May 2001: Inventions Check out these interdisciplinary activity ideas, TV programs, and online resources for your classroom. Return in June for ideas relating to travel! Teaching Ideas Bucky Ball Games Play is a very human activity and invention plays a large part in many sports and games. From the PBS NOVA site Building Big, the plans for making a geodesic dome can be duplicated to construct two geodesic domes to be used as the two halves of a giant "Bucky Ball". The design and construction of the domes will follow the guidelines on the Building Big "Geodesic Dome" pages below. The following questions could be discussed before beginning: How much newspaper will be required using the specifications for diameter of tubing? How much will this amount of newspaper weigh and can the class teams move this weight or play safely with it? How many days of newspapers delivered to the school need to be recycled to collect enough to make the Bucky Ball? What is the earliest date we collect enough newspapers, build the Bucky Ball, and schedule the games? If 12" of masking tape are to be used to join the sides of adjacent triangle components at two places, how many rolls at 50' of tape are needed? How can the total time for construction of the Bucky Ball be estimated with some degree of accuracy? Are there any other concerns your group determined that need attention? Will it be safe to use in a game? What type of rules will the teams use to play Bucky Ball? Strength may be tested with single-tube, double-tube, or triple-tube-components for construction before taping the ends of the tubular components together to meet the needs of intended play. It would be possible to do this after building a prototype or making a model construction as a reflective activity for improving strength and play-ability needed for the games. Students may investigate how inventions have allowed athletes to train harder, compete better, and play safer in personal or team sports at the amateur, collegiate, and professional levels. When improvements are made in materials and designs for athletes (such as lighter but stronger running shoes or more aerodynamic bikes), how soon does the general public see similar improvements in their gear? Related Web Sites: Building Big - Educator's Guide - Geodesic Dome http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/educator/dome_ho.html Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud http://www.thirteen.org/cgi-bin/bucky-bin/bucky.cgi US Olympic Committee - Science.Org http://usoc-science.org/about/tech.html Invention Connection: Sports http://www.inventionconnection.com/BOOTHS/ByCategory.html#SPRT Simple Machines Field Trip Take the students on a field trip to the playground to discover the six simple machines as part of everyday play: as they zip up their jackets, the zipper is a wedge; the merry-go-round is a wheel-and-axle; the see-saw is one kind of lever; some slides are inclined planes; some slides are screws; the flag is run up the flagpole with a pulley. Return to class and have students make up pictures of the simple machines they have seen on the field trip. What other kinds of equipment did they find and how were these different from the six simple machines? Students can design new playground equipment of their own, using combinations of the simple machines, such as The "See-Saw" Slide The Merry-Go-Round Spring-Rocker The FlagPole Swings Create stories to go along with an imaginary field trip to a playground with these new playground inventions. Related Web Sites: Scienceline: Simple Machines http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/scienceline/archives/may98/may98.html NOVA: Pharaoh's Obelisk (levers, fulcrums) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostempires/obelisk/ NOVA: Special Effects/Activities/Upper Elementary/Follow the Film http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx/fxguide/fxuemmm3.html ProTeacher: Simple Machines http://www.proteacher.com/110064.shtml Discovery.com: Inventor's Workshop http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/invention-leonardoslegacy/index.html   IdahoPTV & PBS Online Resources: Sites to See A Science Odyssey http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/ The American Experience : Eastman: The Wizard of Photography http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eastman/ The American Experience: Edison's Miracle of Light http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/edison/ The American Experience: Big Dream, Small Screen http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/bigdream/ The American Experience: New York Underground http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/nyunderground/ The American Experience: The Telephone http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/telephone/ Tesla: Master of Lightning http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ Building Big http://www.pbs.org/buildingbig/ NOVA: Lincoln's Secret Weapon http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/monitor/ NOVA: Special Effects http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx/ NOVA: Special Effects, Titanic and Beyond http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/specialfx2/ NOVA: SuperBridge http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bridge/ NOVA: Time Travel http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/time/ NOVA: Electric Heart http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/eheart/ Scientific American Frontiers: Affairs of the Heart http://www.pbs.org/saf/1104/index.html Scientific American Frontiers: Bionic Body http://www.pbs.org/saf/1107/ Scientific American Frontiers: Flying Free http://www.pbs.org/saf/1109/ Buckminster Fuller: Thinking Out Loud http://www.thirteen.org/cgi-bin/bucky-bin/bucky.cgi Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet http://www.pbs.org/opb/nerds2.0.1/ Digital TV: A Cringely Crash Course http://www.pbs.org/opb/crashcourse/ Transistorized! http://www.pbs.org/transistor/ IdahoPTV & PBS Programs Don't miss these programs airing in May! Beyond Human Airs Tuesday, May 15 and May 22 at 7:00 p.m. MT/PT This program takes a look at recent advances in bioengineering and explains how amazing new synergy between biology and technology is allowing people to become more machine-like and machines to become more human. Episode one, "Building a Better Human," explores how scientists' greater understanding of genetics has helped them make huge strides in improving and mechanizing our bodies. The second episode, "March of the Humanoids," introduces viewers to a new breed of remarkably human-like robots. NOVA: Trillion Dollar Bet Airs Tuesday, May 1 at 8:00 p.m. MT/PT A mathematical formula turns world financial markets upside-down and the mathematicians who developed it speculate billions on a formula that is not foolproof. This riches-to-rags story focuses on two brilliant minds who try to bring reason and science to the investment world. Secrets of Lost Empires: A NOVA Special Presentation Airs Tuesday May 15, 22, 29 at 8:00 p.m. and June 5 and 6th at 8:00 p.m. MT/PT "Medieval Siege" The trebuchet is a gravity-powered catapult, which flings stone missiles with speed, accuracy and destructive power. Two teams of timber framers, engineers and historians attempt to build and test two styles of this weapon. "Pharaoh's Obelisk" A NOVA-constructed obelisk replica, produced in 1994, lies abandoned in an Egyptian quarry. Now, a team takes on the final riddle _ how to erect the 40-ton stone. "Easter Island" Nearly 1,000 massive human sculptures rise from the grasslands of this island. With the help of 70 Easter Islanders, a 15-ton concrete replica statue is hauled across more than a mile of the ancestral terrain. "Roman Bath" (June 5) features something we take for granted today but was one of ancient Rome's greatest engineering innovations - the bath. The public bathhouse incorporated intricate systems for plumbing and heating, and a revolutionary new building material now known as concrete. "China Bridge" (June 12) examines how 2,000 years ago, Chinese architects developed iron suspension bridges. Their daring arch designs had no rivals in the West until the dawn of the industrial age. Join NOVA as engineers try to recreate the fabled "rainbow bridge."