{"id":10497,"date":"2015-03-28T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-28T04:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=10497"},"modified":"2015-03-26T11:25:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-26T15:25:00","slug":"taking-things-apart-no-reassembly-required","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2015\/03\/taking-things-apart-no-reassembly-required\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking Things Apart* (*No reassembly required.)"},"content":{"rendered":"

We enjoy making things in the Children’s Room. \u00a0Catapults for rubber band balls and elaborate paper airplanes. Colorful chemical reactions. Louise Nevelson-inspired shadow boxes. Hand-sewn pillows stuffed with lavender. \u00a0Even sushi and super delicious doughnuts topped with cinnamon sugar. \u00a0But as delightful as we\u2019ve found stirring, stitching, and sculpting–and designing projectiles of all shapes and sizes–we\u2019ve recently discovered how much fun we can\u00a0have unmaking.<\/p>\n

For a recent p\"Takingrogram we called \u201cTaking Things Apart* (*No reassembly required.),\u201d we collected old computer system units that we begged from a university IT department, where offices constantly update and swap out their CPUs. \u00a0With a few screwdrivers and pliers from\u00a0around the library and a few others brought in from home, we set up the computers on card tables and gathered fourth to sixth graders in small groups around each unit. \u00a0And then we asked them to find out what\u2019s inside.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t an electronic scavenger hunt–we provided no specific objectives or procedure to follow. \u00a0We talked about safety, though, and reiterated our goal to disassemble the computers, not to break them. \u00a0(There\u2019s a reason we didn\u2019t give them hammers, after all.) \u00a0Because the power sources can occasionally hold a dangerous charge even after unplugging the computers, we showed the kids how those components are labeled and instructed them not to touch the batteries. \u00a0As they got further into the guts of the machines, we came around and removed the power sources ourselves. \u00a0And we\u2019re proud to report zero electrocutions.<\/p>\n

Once they pried open the computer casings, the kids required no additional prompting to explore the electronics. \u00a0They delicately unscrewed hard drives, unhooked data cables, and plucked segments fro\"Takingm the motherboard. \u00a0Many of the larger pieces have their own serial numbers, and when students wondered about the purpose of a part, we offered them a (functioning) computer to enter the number and read about the component\u2019s use. \u00a0And they cooperated! \u00a0Passing around the tiniest screwdrivers and holding sections steady for each other, they rooted around in the guts and held out their micro-trophies for everyone else to admire. \u00a0\u201cCan I keep this part?\u201d one asked, over and over. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cWhat about this? \u00a0I want to take this piece home with me.\u201d \u00a0(No one took anything. \u00a0Everything went to hazardous waste at the dump the following week.)<\/p>\n

Near the end of the program, one girl who had spent half an hour dismantling a DVD drive plopped into her seat. \u00a0As I scooted over to check in with her, she set her tools down and yelled: \u201cThis is so much fun!\u201d \u00a0So, we had no projects to take home. \u00a0And we spent the hour deconstructing and not creating. \u00a0But we definitely made a good time.<\/p>\n

Robbin Ellis Friedman is\u00a0a Children’s\u00a0Librarian at the Chappaqua\u00a0Library in Chappaqua, NY, and a member of the ALSC School Age Programs\u00a0and Services\u00a0Committee. Feel free to write her at robbin@chappaqualibrary.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We enjoy making things in the Children’s Room. \u00a0Catapults for rubber band balls and elaborate paper airplanes. Colorful chemical reactions. Louise Nevelson-inspired shadow boxes. Hand-sewn pillows stuffed with lavender. \u00a0Even sushi and super delicious doughnuts topped with cinnamon sugar. \u00a0But as delightful as we\u2019ve found stirring, stitching, and sculpting–and designing projectiles of all shapes and sizes–we\u2019ve recently discovered how much fun we can\u00a0have unmaking. For a recent program we called \u201cTaking Things Apart* (*No reassembly required.),\u201d we collected old computer system units that we begged from a university IT department, where offices constantly update and swap out their CPUs. \u00a0With a few screwdrivers and pliers from\u00a0around the library and a few others brought in from home, we set up the computers on card tables and gathered fourth to sixth graders in small groups around each unit. \u00a0And then we asked them to find out what\u2019s inside. This wasn\u2019t an electronic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[287,38,414,211],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogger-school-age-programs-and-services-committee","category-programming-ideas","category-stemsteam","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}