If you can only put one thing in your classroom, give the child the means to build electric circuits. You can do this with parts scavenged from a myriad of sources and you can do it with a convenient commercial kit. Do both. Scavenging is important so that the child knows she can build from whatever she can find. Its also important she knows that if you have a little money, there are modular systems. Begin with the connectors, sometimes called hookup wires. I suggest ordinary speaker wire because the insulation is transparent but still marked for polarity. The child can see the copper strands inside the cable. The alligator clips, which is a great term for the classroom, are color coded for polarity as are the motor and buzzer wires. Finally, the wires are fixed with screws so there's no soldering.
In these images you have a power source, the nine volt battery, a metal disk which will generate heat, a bulb for light and for code and again for heat, a piezo buzzer for sound and code, a basic coil electromagnet which will pick objects up and drop them, a fan motor which is motion and two aluminum foil paddles the folding of which is an integrated art project in itself. They will split water, a chemical reaction...so you have here all of the basic energy transformations demonstrated with every day objects....
The same examples can be presented with Snap Circuits, an inexpensive commercial set. You see here a motor, a speaker, a light, an electromagnet, a switch to generate code and electrodes to generate a chemical reaction and heat and a power source to provide electricity. You'll need a glass of water. |
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Here are two simple energy conversion circuits built with snap circuits. Both have only five parts, counting the circuit board. Primary students can easily build these from a photo or diagram.
The left is a solar panel to a motor so the energy transformation is
light>electricity>magnetism>motion
the right is a hand cranked generator powering a motor so the transformation is
motion>magnetism>electricity>magnetism>motion
The left is a solar panel to a motor so the energy transformation is
light>electricity>magnetism>motion
the right is a hand cranked generator powering a motor so the transformation is
motion>magnetism>electricity>magnetism>motion
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