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Problem 

How many of our students (or us for that matter) have taken something apart just to see how it works? I'd venture to say not many.

Invention 

Taking something apart teaches students how something works, gives them a hands-on experience with a real-life application and hopefully fosters their curiosity. I started doing this a few years ago and along the way I learned that MIT students do this on a grand scale in their 2.009 class!

Activities 

I asked my students to find an object that has a minimum of five pieces to take apart. I also make sure that they ask their parents if it is OK to do so! No heirlooms please - I've had that happen and fielded a call from an angry parent!

We all have broken toys, tools, and gadgets laying around so there should be no shortage of things to take apart. Just in case, I have a box of "junk" that students can rummage through in case they need to. This year I made the canvas a bit larger - 17" x 22" which just happens to be the size of four standard 8.5"x11" pieces of paper. That way they can take the cardboard backing and simply paste clean paper on top.

Here are the requirements:

• Size: 17" x 22" (I put a big emphasis on getting the size right)
• Cardboard backing
• Description of product - include its function, materials, cost, etc.
• Typed or VERY NEAT handwritting
• At least 1 picture of object BEFORE disassembly
• A hand drawn sketch of at least one part
• Attach the parts to the poster board with hot glue. If the parts are too big, glue pictures of the parts instead.

Results 

For the past few years, this project has been a tremendous success, the kids love it and they learn a bunch. BTW, I also have the students do a short 1 minute presentation of their project in front of the class.