Workshops teach engineering and history
Jeff Newhook, an engineering student at Memorial University, celebrated history over the Discovery Day weekend.
As project leader of the Webbed Toed Workshop, a student-run initiative which specializes in designing original Newfoundland and Labrador themed educational activity kits and workshops, Mr. Newhook will be offering workshops to over 200 youth between the ages of 8 and 18 on how to build their own Morse code oscillator.
The workshops will take place during a celebration of Scouting’s 100th anniversary from June 29 through July 2 at Camp Nor’Wes near Port Blandford.
Created in 2002, the Webbed Toed Workshop is dedicated to encouraging kids to be innovative and creative, while teaching new skills and fundamental science concepts.
“The oscillator is used for teaching Morse code,” he said. “I give them all the parts and they’ll put it all together and in the end they will have a working device that will beep when they push the keys. This particular workshop fits in with the 100th year celebration of scouting because one of the skills Scouts would have learned a 100 years ago would have been Morse code.”
The engineering student has been volunteering his time to do electronics and woodworking workshops with youth groups for the past few years. In fact, he’s put together a number of such kits that he sells to tourist locations – from crystal radios to boxes for catching bugs.
“As a child I struggled in school and I was later diagnosed with a learning disability,” said Mr. Newhook. “But I was always really good at hands-on things. So all of my projects are very hands on and they’re designed so any skill level can do them successfully.”
Mr. Newhook notes that the cost of his weekend workshop with the Scouts is being sponsored in large part by the Memorial University’s Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science and The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) Newfoundland and Labrador Section.
“I grew up with a father who could build anything,” he said. “It just seems second nature to me. But a lot of kids have grown up and have never seen a tool box. Many of the older kids may be thinking about what they’re going to do in university and this is their first exposure to electrical engineering.”
For more information about the Webbed Toed Workshop, visit their website at www.engr.mun.ca/~jeff.
