The Great pumpkin Patch Experiment

Big Idea: Take the pumpkin carving tradition and give it a high tech twist. Carve a Pumpkin with any pattern you feel you can comfortable with.

Time: This is a great Halloween activity.

Participants: Northside, Panther Boys and Girls Club and ALA

Activity: Find a pumpkin pattern on line or in a pattern book, or you can also create your own pattern. Tape the pattern sheet directly onto the pumpkin and poke dotted lines along the pattern lines puncturing through the pumpkin. Once you have the pattern dotted onto the pumpkin you can start to cut out the pattern. Next you'll have to clean out the inside of the pumpkin until the mantle is less than 1" in depth.

IT: Now that you have your pumpkin ready, you can add light, sound or movement using a PICO cricket. Add a sensor to make the pumpkin interactive.

Best Part: Seeing the different creative ideas the kids come up with.

Worst Part: unfortunately the pumpkins do not have a long life span and will begin to decay soon after carving.


Improvements: Find a new way to extend the life of the pumpkins.

Fit Future Event @ Will Rogers Memorial Center

Big Idea: Design IT Interns set up booth and incorporate IT technology such as PICO Crickets.

Time: Saturday; October 7, 2006

Participants: Design IT Interns: Joey Cardona, Valerie Tovar, Valerie Raya, Caroline Ludwig

Activities: The interns created a reaction time game using PICO Crickets . People were able to test how fast their reaction was to sight and sound. They also used the less high tech reaction ruler as well. They also created a melon Harp that created fun sounds.

Associated Concept: The Fit Future Event was to promote health and fitness to children 12 yrs. and younger. Reaction time games are a way to check one of the many aspects of fitness and making it fun and interactive for the kids. The Melon Harp showed the kids the fun side of fruit and vegetables.

Best Part: Giving the teens and opportunity to work with the public.

Worst Part: complications with the Melon Harp cause them to shut it down and stick to just the reaction time games.

Improvements: Have backup crickets ready in case one breaks down.

Interns Help Out With Family Science Nights

Due to the changing out of museum exhibits at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, the Design IT Studios interns had opportunities to help entertain the families who attended the Family Science Night events. During the previous School year and summer the interns had a chance to learn many different computer programs, new technology, and new venues for art. In one of the empty galleries of the museum the teen set up display tables and with the aid of Saafir adjusted the lighting to accent their placement.
There first table had the melon harp made up of watermelons and pineapples. On one whole side of the room the interns set up a giant chain reaction area. Here families could create their own chain reaction and connect it to that of other families. On someday they had the Social Fireflies experiment out and on other they set up reaction time games to challenge our guest and entertain them at the same time.
Overall the experience was a positive one for the interns. It gave them a chance to interact with the public, which came in handy later on in the month as they participated in the Fit Future event at the Will Rogers Memorial Center.
In the next even it would be helpful to have back up projects to use in case one of them brakes down. We had a difficult time keeping the melon harp in working condition. After a few days we noticed that the social fireflies did not attract a very big crowd, so we figured to give the reaction time games a try. They were a big hit; kids and parents alike rose to the challenge and tried to bet their best scores.