Austin Children's Museum: Tinkerer's Workshop

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Julie Amaguerra, marketing manager here at the Austin Children's Museum. We're located in downtown Austin at the corner of 2nd and Colorado. We're a non profit organization here. And our mission is to really equip and inspire the next generation of creative problem solvers. And how do we do that? Through our hands on exhibits and programs that you can find within these walls. So here on the second floor is our Tinkerers Workshop. And it's all about the engineering design process. So the whole, all of the steps. Design it. Make it. Create it. Try it out. Test it. All the different pieces and parts you need to invent and create can be found in here. So the process begins with design. So you have an idea. You come to this area and there's plenty of recycled materials, bendable wire, just a bunch of tools. Like scissors and wire benders that kids can use to just make and create their concept. And then after design, moves to build. And here we have spaces for connects. A table with ideas that you can create. Or, or mock up your own, that you've just built in the design center. Or you could actually build using real hardware and real tools. Peg board, wheels. The imagination's the limit. And that's really the theme in our Tinkerers Workshop. Just tinker, make and create. So after you have built your design, your invention. You can come test it. And especially if it has wheels. We have this adjustable ramp where you can change the level. And also clock the speed with this speed gun. Make comparisons. What goes faster? What goes slower? At what level? At what angle? So, really getting the kids thinking creatively and testing out ideas. And making tweaks and changes as they go. In this space you'll also find lessons in gears. We have a gear table where you can just create your own gear chain. And make comparisons with large gears, small gears. There's a pulley area. As well as making pigs fly. We actually have a pig pulley parachute drop where you can have races with your mom, dad, friend, whoever. Based on what size your parachute is. How heavy your pig is. Who goes faster. And that's our Tinkerers Workshop."