Assignment

// Which Toy? // = Model Response  =

Extended Investigation Report


Name: Jade Wilkinson Teacher: Mr Johnstone Class: Science 21 Grade: 12C Due Date: 31st of March, 2008 Wikispace: http://jades-science21-wiki.wikispaces.com = Contents  = Purpose pg 3 Background information pg 3 Safety considerations pg 3 Childhood development pg 3 Fine motor skills pg 3 Different types of energy pg 4 Technological Foundations pg 4 Analysis pg 7 Investigation pg 7 Design pg 9 Review and Evaluate pg 10 Bibliography pg 11 Wikispace pg 11 Journal pg 12 = Purpose  = This report will identify the specific moving toy’s attributes and highlight how it satisfies the client’s request for the target market children. The target market will be for 3-5 year old children of both sexes. The design profile of the toy has taken into account the energy concepts and materials which could be used economically and environmentally. Safety guidelines and the clients profile i.e. Sex and ages of the children were taken into consideration when designing a toy, that helps assist the child with fine motor skills, coordination and learning. = Background information  =

Safety considerations
Many safety restrictions had to be met and maintained so the toy was both safe and allowed in Australia. Toys are an important part of childhood. Children learn and develop while playing with toys. Unfortunately, some toys can be dangerous if they are not appropriate for your child’s age or level of development. If a toy or toy part can fit inside a 35 mm film canister, it can choke a child less than three years of age. Children under three are vulnerable to choking as they have not yet developed he reflex action to cough up objects that lodge in their throats. __ Avoid  __  ·   Toys with sharp edges, points or splinters.  ·   Baby toys with small ends which may reach well back into the baby’s mouth.  ·   Toys with loose small parts (e.g. small balls, buttons, dolls’ eyes, wheels and small blocks) as these can be choking hazards.  ·   Gaps, holes or moving parts which could trap or crush little fingers.  ·   Toys with long strings or ribbons which can strangle a baby. Keep them less than 30 cm long.

Childhood development
The early years of a child's life are crucial for educational, social and emotional development. Therefore, it is important that we take every step necessary to ensure that children grow up in environments where their social, emotional and educational needs are met. Dinosaurs, action hero figures and play sets encourage children to combine their imaginative and problem-solving skills in "What-if?" play. As they invent make-believe stories of increasing complexity, they'll enjoy creating problems for the characters and acting out solutions. Using puppets let the child use their imagination. The child at 4-5 years of age is starting to add details to drawings and develop fine motor skills and the moving toy developed meets those needs.

Fine Motor Skills
Fine motor skills generally refer to the small movements of the hands, wrists, fingers, feet, toes, lips, and tongue. The more delicate tasks facing preschool children, such as tying shoelaces, represent more challenge than most of the gross motor activities learned during this period of development. The central nervous system is still in the process of maturing sufficiently for complex messages from the brain to get to the child's fingers. In addition, small muscles tire more easily than large ones, and the short, stubby fingers of preschoolers make delicate or complicated tasks more difficult. Finally, gross motor skills call for energy, which is boundless in preschoolers, while fine motor skills require patience, which is in shorter supply.

Different types of energy
__ Potential Energy: __ Potential energy exists whenever an object which has mass and a position within a force field. The most everyday example of this is the position of objects in the earth's gravitational field. The potential energy of an object in this case is given by the relation: // PE = mgh // Where: PE = Energy (in Joules) m = mass (in kilograms) g = gravitational acceleration of the earth (9.8 m/sec2) h = height above earth's surface (in meters) __ Kinetic Energy: __ Kinetic Energy exists whenever an object which has mass is in motion with some velocity. Everything you see moving about has kinetic energy. The kinetic energy of an object in this case is given by the relation: // KE = (1/2)mv2 // Where: KE = Energy (in Joules) m = mass (in kilograms) v = velocity (in meters/sec) There are also magnetic, electrical, light/heat, sound, chemical and wind energy systems. = Technological foundations  = The designed toy had three different types of energy systems implemented for both interest and to make a movable toy for the targeted market. The first energy conversion was the actual movement of the train (see figure 1); this resulted in the following energy systems: Chemical (food eaten to move muscles) → Kinetic (the act of moving the train) When pulled, the string causes the energy systems to move the train || ** Figure 1 - Test children playing with final model ** --  The second energy conversion was the horn on the front carriage of the train (figure 2 displays this). The energy systems used were: Chemical (food eaten to move muscles) → Potential (rubber diaphragm on the horn) → Kinetic (the act of making the sound - pushing the top of the diaphragm) → Wind (air that is pushed through holes in the horn) → Sound (horn) → Potential (rubber diaphragm has the potential of returning) → Kinetic (rubber diaphragm returning to normal position) → Wind (the air coming back into the horn) → Sound (horn) When the kinetic and wind energy conversions are happening they happen at the same time. Horn that when pushed causes different energy systems to create a sound energy || ** Figure 2 - Horn that uses many energy systems ** --  The third energy conversion was the gears on the back carriage (see figure 4). Energy systems used were: Chemical (food eaten to move muscles) → Kinetic (the act of winding the handle) → Kinetic-Mechanical (of the gears moving around) → Kinetic (shaft of motor spins causing the magnet to spin) → * Magnetic (the magnet push electrons in wire to cause electricity to flow in wire) → Electrical → Light/heat (electrons move across the thin wire tungsten filament - this resistance causes the filament to glow/flash resulting in light energy and heat energy) * An electric motor is all about magnets and magnetism: A motor uses magnets to create motion. If you have ever played with magnets you know about the fundamental law of all magnets: Opposites attract and likes repel. So if you have two bar magnets with their ends marked "north" and "south," then the north end of one magnet will attract the south end of the other. On the other hand, the north end of one magnet will repel the north end of the other (and similarly, south will repel south). Inside an electric motor, these attracting and repelling forces create rotational motion.  ** Figure 3 - How motor works **  In figure 3 , you can see two magnets in the motor: The armature (or rotor) is an electromagnet, while the field magnet is a permanent magnet (the field magnet could be an electromagnet as well, but in most small motors it isn't in order to save power).   Source: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/motor1.htm  (How stuff works, 2008) <span style="COLOR: black; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin"> ·    Gears that cause kinetic-mechanical energy ||

Light is attached here and the light/heat energy occurs || Magnet causes electricity inside here || Handle that cause’s kinetic energy || ** Figure 4 - Gears that use different energy systems ** __ Materials __ The train was made with untreated, sustainable hoop pine and all the components were made with biodegradable plastic and non toxic varnish. Hoop pine has the physical properties that give it good stability which is good for a toy and also good workability. Compared to other softwoods, hoop pine has a strength group of SD5 [3]. For added strength and stability hoop pine has a density range of 480 (-) 530kg/m ³ which will help withstand the rough play of the children. =  Analysis   = The design that has been chosen to be made fulfils the purpose as it is safe, cheap and made with hoop pine that will withstand much more than other timbers. It is also a moveable toy that includes many energy systems. For the client’s requests to be met in the toy made, it would be better to make it with hoop pine as it will withstand the day to day roughness of children and will also be strong enough to have a long life. These materials are easy to use and work with and are also cheaper than most other timber. Safety wise, it is non-toxic and is a safe material for the company to use. =  Investigation   = An investigation was designed and conducted to test the toy’s suitability for the target market. The conclusions of this investigation were that all three children tested, liked the toy but liked different parts of the toy. This could make the toy suitable to both sexes and therefore produce more money for the company. The results were as follows: __ Child A   __ Child A is a female and is age 4. She has a brother and said that she doesn’t mind playing with boys toys. She likes playing with others and loves bratz, books, dressing up, yellow, purple, pink and makeup. When observed she seemed to like colouring in the best and also outside play. When given the toy she took a liking to it and looked at the whole thing before doing anything. After she did she tried to figure out how the gears worked and then saw the colouring in book and started to colour in. When asked she said that her favourite was the colouring in book and pens plus the puppets. ** Figure 5 - Child A drawing ** __ Child B __ Child B is male and is age 3. His favourite colours are blue and yellow and he is quite active. When inside he liked to play with the blocks and trucks but when outside, played in the sandpit and with the train tracks. When observed during the time of the investigation, child B loved to know how things worked. Once the train had been given to him, he took control over it and tried to work out himself, how the gears worked. He spent a lot of time trying to work it out and when told was quite interested. He then looked at the whole train and pulled it around the area. He liked the horn on the front of the train as it was noisy and when others came, child B told them to go away because there was not enough room. Whilst he was playing with the train, he showed others how to use the gears to make the light turn on and while he was winding it the handle broke off. A different material could be used to help this situation from happening again. ** Figure 6 - Child B showing others how to play with the toy ** __ Child C __ Child C is 4 years old and male. He loves playing with trucks, cars and Thomas the tank engine. He appeared to be quite messy when being observed. When shown the train he looked at it, but mainly the gears and then left to go play on the sports equipment outside. When asked, he said his favourite bit about the train was the puppets and the gears. He also liked the horn but didn’t feel comfortable with child B because he was taking control over it. He said he would much rather play outside in the sandpit or on the equipment. A different toy could be placed in one of the carriages so that it appeals to a child that would rather be outside playing. An example being a skipping rope or some other physical activity. ** Figure 7 - Child C in the sandpit ** =  Design   = With respect to the research carried out, the problems with the toy were that the handle of the gears broke off and one child didn’t find it appealing. Figure 8 displays the action record model used when designing and making the toy. <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes"> ** Figure 9 – Prototype ** ** Figure 10 - Final product ** Improvements to the toy could be made to make the toy more appealing to the type of child that likes to be outside by placing an activity that could be taken outside such as a skipping rope. This would satisfy the needs and also provide a source of exercise and improve gross motor skills. The handle breaking off the gears could be fixed by using a different material that is stronger or attach the handle another way. Either way, the toys concerns could be fixed and still be cheap and affective to the target market. = Review and evaluate  = Through the investigation and observation of the toy made for the client, it was seen that the target market took a liking to it. All three children tested, loved the energy systems incorporated in the toy and loved trying to find out how it worked. With both the gears, puppets and pens, the toy was set out to improve fine motor skills as these become important in the next couple of years for the selected age group. It helps the children develop these skills better but also helps them learn animals and develop communication skills. The toy was successful but could still use some modifications to make the toy more suitable and safe. All safety guidelines were met and abided by Australia’s guidelines. Including the string that pulled the train that was measured at 29cm long. The prototype helped to provide a guide on what the children would like and also any problems faced then. The only problem was, at that time, was that the carriages did not stay together as they were only stuck together by sticky tape. This was solved in the final product by using timber pieces that came apart by a hook. The final product was made from hoop pine and was both economically and environmentally friendly to both the client and the children. It was successful as the children liked the toy and also learnt from it. Client’s needs of designing a moving toy were successful also and did teach the children and improve fine motor skills. The target market was for 3-5 year olds; during the testing period it was obvious that the children enjoyed the toy thoroughly. Some improvements could be made though for withstanding the children’s rough playing. Having energy systems in the toy helped to both interest and teach the children about energy and the different types of energy. The gears on the last carriage intrigued them the most and fascinated them as they realized just by using their kinetic energy it would cause the light to appear making light and heat energy. = Bibliography  = ‘Toy Safety’ Government site that is valid and reliable < http://www.accc.gov.au/content/item.phtml?itemId=646282&nodeId=cba85068f330f5ff53fce332a44fd008&fn=Toy%20safety.pdf > Used for safety guidelines in Australia ‘Play stages’ Organizational site that is valid and reliable < http://www.fisher-price.com/us/playstages/play.asp?lMinAge=4.00&lMaxAge=5.00#toy3 > Used for information on childhood stages in 4-5 year olds ‘Preschoolers (3-5 years old)’ Government site that is valid and reliable < http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/child/preschoolers.htm > Used for Childhood development in 4-5 year olds ‘Fine motor skills’ Organizational site that is valid and reliable < http://www.healthofchildren.com/E-F/Fine-Motor-Skills.html > Used for information on fine motor skills = Wikispace  = Another source of information about the toy designed is on the Wikispace site: http://jades-science21-wiki.wikispaces.com = Journal  = <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">31st January 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">First Observation of ELC (early learning centre) kids __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Today we travelled to the ELC and watched the kids whilst they played outside. We found that once they got out there most girls went to the home centre and the boy's went to the trucks. We thought this would be because it was a comfort zone and after awhile they went to other areas and mixed more. There was the exception of some girl's that straight away went to the play dough and some that went and played with the boats in the water. Some boy's also did this but most stayed where they were for a longer amount of time. I choose to watch a boy (Child B) and a girl (Child A) and they appeared quite different in the first 10mins then the last 10mins. Child B started to play with the boats in the water first, enjoying that there was new boats. He liked to sink the boats and watch the bubbles come up from them. He wanted others to play with him but his friend wouldn't. He changed to the cars and trains and played with the trains, when asked he said trains were better. Child B played with others on the tracks but got told by another boy that he was 'doing it wrong'. So he started to argue with that boy and bossed him around himself. Started to get quite destructive of the tracks. Started to be mean after that. The girl however, once was let out of the classroom went to the play dough area. She played by herself for a long time but took the time to separate the big lot of play dough into smaller bits around the table. She appeared to set up for others to come later. This act caused no arguments once others came about how much each person had. She liked to squash the play dough and make shapes with it. When I came over and started playing she made the noises of the animals she had made with the shape cutters. Liked to show what she made and feel that she accomplished something. Both students’ enjoyed play time and were happy and comfortable. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">4th February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Learning more about fine motor skills __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Today we read more about play and the different types. We then played a game that we had to put small Lego pieces into a container. First we tried it with chop sticks and I put 15 Lego pieces in successfully. We then tried without good hand achieving 26. Once we closed our eyes it became harder but most of us didn't do too badly. I got 21 into the container. However Luke found most of these, difficult. Boys are said to be worse at fine motor skills but better at navigation then girls. Aleisha also found it difficult with the chop sticks as she hadn't used them before. With our toy that we make we have to take this into consideration as some children at the 3-5 year old range don't have very good fine motor skills. Also some children may find it frustrating and not like the toy and possibly break it. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">7th February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Class discussion __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Today we looked through our books at the different types of playing and social relationships between kids. We looked at the fact that some children are onlookers and some social. This is important to consider when building a toy as we need to know what our kids that we have chosen play like. There are also many different types of play like functional, symbolic, constructive and rule-bound play. Tomorrow we will look closer at how our kids play and what type of play they enjoy. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">8th February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Second Observation of ELC (early learning centre) kids __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Today when we went to the ELC it was inside play. This is completely different to outside play as it is more constructive and functional play. Lots of different activities were present inside like drawing, reading, building blocks and puppets. Child B was playing firstly with the building blocks with the other boys but then went over to the puppet area. He liked to play with others showing that he was co-operative and social to the other students. He liked to be loud and to be the dinosaur or an animal when playing in the puppet show. Once I came along and played, he wanted me to be the dinosaur and to eat everyone up. His favourite colour is blue and enjoyed playing with the girls. Child A was also willing to play with others but was playing parallel by just reading a book. She told me that she liked bratz dolls, dressing dolls up and makeup. Throughout the whole time of talking to her she was very active and always moving. She also showed me that she could run very fast across the room. Her favourite colours are yellow, purple and pink. She has one brother but most of the time plays by herself. When she does play with her brother she doesn't mind playing with 'boy’s toys'. Child D was solitary and liked to draw pictures. She said she liked playing with others and with herself and also playing inside and outside. Her likes are: Santa toys, barbies, blue, purple and pink. Was a very good drawer and loved it when she got told it was good. They all played nicely together and had fun but at the same time were learning rules such as being more quiet inside and sharing. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">12th February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">MegaToy __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> We went on an excursion to MegaToy today to learn more about how toys are made. We learnt that many things come into place before even making the toy. All safety requirements were looked at and needs of the customer. MegaToy makes sure that their toys are colourful as children love it. It also can identify that toy as being theirs as they have certain colours they use. Many plans are modified and looked over before anything is made also. In their toys they also put moving parts, extras such as a toy microphone and other learning games. They have also started to make playgrounds that have sounds and move more, to keep the interest in their playgrounds. This can all be used when we make our toy so that the children keep interest in it and also something to make it 'ours'. Overall it was a good excursion that opened our eyes to the many possibilities that we could build and also to ensure that it also is safe for a child to use. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">14th February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Third Observation of ELC (early learning centre) kids __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> In class today; we went and visited our kids again whilst they were having inside play. Child A was the first one to notice me and started talking to me and showing me around she then pulled me to the reading area and she drew in my book. I asked her if she liked bubbles and also what she liked doing. She likes to play and said she loves bubbles. When I went over to talk to Child B, Child A came with us and was willing to play with the boy’s trucks and didn't mind playing with people she normally didn't play with. Child B said he LOVED bubbles and that they were his favourite. He liked the fact that the fire truck had a ladder that you could pull out and also liked noises coming out of the trucks. Still was very destructive and got told by the teacher that he needs to be nice to them otherwise they are getting packed away. He also said he liked to draw but didn't want to draw. Child B and A both have very good gross motor skill development but Child A has better fine motor skills. Child D wasn't at the early learning centre today, so I didn't get to talk to her. Child A was a much more caring person and showed that to me by wanting to make a necklace for me, whereas Child B was destructive and didn't talk to me as much because he was busy smashing into the other kids trucks and/or buildings. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">18th February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Lego __ <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Today we played with Lego to find out how long it would take to build a structure that we were given. We found that boys were much better than the girls with 9 mins 30 seconds difference between us.
 * Figure 8  - Action record model ( International Research Forum in Information Science, 1981)   **
 * __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">Date __**<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> ||
 * __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">Results __**<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> ||
 * __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt">Results __**<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> ||

Lego Construction Test: Science 21 Class: Levers Kit Teacher (M) - 4 mins Student (M) - 7 mins Student (F) - 10 mins Student (F) - 11 mins Student (F) - 15 mins Student (F) - 20 mins

Male Av - 5:30 mins Female Av - 14 mins Class Av - 11.67 mins || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">21st February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Child development __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Read through child development in our books. Children grow and we learnt that their toys need to combat these changes. The right toys can contribute to an environment which challenges the child makes full use of his or her existing abilities and promotes the next stage of development. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">22nd February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Magnetic toy and spring toy __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Read through energy sources and stores in our books. Studied the magnetic and spring toy to look at the transfer of energy. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">25th February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Fourth Observation of ELC (early learning centre) kids __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Today we observed their movement around they inside play area. Child A didn’t move at all but the boys both moved. Had to change one of my kids as Child D wouldn’t be coming to the ELC, as she is on holidays. Child C: -Said he would love a train as a toy -likes trucks, cars and Thomas the tank engine -messy Child B: -neat and tidy -thinking about different situations Child A: -loves drawing -excited about fireman coming to the class tomorrow -energetic <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">26th February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Working on wikispaces __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Today we worked on our wikispaces and continued to research on toys and children playing. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">28th February 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Photos __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Today we went down to the ELC and took photos with our kids. We also talked to them a bit before coming back and made toys with gears and a flywheel. Photos of these to toys are in Toys with energy. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-no-proof: yes"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">3rd March 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Answering questions __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">We were given three questions to answer about our toy. The questions were: Why choose these materials? What physical properties do these materials have? What energy transformation has occurred?

We also researched more about the materials we wanted to use for our toy and also the safety features of those materials. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">6th March 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Playing with toys __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">We played with a range of boy toys that had different range of movements. We looked at action figures that threw an axe and McDonald toys that when you pushed a button the arms and glasses moved. Another toy we looked at had gears inside that when the piece of plastic was pulled it turned the arms and body around in a retarded fashion. They all worked well and were likeable but we found that the genuine buzzing bee was the best toy. When moved by the string in moved its wings and made a clicking sound. As it made a noise and also was painted in the primary colours, we thought it was the best toy. After playing with the toys we made cars out of Lego with the battery pack. We all made very different cars and then tested them out, outside. I made my car to be long which gave it better stability when going up the steep hill. It went up but was very slow. However, Aleisha's car was powered by two battery packs on all wheels so it was more like a 4WD so it found it was easier to get up the hill. Luke also made a car but it was short so once it hit the steep hill it flipped over. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">7th March 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Working on website __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Today we worked on our websites and added more to it. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">10th March 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Fifth Observation of ELC (early learning centre) kids __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Today we went to the ELC and showed them our prototype. I gathered the three kids and we came inside and discussed what they would like in the toy. Child A wanted the train to be yellow and have dinosaur stuff in it. She liked the train and thought the stuff inside the carriages would be fun to play with. Child B liked the idea of a train as he loves trains. He also wanted the train to be yellow and thought about having dinosaur stuff in it would be awesome. Child C was quiet but did like it to be yellow and to have all the stuff the others kids wanted. Overall they loved it and Child B even wanted to play with the prototype that kept on breaking. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">11th March 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Working on Wikispace __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Today we updated information on our website and also looked more at the energy of our toy. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">13th March 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Looked at horn __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Tried to find out information on the internet about the horn that I am having on the toy train. Couldn’t do much though as all sites were blocked. Discussed with class about the different toys I would be placing in the carriages and showed the teacher. He said that they seemed good and also wondered if the pens I was using were non-toxic. All safety notes have been met and nothing is unsafe for the kids to play with. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">17th March 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Working on Wikispace __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Put more on Wikispace about energy conversions and fixed punctuation. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">20th March 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Working on Wikispace __ <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Looked more into about the properties of the materials and also uploaded more photos to the page. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">25th March 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Worked on Wikispace __ <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Today we just worked on our wikispaces as the teacher was not present at school that day. Added more photos and also discussed with the class about my toy and gave suggestions to their toys. || <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">27th March 2008 || __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Sixth observation of ELC (early learning centre) kids __ <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Today we went down to see our kids and show them the final product of our toys we designed for them. They all seemed very excited and loved the toy. I brought them inside from outside play and told them that I had the toy for them. Child A, B and C loved it and investigated it fully. Child B and C looked at the gears and tried to work out how it worked and finally made it light up and saw how it worked. Child B then started looking at the contents of the carriages up to the first carriage with the horn on it. He loved the horn and started to honk it. Whilst he was looking at that Child A was looking at the contents of the carriages then looked at the colouring in book and pens. She took those to a different area and started to colour them in. Child C however, looked at all the contents and the puppets but then left to go play in the sandpit. Child B started to take the train outside and honked the horn the whole way. He loved it and loved to show everyone how it worked. ||