1. 24 Knots is lifting the ideas of young women and girls by creating environments where they can build STEM projects and take those projects home to share with their community. We do this by coordinating after school programs, summer camps and assisting schools with technical support.  Our goal is to meet these kids where they are and lift them to a new level of understanding of the world around them.
  2. Projects
  3. Kid Lift 2015

In this project-focused program, girls ages 9-11 will improve their self-esteem and have a better understanding of the world around them.  They will explore electricity, magnetism, mechanics, solar power and wearable technology.  Many of the Next Generation Science Standards were disguised as fun projects.

  1. The five projects are:
    1. Squishy Circuits-The girls will explore how electricity works using both conductive and insulating dough to illuminate LEDs.
    2. How Do Solar Panels Work? – Girls will learn how sunlight is converted to electricity, then take apart a solar-powered apparatus. Finally they will build and test a solar panel with LED’s.
    3. LED Illuminated Hair Bow– Girls will continue their exploration of electricity and dive into wearable technologies by making a hair bow that illuminates LEDs and uses conductive thread to link the battery pack to the LED light set.
    4. Build and Test an Electromagnet– Girls will build and test an electromagnet using a bread board and other electrical tools so they will understand how electric motors work.
    5. Build and Test a Mechanical Dog– Girls will build a “Tamiya Robot Dog”. In this project they will assemble a gearbox, a motor mount, an electrical switch and several mechanical linkages using basic hand tools.  The girls will then modify their dogs to perform certain duties outlined in a fun scenario.
  2. Kid lift 2016-May-June 2016 24 Knots repeated the 2015 course while partnering with the Columbia Chapter of the YMCA and $25,000.00 of funding from Cognizant “Making the Future” Grant.
  3. Portland Public Schools 7th Grade Maker event: Students use real tools to build, test, and modify a Tamiya robot that they each take home at the end of Day 3. Students are divided into eight groups to build a similar configuration of the robot and record the time it takes their configuration to move one meter. Then the students use math to convert the time into speed and post the speed on a communal graph.  By interpreting the speed data posted on the communal graph, students modify the robot so it will walk at a specified speed (meeting several middle school NGSS engineering design requirements).  Enrichment activities include modification of the robot to move in non-linear directions and decorative embellishments.
  1. Kid lift consulting:
    1. Educators Professional development. 24 Knots can take your classroom to the next level with great training and projects to meet the NGSS challenge.
    2. Non-Profits– Lift your camps and programs to the next level with project training including robotics, maker tools and science backgrounds.
  • Curriculum enhancement- Take the burden of circulum development off of your staff and give them exciting, customized projects that easily meet NGS Standards.
  1. Technical Support- Do you have robots laying around your space and nobody that knows how to use, fix or upgrade them. We can help revitalize your STEM program offerings.