Hydraulics and Pneumatics Projects

At the beginning of December, I assigned my grade 8 students to build a machine / model using hydraulics or pneumatics. They are due this week, and some have already come in. So far I am extremely impressed.

At the end of the week, I'll take pictures of them all to show what projects they built, but so far there has been an excellent selection of machines. From the simple yet elegant dentist chair to a powerful crane to a digging machine, bridge, and a mechanical claw. I have all the projects displayed at the side of my classroom. Whenever other classes come by, they look, play around with the machines, and are all jelous that they weren't assigned this project. The students that didn't hand in the projects yet are all very inspired by the creations and some even have decided to scrap their original ideas/models to make better more complex designs.

An interesting observation:

The boys are more into this project than the girls. The stereotype continues... boys are the builders, the physicists, the engineers. Girls on the other hand did much better on the previous project on the cell organelles, when a presentation was involved. Even the "best girl students in the class" did simple models, nothing too challenging, nothing too complex. While the boy teams really went out of their way to create something extraordinary. I only teach 100 students, so maybe this is not the best statistical sample, but really, I am amazed at how obvious this is.

Actually I'm quite dissapointed in this outcome, because I am a "girl physicist" and I thought I would inspire the girls to be the same. It is possible that I did inspired my girl students to enjoy physics, however there might be something more innate in the female brain than I can inspire. Maybe girls just don't like machines, don't have the same 3-D visualization required to think of awesome, complex structures . For example I, myself, don't like to watch TV shows about construction projects / machines, while my husband is all about that. Am I only interested in physics because of the fun of the math? Or am I really interested in how things work?

I can't wait until the rest of the projects are handed in. Every project gives me hope that these children are actually interested in science, and that it's actually worth it to put in effort to continue to teach them, think of interesting ways of presenting the material. This time around, I can tell that the students really had fun doing SCIENCE!

UPDATE: Here are some pictures of the machines.


A Crane - One of the best projects! Click here for a description of how to make this one.


This was the best bridge - good design, didn't break easily, esthetically pleasing.


Dump Truck


Mechanical Hand - excellent design worked great initially, but started leaking. Most students loved this one!


Hair Salon Chair - very simple yet very well done.

Here are some starter kits to build hydraulic and pneumatic machines:


Keywords: 
projects
Submitted by bogusia on Wed, 01/09/2008 - 04:36

Hope you liked the post. Please do me a favour ...

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Comments

Submitted by Jenny
on Wed, 01/09/2008 - 17:14

Don't worry about the ladies not being interested in this project. I don't think it says anything about their interest in science or your ability to inspire them. I probably wouldn't have been interested myself even in university (mechanical engineering). Mechanics was the most uninteresting part of the curriculum (I'm a thermo-fluids kind of girl, as you know). Even when I told my husband about this post, he asked me what kind of project I would have done, and I was slightly taken aback because I didn't even for a split second think of what kind of machine I would make! Guess I'm not much of an engineer/applied physicist myself!

Submitted by arif
on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 20:15

hey m really impressed by the project of crane....n now m in final year n want to do a project on this topic........it would be really great if u could help me

Submitted by bogusia
on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 22:16

Hello,

If you want my help, I would love to do so, but I need to have a way of communicating with you. If you want, you can email me through the contact form, then we could have a conversation about the crane project, and I could lead you in the right direction.
Cheers
Bogusia

Submitted by film izle
on Thu, 12/18/2008 - 05:02

very good article thank you....

Submitted by evden eve
on Mon, 01/26/2009 - 23:41

Its realy good,very helper thanks.

Submitted by Greg
on Mon, 03/29/2010 - 19:24

Hello these project are the worst things ive ever seen :P

Submitted by Anonymous
on Tue, 05/25/2010 - 21:22

stfu GREG!

Submitted by mahi
on Fri, 08/28/2009 - 20:06

hiiiii,
i c ur pnematic crane pic,,,its awesome,,,,need information about d same,,,if u hv plz send or contact at mahi_dudes@yahoo.co.in

thanx

Submitted by sam
on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 15:01

i would like to have a step by step to make the crane pretty please

Submitted by bogusia
on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 21:41

OK, My next post will be: how to make the hydraulic crane - a step by step guide.

Submitted by Anonymous
on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 21:37

Aww, why would you want a step-by step?

Its much more fun if you try it out for yourself first. Build a cardboard prototype if you don't want to pay for wood.

Plus, then you can make your own improvements! (eg: Just looking at it, the top two syringes look a tad small, or could be augmented to improve torque) Or maybe add a z-axis rotation so it can turn! (it looks nice, but quite planar)

I mean, that's if we're really interested in science...

Submitted by bogusia
on Thu, 11/25/2010 - 04:44

SOOOOOO TRUE!

Submitted by Ankita
on Wed, 07/20/2011 - 09:53

Hi,

I would like to know of how u have designed the hydraulic crane. Can u please mail me the step by step procedure of creating it

Regards,
Ankita

Submitted by bogusia
on Thu, 07/21/2011 - 16:46

I posted it this a while back, but just in case you couldn't find it, here is the link: Hyraulic Crane: A Great Science Project

Submitted by auspuffteile
on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 16:32

Yeah the crane is my Favorit too. We never build in school so cool things like that.

Submitted by bogusia
on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 16:00

In the last few weeks, I received many requests on how to teach hydraulics and pneumatics to children. Therefore I made a long and detailed lesson plan for you to look at and use. You can check it out here: Teaching Hydraulics and Pneumatics to Children

Submitted by evden eve nakliyat
on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 19:31

Thanks, for the good articles ...I am very intiresting..

Submitted by auto
on Tue, 03/03/2009 - 13:57

I was slightly taken aback because I didn't even for a split second think of what kind of machine I would make! Guess I'm not much of an engineer/applied physicist myself!

Submitted by club penguin
on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 03:34

I don't think it says anything about their interest in science or your ability to inspire them. I probably wouldn't have been interested myself even in university mechanical engineering. Mechanics was the most uninteresting part of the curriculum. I'm a thermo-fluids kind of girl, as you know.

Submitted by kristina
on Thu, 08/11/2011 - 07:17

I really like this concept of assigning such real life projects to the students.It encourages the student to showcase their talent and think more openly.I came to know about Chrysalis School Montana from my friends and also read in one of the article that they give such kind of projects to the student and assign marks after the completion of the projects.I would love to see all schools around the globe adopts such activities.

Submitted by Aalim
on Sun, 08/09/2009 - 16:41

Hello everone,,
Iam realy happy,,these children (grade 8 students) are excellent,,I think they feel SCIENCE!!
""Every project gives me hope that these children are actually interested in science""

Submitted by Anonymous
on Mon, 10/26/2009 - 22:30

i think these ideas are great my class was also assinged the same progect and lets just say we failed as a whole!

Submitted by bogusia
on Tue, 10/27/2009 - 20:29

That's too bad. This is a great project. What went wrong?

Submitted by Anonymous
on Wed, 03/24/2010 - 03:53

i really like the bridge can you get the step by step?

Submitted by Anonymous
on Wed, 04/07/2010 - 02:52

our arms were much better

Submitted by Anonymous
on Mon, 02/14/2011 - 18:36

so no one cares if your arms were better

Submitted by Anonymous
on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 18:23

I care Are they muscular??!?!? ;)

Submitted by Anonymous
on Tue, 05/04/2010 - 22:27

Hello we're doing these , Lol :)

Submitted by Rechnung
on Wed, 07/14/2010 - 21:27

Great site, very interesting.

Submitted by Flirt
on Sat, 11/13/2010 - 21:55

Nice work guys. I like hydraulic cause it's more powerful then pneumatic.

Submitted by johnbobleyjoe
on Tue, 02/22/2011 - 21:06

Wow very purdy it looks nicer than my house!i live in a box :(

Submitted by Bootszubehör
on Tue, 02/22/2011 - 21:27

Great work, looks very good. Greetings from Germany

Submitted by la dee doo
on Thu, 06/09/2011 - 04:04

cool.(:
But it would be better if there were instructions for each project . (:

Submitted by vishwajit
on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 07:50

hiiiii,
i saw ur pnematic crane pic,,,its awesome,,,,need information about d same,,,if u hv plz send or contact a.............................vishwajit2601@gmail.com

Submitted by Rechnungen Online
on Mon, 11/14/2011 - 02:57

very interested, thanks.

Submitted by Vera
on Tue, 12/20/2011 - 14:18

Thanks for this great article and the nice photos!

Submitted by Roofing Contractor
on Thu, 01/05/2012 - 20:13

The dump truck looks like such a fun idea. I think that's a brilliant way to learn how everything works. Might even spark an interest in the construction students.

Submitted by Eepos
on Mon, 01/16/2012 - 14:30

Your idea is very interesting. I like it.