Make: Tinkering by Curt Gabrielson

Author:Curt Gabrielson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Maker Media, Inc.
Published: 2015-11-15T16:00:00+00:00

A Few More Tinkering Considerations

By the way, lists are basic to any tinkering operation. When we come up with a new tinkering activity at the Workshop, the first thing we’ll do after taking a few photos is to make a materials list and a list of the various things we noticed. I feel it’s more than appropriate then to make this final smattering of suggestions a bullet point list.

• Safety is first. Sounds like a cliché, but it’s really a statement of reality. Little learning will happen and little fun will be had if someone gets hurt, so take your time and make sure your space and your program are safe. Here are some key safety precautions we take at our program:

• No kids under 6 are allowed to participate without an accompanying adult. (This is due to the potential danger of random materials and tools available to all at the Workshop. In a more controlled space, you can tinker with kids much younger.)

• All electric tools are locked except the scroll saw and the hand drills. We’ve seen it nigh impossible to sustain more than minor scratches from these two devices. (Don’t tell anyone, but you can actually put your finger on the scroll saw blade without getting cut; it’s just going up and down. Rotary saws are a much, much different story.)

• Safety glasses are required for all electrical tools except the hand drills. A few hand tools should also be used with safety glasses: cutters that send tiny bits flying and hammers on metal, stone, or other brittle materials.

• Only one kid at a time can use the electrical tools. We’ve had two minor injuries resulting from two kids “helping” each other on the scroll saw.

• No horseplay, running, biking, rollerblading, scootering, or skateboarding in the Workshop. (You’d think that’d be obvious, but then you’re probably over 12 years old.)

• Small injuries will happen as your kids tinker, but with good planning and structure, big ones never will. We’ve had Community Science Workshops running in five Californian cities for over 20 years now and never had worse than a few deep cuts and stitches. We never hesitate to compare our Workshop to sports programs, especially for the liability watchdogs. Everyone knows that if you play sports hard, once in a while you get hurt. As long as all due precautions are taken, it’s part of the game, and it’s worth it. The same goes for using tools and fiddling with all sorts of materials. Only we’ve never had a broken leg, never a torn tendon, and never a concussion. (Heck, at my old high school, they used to park an ambulance at the end of the football field during a game, and my buddy still limps from an injury sustained during one of those “school spirit” events. Yeesh.)

On the bright side, don’t forget that one can learn a lot from an injury: how the skin works and heals, how burn pain is different than cut pain, how blood pumps, how fingerprints can come back, how a blister functions, etc.

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