Dyson: How can a Vacuum be a Learning Tool?

Engineering is the first things that comes to your mind right? Dismantling a hand-vac and then reassembling it can be a a great tool to discuss blue-prints, structure and function, even technology and its advancements over the centuries. But does a simply hand-vac lend itself to any other scientific topic? I am a Life Science teacher and I wanted to order the Dyson Box for my classroom. It is free, and I was curious to try it out. I wanted to make sure it was fun and engaging but also that i could tie it to my curriculum. So last year, my first year ordering it, I sat down and took the vacuum apart, investigating all the parts, lied them out on the table, drew them, them reassembled the unit. After looking at my drawings it sparked a thought.

The parts looked very much like tendons, ligaments, joints, bones, muscles. An aha! moment. I wrote a simple lesson plan, with very little direction. I wanted to see if my students would come up with the same conclusion I did. On each table as they entered the room was a mini-vac, tools, and a handout with a visual of how to take it apart and put it back together, and a booklet on the parts and functions of the vacuum. On the board I wrote "How is this vacuum like the human body?" This was an engagement lesson, a hook, students had not been given any vocabulary of background on our new unit: Skeletal, Muscular and Integumentary systems. They were aware this was the next unit but we hadn't discussed it yet as a class.

Before any tool was touched, students read the background of Dyson and how collaboratively the vacuum was improved upon and finally became what it is today. Then I asked students to take apart the unit and draw and label the parts. Then as a group discuss why each part was used? Why is each part of the whole important? After about ten minutes, students reassembled the vacuum. Finally I had them look at their drawings and determine how they are similar to the human body. Students did determine skeletal and muscular. But, they also made connections to other body systems: Nervous: electric currents telling it what to do? Circulatory: engine the heart. Even Excretory, cleaning out the waste through the tubes like the ureters. It is amazing what they come up with when asked one simple question "How is this vacuum like the human body?" 

Dyson Box is available to order on the website. It takes several months to get so order early. It is not only for science. My colleague is an ELA teacher and she also ordered one this year and she has hers on a back table and students after they finish an assignment go back and tinker. She has them tell her how they are discovering new things and they write simple first person narratives. The box is delivered to your school. It is yours for about 5 weeks then you need to ship it back, all free with labels, I just drop it off at a UPS store to make sure it gets sent out quickly. I recommend this for any classroom, students love it, it spawns curiosity and discovery. It is great for a makerspace or genius hour. Give it a try i know your students will love you for it.