Frugal homeschoolers adhere to the “waste not, want not” philosophy. With that in mind, consider physics teacher Bobby Mercer's new 212 page paper-back book, Junk Drawer Engineering: 25 Construction Challenges That Don't Cost a Thing. Junk Drawer Engineering continues the popular Junk Drawer Science series, which also includes Junk Drawer Physics: 50 Awesome Experiments That Don't Cost a Thing and Junk Drawer Chemistry: 50 Awesome Experiments That Don't Cost a Thing, also available in print or Kindle electronic formats. Junk Drawer Engineering details how to construct 25 challenges including a pasta bridge, marble roller coaster, marshmallow tower, milk carton sound wave amplifier, or egg catch device, from items you would ordinarily throw away. The book begins with a brief “Introduction: What is Engineering,” stating that “A basic approach will be shown to give you the ability to do each project, but engineering is about thinking outside the box and devising new ways to do things. You are encouraged to try new methods—you never know what new and creative ways you will think of.” Mercer divides projects into three categories: Energy, …show more content…
If you don't have one item, you can try something else. For instance, if you choose to create a Candy Mobile, you can utilize either bamboo skewers, rules, or wooden dowels. You can also adjust the challenge difficulty; the author explains that in the Candy Mobile project, the “complexity of this challenge depends heavily on the age of the students. A mobile uses rods and hanging weights...The secret to mobiles is torque. Kids will learn about torque and when they are done, they can eat the evidence. This engineering activity is best done with at least one partner to help you hold crosspieces as you get them to