ABOUT THE SPEAKER
AnnMarie Thomas - Educator
AnnMarie Thomas works on the playful side of engineering -- using cool tools to teach and help others.

Why you should listen

AnnMarie Thomas joined the faculty of the University of St. Thomas in the fall of 2006. Previously, she was a faculty member at Art Center College of Design. She is the director of the UST Design laboratory and leads a team of students looking at both the playful side of engineering (squishy circuits for students, the science of circus, toy design) and ways to use engineering design to help others (projects in technology design for older adults). Thomas, in partnership with collaborator Jan Hansen, is co-director of the University of St. Thomas Center for Pre-Collegiate Engineering Education (CPCEE).

Thomas teaches Engineering Graphics, Machine Design, Dynamics (with Circus Lab), Toy Design, Product Design for an Aging Population, and Brain Machine Interfaces (seminar). She organizes the School of Engineering Design Night (featuring the ENGR320 Machine Design competition), and the Design Discussions seminar series.

Thomas has also worked on underwater robotics (at MIT, Caltech and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute), specializing in biologically inspired propulsion. She has consulted on projects ranging from the design/creation of a "musical earthquake-playing robot" to the initial research for a book on earthquakes in Los Angeles. At Caltech, she founded the Caltech Robotics Outreach Group (CROG) and the Caltech/JPL/LEGO Middle School Robotics Conference.

Get the recipes for the two squishy circuits play doughs here >>

More profile about the speaker
AnnMarie Thomas | Speaker | TED.com
TED2011

AnnMarie Thomas: Hands-on science with squishy circuits

AnnMarie Thomas: Ciència pràctica amb circuits esponjosos

Filmed:
964,058 views

En una breu exhibició a TED, AnnMarie Thomas ens ensenya a fer una demostració de les propietats elèctriques amb dues plastilines casolanes de sabors diferents: enllumenant LEDs, fent girar motors i convertint els nens petits en dissenyadors de circuits.
- Educator
AnnMarie Thomas works on the playful side of engineering -- using cool tools to teach and help others. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:15
I'm a hugeenorme believercreient in hands-onmans educationeducació.
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Sóc partidària de l'educació pràctica.
00:19
But you have to have the right toolseines.
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Però amb les eines adients.
00:21
If I'm going to teachensenyar my daughterfilla about electronicselectrònica,
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Si he d'ensenyar electrònica a la meva filla,
00:24
I'm not going to give her a solderingsoldadura ironferro.
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no li donaré pas una soldadora.
00:26
And similarlyde manera similar, she findstroba prototypingprototipatge boardstaulers
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Així mateix, els taulers de prototips resulten
00:28
really frustratingfrustrant for her little handsmans.
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frustrants per a les seves manetes.
00:31
So my wonderfulmeravellós studentestudiant SamSam and I
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Amb el meu magnífic alumne Sam
00:34
decidedva decidir to look at the mostla majoria tangibletangible thing we could think of:
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vam decidir pensar en la cosa més flexible possible,
00:36
Play-DohPlay-Doh.
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la plastilina.
00:38
And so we spentgastat a summerestiu
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I ens vam passar l'estiu
00:40
looking at differentdiferent Play-DohPlay-Doh recipesreceptes.
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provant diferents receptes per a fer-ne.
00:42
And these recipesreceptes probablyProbablement look really familiarfamiliar
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Receptes que segur que li sonen
00:44
to any of you who have madefet homemadecasolana play-doughjugar-massa --
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a qualsevol que hagi fet plastilina casolana,
00:46
prettybonic standardestàndard ingredientsingredients you probablyProbablement have in your kitchencuina.
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amb ingredients normals que segur que teniu a la cuina.
00:49
We have two favoritefavorit recipesreceptes --
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En tenim dues preferides:
00:51
one that has these ingredientsingredients
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una amb aquests ingredients
00:53
and a secondsegon that had sugarsucre insteaden canvi of saltsal.
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i l'altra posant-hi sucre en lloc de sal.
00:55
And they're great. We can make great little sculpturesescultures with these.
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I són genials. Es poden fer escultures molt bones.
00:58
But the really coolguai thing about them is when we put them togetherjunts.
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Però el més guai és quan les ajuntem
01:01
You see that really saltysalat Play-DohPlay-Doh?
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i veiem que la plastilina molt salada
01:03
Well, it conductsconductes electricityelectricitat.
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condueix l'electricitat.
01:05
And this is nothing newnou.
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No és cap novetat.
01:07
It turnsgirs out that regularregular Play-DohPlay-Doh that you buycomprar at the storebotiga conductsconductes electricityelectricitat,
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La plastilina normal que es compra condueix l'electricitat
01:09
and highalt schoolescola physicsfísica teachersprofessors have used that for yearsanys.
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i fa anys que els mestres de física la fan servir.
01:12
But our homemadecasolana play-doughjugar-massa
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Però la plastilina casolana
01:14
actuallyen realitat has halfla meitat the resistanceresistència of commercialcomercial Play-DohPlay-Doh.
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té la meitat de resistència que la plastilina comercial.
01:16
And that sugarsucre doughmassa?
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I la pasta de sucre?
01:18
Well it's 150 timestemps more resistantresistent to electricelèctric currentactual
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És 150 vegades més resistent al corrent
01:20
than that saltsal doughmassa.
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que la de sal.
01:22
So what does that mean?
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I això què vol dir?
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Well it meanssignifica if you them togetherjunts you suddenlyde sobte have circuitscircuits --
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Vol dir que ajuntant-les obtenim circuits
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circuitscircuits that the mostla majoria creativecreatiu, tinypetit, little handsmans
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que els ditets més petits i creatius
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can buildconstruir on theirels seus ownpropi.
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poden construir tots sols.
01:33
(ApplauseAplaudiments)
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(Aplaudiment)
01:38
And so I want to do a little demodemostració for you.
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Us en faré una petita demostració.
01:42
So if I take this saltsal doughmassa,
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Agafo la plastilina salada,
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again, it's like the play-doughjugar-massa you probablyProbablement madefet as kidsnens,
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segurament com la que feieu de petits,
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and I plugendoll it in --
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la connecto...
01:48
it's a two-leaddos el plom batterybateria packpaquet, simplesenzill batterybateria packpaquet,
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és una bateria normal de dos contactes,
01:51
you can buycomprar them at RadioRàdio ShackBarraca
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es pot comprar al Radio Shack
01:53
and prettybonic much anywhereon sigui elsealtra cosa --
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i gairebé a tot arreu,
01:55
we can actuallyen realitat then
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i ara podem
01:58
lightllum things up.
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fer llum.
02:02
But if any of you have studiedestudiat electricalelèctrica engineeringenginyeria,
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I si algú de vosaltres és enginyer elèctric,
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we can alsotambé createcrear a shortcurt circuitcircuit.
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també podem crear un curtcircuit.
02:06
If I pushempènyer these togetherjunts, the lightllum turnsgirs off.
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Si els ajunto, s'apaga la llum.
02:09
Right, the currentactual wants to runcorrer througha través the play-doughjugar-massa, not througha través that LED.
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Exacte, el corrent vol travessar la plastilina, no el LED.
02:11
If I separateseparat them again, I have some lightllum.
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Si els separo, tornem a tenir llum.
02:13
Well now if I take that sugarsucre doughmassa,
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I ara amb la pasta de sucre,
02:15
the sugarsucre doughmassa doesn't want to conductconducta electricityelectricitat.
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que no vol conduir l'electricitat.
02:17
It's like a wallparet to the electricityelectricitat.
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Fa com una paret.
02:19
If I placelloc that betweenentre, now all the doughmassa is touchingtocant,
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Si la poso enmig, tota la pasta està en contacte,
02:22
but if I stickenganxat that lightllum back in,
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però si hi torno a ficar el llum,
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I have lightllum.
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tenim llum.
02:26
In factfet, I could even addafegir some movementmoviment to my sculpturesescultures.
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I fins i tot podria donar-hi una mica de moviment.
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If I want a spinninggirant tailcua, let's grabagafar a motormotor,
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Per a fer una cua giratòria, s'agafa un motor,
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put some play-doughjugar-massa on it, stickenganxat it on
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s'hi posa plastilina, la hi enganxem bé,
02:34
and we have spinninggirant.
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i ja ho tenim.
02:36
(ApplauseAplaudiments)
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(Aplaudiments)
02:40
And onceun cop you have the basicsconceptes bàsics,
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I a partir del més bàsic
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we can make a slightlylleugerament more complicatedcomplicat circuitcircuit.
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es poden fer circuits una mica més complicats.
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We call this our sushisushi circuitcircuit. It's very popularpopular with kidsnens.
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D'aquest en diem "circuit de sushi". Els encanta als nens.
02:47
I plugendoll in again the powerpoder to it.
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El torno a connectar
02:50
And now I can startcomençar talkingparlar about parallelparal·lel and seriessèrie circuitscircuits.
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i ja estaríem parlant de circuits en paral·lel i en sèrie.
02:53
I can startcomençar pluggingendoll in lots of lightsllums.
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Hi puc connectar molts llums.
02:58
And we can startcomençar talkingparlar about things like electricalelèctrica loadcàrrega.
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I estaríem parlant de coses com la càrrega elèctrica.
03:01
What happenspassa if I put in lots of lightsllums
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I si hi posem molts llums
03:03
and then addafegir a motormotor?
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i hi afegim un motor?
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It'llAixò ' ll dimesmorteir.
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Llum tènue.
03:07
We can even addafegir microprocessorsMicroprocessadors
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S'hi poden afegir microprocessadors
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and have this as an inputentrada
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i que això fes d'entrada
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and createcrear squishytova soundso musicmúsica that we'vetenim donefet.
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i crear música esponjosa com aquesta.
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You could do parallelparal·lel and seriessèrie circuitscircuits
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Es poden fer circuits en paral·lel i en sèrie
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for kidsnens usingutilitzant this.
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per als nens.
03:20
So this is all in your home kitchencuina.
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I tot això a la cuina de casa.
03:23
We'veHem actuallyen realitat triedintentat to turngirar it into an electricalelèctrica engineeringenginyeria lablaboratori.
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De fet, hem mirat de convertir-la en un laboratori d'electrònica.
03:26
We have a websitelloc web, it's all there. These are the home recipesreceptes.
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Ho tenim tot penjat a un lloc web. Les receptes casolanes,
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We'veHem got some videosvídeos. You can make them yourselvesvosaltres mateixos.
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alguns vídeos. Els podeu fer vosaltres mateixos.
03:31
And it's been really fundiversió sincedes de llavors we put them up to see where these have gones'ha anat.
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És molt divertit perquè així veiem fins on es pot arribar:
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We'veHem had a mommare in UtahUtah who used them with her kidsnens,
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una mare de Utah que els feia servir amb els fills
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to a scienceciència researcherinvestigador in the U.K.,
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o un científic del Regne Unit,
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and curriculumcurrículum developersdesenvolupadors in HawaiiHawaii.
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o uns programadors de Hawaii.
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So I would encourageanimar you all to grabagafar some Play-DohPlay-Doh,
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Us convido a agafar un xic de plastilina,
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grabagafar some saltsal, grabagafar some sugarsucre and startcomençar playingjugant.
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sal i sucre i us poseu a jugar.
03:46
We don't usuallygeneralment think of our kitchencuina as an electricalelèctrica engineeringenginyeria lablaboratori
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Normalment no veiem la cuina com un laboratori d'electrònica
03:49
or little kidsnens as circuitcircuit designersdissenyadors,
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o els nens com enginyers,
03:51
but maybe we should.
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però potser ho hauríem de fer.
03:53
Have fundiversió. Thank you.
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Que vagi bé i gràcies.
03:55
(ApplauseAplaudiments)
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(Aplaudiment)

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
AnnMarie Thomas - Educator
AnnMarie Thomas works on the playful side of engineering -- using cool tools to teach and help others.

Why you should listen

AnnMarie Thomas joined the faculty of the University of St. Thomas in the fall of 2006. Previously, she was a faculty member at Art Center College of Design. She is the director of the UST Design laboratory and leads a team of students looking at both the playful side of engineering (squishy circuits for students, the science of circus, toy design) and ways to use engineering design to help others (projects in technology design for older adults). Thomas, in partnership with collaborator Jan Hansen, is co-director of the University of St. Thomas Center for Pre-Collegiate Engineering Education (CPCEE).

Thomas teaches Engineering Graphics, Machine Design, Dynamics (with Circus Lab), Toy Design, Product Design for an Aging Population, and Brain Machine Interfaces (seminar). She organizes the School of Engineering Design Night (featuring the ENGR320 Machine Design competition), and the Design Discussions seminar series.

Thomas has also worked on underwater robotics (at MIT, Caltech and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute), specializing in biologically inspired propulsion. She has consulted on projects ranging from the design/creation of a "musical earthquake-playing robot" to the initial research for a book on earthquakes in Los Angeles. At Caltech, she founded the Caltech Robotics Outreach Group (CROG) and the Caltech/JPL/LEGO Middle School Robotics Conference.

Get the recipes for the two squishy circuits play doughs here >>

More profile about the speaker
AnnMarie Thomas | Speaker | TED.com