs. Or an SMS webapp with Twilio, and then picking another parent maybe in the "crowd" to text live during the demo. Would be a great way to inspire them to try their hand at development, and might push a few over the edge who were already on the fence about giving it a try if they see how accessible the tools are to get started.