Abstract

What if we could bring education to the masses explaining how to develop a particular product without having to mass produce the actual product? The pursuit of creating knowledge economies using power on demand as an idea worth spreading is how I have attempted to answer this question. Through identifying three styles of active learning, I designed three idea spreading mechanisms. Kinesthetic, Accommodative and Tactillian learners are all active learners, they want physical involvement with their education. These three concepts; a bicycle generator museum exhibit (accommodative), a traveling bicycle generator exhibit (kinesthetic) and a set of DIY/DIT (Do it together) bicycle generator plans (tactillian) help facilitate this process in order to gain a wide user audience, making the spreading of ideas more successful. All three are designed to give the user the building blocks for further exploration. Chosen for its world wide relevance, power on demand (POD) is the notion of utilizing human power in order to gain mechanical power, be it electric or non-electric. Bicycles are one such means to produce mechanical or electrical energy, located throughout the world and easy to manipulate. This simplicity is essential to help facilitate future interest in creating ones own means of energy. The end result is three learning mechanisms that utilize pedal power and can be spread to a mass audience without being individually purchased. The first is currently on display at the Rochester Museum and Science Center and is a stationary bicycle generator hooked up to multiple kinds of light bulbs to teach users how much wattage they need to pedal out in order to power a florescent bulb versus an LED. The second is a traveling bicycle generator tailored for classroom style group learning, it can be hooked up to multiple household items and is able to run a series of experiments . The third is a set of DIY/DIT plans that are completely graphical and can be used by anyone in the world regardless of language as the user teaches other users or creates more refined models. The learning mechanisms show users physically how much energy the objects around them consume as well as showing how to create your own source of energy.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Electric power production; Green technology; Bicycles; Learning

Publication Date

4-29-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Department, Program, or Center

School of Design (CIAS)

Advisor

Rickel, Stan

Comments

Note: imported from RIT’s Digital Media Library running on DSpace to RIT Scholar Works. Physical copy available through RIT's The Wallace Library at: TK1005 .H37 2011

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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