Golems

Golems caught my attention with it’s note of “Build anything at all”. In Diesel Technology we are always looking at systems and how the parts interact. Systems are broken down, sub-systems analyzed and put back together again. Golems is an interactive design and build program based on constructivism pedagogy.

Golems has a wide range of components and many of the components can serve as more than one item. A student will have to understand the similarities of seemingly different components. A hydraulic hose and an electrical wire are two different components used for completely different jobs, but underlying understanding is that both conduct flow whether it is fluid or electrons. A gear can turn on the shaft of a motor uses the same understanding that a wheel turns on an axle shaft. In this program the same component is selected for either a axle or a motor. You can build a car or catapult, or an electrical circuit or a hydraulic system. You can make your machines move or operate. It says you “can give it a brain”, but I did not get that far. The possibilities seem endless and it is a free download. It is not user-friendly requiring a combination of mouse clicks and keystrokes to manipulate the program and there is not a help menu. The manual and tutorials are on the company’s home/download page. The fact that components can be several things allows for more build capabilities, but that you have to use a cylinder to make a wheel can be confusing. The manipulation of the space and components is also difficult. I kept trying to put an axle on the surface but couldn't seem to get it to work. What I didn’t know was that the program always placed an item in the center of the surface, UNDER anything else sitting there. I had 30 plus axles on the surface. The tutorial doesn’t explain the procedure fully. If you can master the manipulation of the program, you can build anything you want.

__Communication__  Collaborate with others such as analyzing different hydraulic layouts or developing a team design ed project.

__I nquiry __ Students can try different approaches to an idea. With endless possibilities, ideas can be tried and tested. A student's assigned project can be to build a machine to solve a given problem rather than to just build a machine. What if a student wanted to control a hydraulic circuit with an electrical circuit? That would be possible with this program.

__Construction__ Build, build, build. A design can be built from a given design or a given problem. The procedure of a design build can also be addressed as well as component sizing and measuring, clearances and design flaws.

__Expression__ The program allows for individual design as the design can be entirely up to the student.  Students could construct a hydraulic system as they would see one laid out in their own mind. It can be tested and compared to others with a completely different layout .