WUR Honours students Ben Tumulero, Kim van Vliet, Iris van Holsteijn, Magda de Roon and Ludo Diender. Photo: Energie is Kinderspel
‘The Cityscapes research project of the Honours programme requires us to come up with a solution for issues that occur in the city’, says third-year student of International Development Studies Iris van Holsteijn (20), who is part of the Energie is Kinderspel (“Energy is Child’s Play”) team. ‘The project could touch upon waste or air pollution, for example. We opted for the lack of space for children to play and came up with an idea that lets children play and teaches something about energy consumption.’
The students collaborate with children from primary school De Vallei in Driel. ‘They will be building the slide puzzle with us’, says Van Holsteijn. ‘We will do that at the Walhallab in Zutphen, a kind of engineering lab where children can build things. We will be assisted by a 13-year-old teacher – something that is very common there. By letting the children make the puzzle by themselves, they will also learn a lot.’
Slightly different
The sliding puzzle is one square meter in size and slightly different than regular sliding puzzles. ‘In our puzzle, a series of lights together need to be connected. If the puzzler succeeds, the lights will light up. That is, assuming sufficient energy has been generated with the swing, of course.’
The energy-generating swing with the lighted slide puzzle should be ready by early July.
To find out more about this project, follow the students on Twitter @EnergieKindSpel.