It's such a small sentence, yet it highlights one of the main problems in education: how to explain a subject to a student in such a way as to interest him enough to make him want to understand it.
If he wants to learn, then the battle is almost won because he will persist until he does understand it and, in doing so, he will absorb and retain the knowledge so gained.
The word 'battle' here is carefully chosen. The education of children is a battle, as you will agree if you accept that the average child goes to school, not because he has a burning desire to learn, but because he has no choice other than to go. Once there, he is probably more interested in having a good time with his friends than learning anything of academic value, therefore the teacher is faced with problems right from the start.
He knows that it is almost impossible for a pupil to learn something he does not understand and that he will not even seriously try to understand it unless it holds his interest. Consequently, the teacher must present his subject in as interesting a way as possible, then, once the pupil's interest is captured, he must ensure that the pupil understands and so learns the subject quite easily.
The MECCANO system makes a perfect educational aid with which to capture a
pupil's interest.
With comparatively few MECCANO parts it is possible to build up simple
mechanisms which demonstrate various principles of mathematics, physics, mechanics, and science generally. For the past 80 years, thousands of schools throughout the world have been using MECCANO to
illustrate such things as the Three Orders of Levers, Pulley Systems, the
Triangle of Forces, the Inclined Plane and so on.
With MECCANO, the most basic of operations has its educational properties. Simply bolting two parts together teaches the fundamental engineering principle of the screw thread; it illustrates the use of basic, though essential, tools - the spanner and the screwdriver; and of course it teaches manual dexterity.
On a more advanced level, the ability of gear trains to increase and decrease speed and power (torque) can be easily proved, thanks to the numerous Gear Wheels, Pinions, Bevels and Contrates included in the MECCANO system. Then again, these Parts can be used to inject life and interest into the stark mathematics involved in working out gear ratios, by constructing gearboxes which incorporate the ratios concerned.
Quite apart from the teaching of scientific principles, MECCANO is ideal for explaining, in an interesting way, the nature of many engineering constructions in every day use, a prime example of this is the motor car which would be extremely difficult to explain without the aid of a 3 dimensioned model. With MECCANO, it is possible to build an excellent reproduction of a motor car chassis incorporating all the major mechanisms contained in the original.
These mechanisms can be invaluable as many children have great difficulty in fully understanding the workings of something such as a differential from two-dimensional drawings in a text book. Let them handle a model, however, and they will see how it works.
Other MECCANO models that have been used very effectively for educational purposes include various types of Weaving Looms, Designing Machines, and Weight Driven Clocks, to mention but a few.
Education, in short, is becoming more and more interesting for both pupil and teacher alike, and MECCANO is in the forefront of the drive to keep the interest going.
After 95 years of production, MECCANO is still going strong and it has been said that MECCANO is the only mechanical construction toy to have survived the technological age.
A recent innovation by Foxgrove Design Studio, has
now brought MECCANO well and truly into the technological age. The innovation is a collection of clip-art drawings of all the MECCANO parts.
These clip-art drawings enable the most novice user to produce superbly
accurate diagrams of MECCANO mechanisms and models either in plan or isometric view on a personal computer.
Here in South Africa, Protec, the Programme for Technological Careers have purchased a number of Motor Chassis Kits and are using the IsoMec software to produce diagrams and drawings of other models and mechanisms.