{"id":6548,"date":"2011-05-17T07:48:52","date_gmt":"2011-05-17T12:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com?p=6548"},"modified":"2011-05-17T15:45:16","modified_gmt":"2011-05-17T20:45:16","slug":"junk_science_fo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/17\/junk_science_fo\/","title":{"rendered":"Junk Science for Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arvind_Gupta\">Arvind Gupta<\/a> has won national awards for his many contributions to science education in India. But when he introduces himself, he calls himself a toymaker. He&#8217;s not developing the type of toys that you would buy in a store or order online. His toys are the kind people can make using trash and other everyday materials.<\/p>\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"217\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bdKUmPrxtAY\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"217\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mzUkzGy5P7c\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n<p>Got a straw? Make a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=bdKUmPrxtAY&amp;feature=related\">flute<\/a>! A couple of foam cups or a CD? Turn them into a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mzUkzGy5P7c&amp;feature=related\">helicopter<\/a> or a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hTJEqSVs49A&amp;feature=related\">hovercraft<\/a>!  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arvindguptatoys.com\/films.html\">Gupta&#8217;s videos<\/a>, which I saw posted on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metafilter.com\/103540\/The-Best-Toy-Maker\">MeFi<\/a>, quickly show how to make nifty toys from trash and simple materials. They also demonstrate scientific principles in action&#8211;a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uEAz_Hm9r_I\">coin and an old hanger<\/a> are used to show centrifugal force, for example.<!--more-->When it comes to making learning fun, Gupta has been going at it for longer than the Mr. Wizard and Science Guy shows. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/view\/lang\/\/\/id\/1135\">Listen to him talk<\/a> about how he got started during the revolutionary 1970s, as a young IIT engineering graduate who left his job making Tata trucks to join a village science program, inspired by the slogan of the times: &#8220;Go to the people. Live with them. Love them. Start from what they know. Build with them.&#8221;<br \/>\n<object width=\"446\" height=\"326\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/video.ted.com\/assets\/player\/swf\/EmbedPlayer.swf\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\"\/><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><\/param><param name=\"bgColor\" value=\"#ffffff\"><\/param> <param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"vu=http:\/\/video.ted.com\/talk\/stream\/2010P\/Blank\/ArvindGupta_2010P-320k.mp4&#038;su=http:\/\/images.ted.com\/images\/ted\/tedindex\/embed-posters\/ArvindGupta-2010P.embed_thumbnail.jpg&#038;vw=432&#038;vh=240&#038;ap=0&#038;ti=1135&#038;lang=&#038;introDuration=15330&#038;adDuration=4000&#038;postAdDuration=830&#038;adKeys=talk=arvind_gupta_turning_trash_into_toys_for_learning;year=2010;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=design_like_you_give_a_damn;theme=the_creative_spark;theme=how_we_learn;event=How+We+Learn;tag=Design;tag=Science;tag=Technology;tag=education;tag=play;&#038;preAdTag=tconf.ted\/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;\" \/><embed src=\"http:\/\/video.ted.com\/assets\/player\/swf\/EmbedPlayer.swf\" pluginspace=\"http:\/\/www.macromedia.com\/go\/getflashplayer\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" bgColor=\"#ffffff\" width=\"446\" height=\"326\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" allowScriptAccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"vu=http:\/\/video.ted.com\/talk\/stream\/2010P\/Blank\/ArvindGupta_2010P-320k.mp4&#038;su=http:\/\/images.ted.com\/images\/ted\/tedindex\/embed-posters\/ArvindGupta-2010P.embed_thumbnail.jpg&#038;vw=432&#038;vh=240&#038;ap=0&#038;ti=1135&#038;lang=&#038;introDuration=15330&#038;adDuration=4000&#038;postAdDuration=830&#038;adKeys=talk=arvind_gupta_turning_trash_into_toys_for_learning;year=2010;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=design_like_you_give_a_damn;theme=the_creative_spark;theme=how_we_learn;event=How+We+Learn;tag=Design;tag=Science;tag=Technology;tag=education;tag=play;\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arvind Gupta has won national awards for his many contributions to science education in India. But when he introduces himself, he calls himself a toymaker. His toys are the kind people can make themselves from trash and other everyday materials.<\/p> <a href=\"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/17\/junk_science_fo\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[35,21,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sepiamutiny.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}