Try the thing where you turn your calculator upside down and it says "HELL".
They are in fifth grade now... "What's a calculator? Oh... you mean a calculator app."
just make sure you lock the screen rotation before your demo then.
Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
71–80 of 246 posts
Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
#72Polaroids from space - http://www.timzaman.nl/polaroids-from-space
Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
#73Dean Kamen created FIRST Robotics [0] as a partial solution to this problem. Physical demonstrations are often more relatable to young kids.
A FIRST Robotics Competition team in my area does an activity where they bring in various supplies like cardboard, tape, and motors into a classroom, and over the period of an hour or so, students get to design and build small robots that play "sumo" and try to push other robots out of a small tape square on the floor. [1] It's a great demo and has the bonus of providing working cardboard robots you can take to other demonstrations in the future (especially if you're short on time.) Maybe you can take some inspiration!
[0]: https://www.firstinspires.org [1]: http://roboxsumo.com/
Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
#74If you have access to a Parrot AR Drone or other programmable drone, you can have them script out how to make the drone fly. I'm dating myself here, but you can use the Logo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_(programming_language) examples but in real life instead of a turtle drawing on the screen. Ask them what they want it to do, "do a flip" will be the most likely answer. Well, what do you need to do for that, we need to take off, then what do we need to do... and so on and so on.
Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
#75When trying to demystify software engineering to kids, I love taking the approach of convincing kids that they’re smarter than a computer. Computers are dumb. Fast, but dumb. You’ve got to explain to them very carefully how to do anything. Like you’re teaching a 6 year old to bake a cake.
Not exactly relevant but hope this sparks something. I wish I could do this sort of stuff more often.
Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
#76This might not be what you're looking for, but interactive sorting can be fun. An old professor ran this with 5th graders where each help a number and they would physically move according to the sorting algorithm. Show's the number of compares and moves in a visceral way and demonstrates the difference between bubble / quick sort in an approachable way.
Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
#77Software engineering has to do a lot with your mind space and knowledge of how each tool available can be used to make something in your head do a thing in a black box (to the general public it's a black box executing the code) and sometimes present a result to a user.
I say avoid trying to teach them code at all cost and don't try to explain the black box. Also try to bring what you do into physical reality. Maybe a flashy arduino project where you change the code in front of them and the arduino does something markedly different. Like a 3d LED matrix or something maybe with spread sheet as input.
My niece is 7 and we make easy robots together all the time. The key is attention span, a sentence of explanation maybe two then do something. If you choose the right project maybe they can suggest changing variables too. Remember what tools they have, basic math and that's about it. So anything past if statements might be a bit to hard to grasp in the time you have to explain so I would suggest making the visible code they can suggest stuff about not use for or while loops or classes etc. Just so any kids thinking about it have an easier time day dreaming about what they can do. Also make sure your variable and function names are self explanatory maybe with comments that you never explicitly point out for the kids actually reading and trying to understand it.
I think though the code should definitely be visible even if you aren't going in depth about it. Just so they get the understanding that just ideas alone can make things happen in real life.
Also thinking about it right now, you might hate it but maybe mod minecraft with them. Like something goofy and easy like shooting chickens as arrows or something.
Good luck let us know what you ended up doing and how it went.
Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
#78I'll second the idea of letting them explore browser developer tools (assuming they have access to a computer). I teach elementary school as part of my job, and it's such an empowering experience for them. When I do a lesson on privacy, I set up this special website that uses some known security issues to expose to them the difference between what a company/site may be "telling you" with what's actually going on under the hood and is possible. They absolutely love it.
Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
#79I've done an interactive "do you know how many types of engineers there are?" for this age group that's worked really well. Timeframe: 5-15 minutes "Can anyone name a type of engineer?" and for each shoutout, talk a little about what each does. The guessing keeps everyone's attention. Types: software/computer, electrical, mechanical, chemical, environmental, civil, nuclear, aeronautical, etc. Bonus: bring 2-3 props (…
For each engineering discipline highlight the relevant part of a drone and how they're responsible.
aeronatical: props and flight control
mechanical: chassis
chemical: batteries
civil: constructing buildings that don't fall over when a drone crashes into them?
nuclear: nope, refer to civil engineering
Re: Ask HN: I need ideas to impress fifth graders with technology
#80Simple: Show them how they could automate a repetitive task they have to do (e.g. 30 times the same type of math calculation as homework).