I think that “to build things” means, to apply your knowledge in order to start a project where you add components and solve problems until the result is obtained. This can include coding, engineering, and also straight up taking things from your garage to make a personal homework machine. You run into problems, solve it, add something, and then move on to the next.
I have built quite a few things, such as my Automata from 6th grade, a “生日快乐(Happy Birthday in Chinese)” contraption machine, Lego robots, and coding projects in Scratch (Scratch.mit.edu) and in Java.
When I built the LEGO robot, it was when I was in 3rd or 4th grade. Me and my friends were building it for an FLL (First LEGO League) robot competition. We took lego technic bricks, along with some motors, pieced it together, and ran it through trials to see if it could complete the required tasks. Even though it was challenging, it was also fun.
I also built and coded multiple games through the Scratch coding platform, and also started coding a 3D game in Java using OpenGL (it was never finished 🙁 ). I followed a tutorial for the Java project, and it was satisfying to see that I could render a shiny 3D dragon. I also had some fun editing the code to see what would happen if I messed it up, and it was funny seeing how it broke the render process.
6th grade automata
Snippet of a 3D render engine I made using Scratch
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/366269491/
Stephen I love that your concept of building includes not just three-dimensional tangible objects but also building through the design of coding. Coding absolutely entails utilizing raw materials and tools – coding language, a digital processing environment and hardware to yield a completely new and different result. Amazing that you can combine letters and numbers and end up with a shiny 3D dragon!