1. Week 01¶
This week we learned about circuits and how to practice them with our classes.
A simple circuit¶
With the help of our instructor and some previously bought materials, we quickly got to work making a circuit that could power a small LED light.
The materials we used was paper, copper tape, a button battery, led lights, paper clips, and regular tape.
We first tried making a complex drawing of a snake eating an apple, but were struggling to understand which side of the battery needed to connect to which side of the light’s pins, as well as how to make the apple not covered up when the paper is folded back. So, we scratched the snake idea, and turned it into something simple like this instead.
Attaching the copper wire to the battery was a bit difficult as the wire didn’t stick very well to the battery. Also, we struggled with the sticky side of the tape being as conductive as the pure copper side.
When pressed, if the wire was in exactly the right places, the light would turn on. It was a challenge to get this to work, but eventually it did work!
Reflection Questions¶
Q: What are the challenges of using electronics in your space? How can you design an activity using electronics that takes into accounts your children age and cultural backgrounds?
I think the biggest challenge of using electronics is getting them. The ordering process at my school, and probably all schools, is a huge process and pain. I think that even young kids can do this simple circuit and it is a lot of fun for them, and since this is a very language independant activity, it is suitable for students from all over the world. The older the students are, the more creative they can be for designing their circuit, including adding a story and pictures into their circuits such as lighting up a house or turning on a fire.
Q: Explain one successful educational activity in which you collaborated with other educators. What are the advantages and disadvantages of working with other educators? What are the main aspects to take into account to prepare an education activity among 2 or more educators?
As an IB PYP teacher, collaboration is a constant, especially as a STEM teacher in a school where UOIs (units of inquiry) are a great way to collaborate. Currently, I am working with the Grade 2 teacher who is talking to their class about historical buildings, and in STEM class we are learning Tinkercad to make an historical building. The advantage is simply that it helps the students learn more. The more connections you can make in their brain, across different subjects, will help them retain more information. The disadvantage is the time it takes to work together, and sometimes the discussion or debates when you have different ideas of what should be happening. If regular meetings are not planned, then collaboration is difficult to keep consistant. To take in multiple educators, besides from their timetables and subjects, you must ensure the curriculum is linked. I’ve been at schools that are using science objectives of Singapore, English objectives of the UK, and Chinese math standards… While these may not be a problem to work together, sometimes things that are taught in grade 3 in one country may be taught in grade 2 or 4 in a different one… Sometimes, people need the previous lessons to understand things in other classes as well. For example, if students have not learned measurement in math, it is difficult to do an airplane flight test in science, or discuss about flights in English.
How could you integrate both culturally reflective learning and digital fabrication in your environment? Could you come up with some project ideas using digital fabrication in which cultural diversity of students is highlighted?
I think my example above of traditional Chinese buildings and making things in Tinkercad is a great example of this already, luckily. Another example that I have done previously is through teaching coding thinking. I pretended to be a robot and the students needed to write the correct order for me to make tea, using exact wording and steps. For example, if the students said “put the water in the cup,” I would put the whole water bottle into the cup, instead of pouring the water into the cub. Using tea is something that our Chinese students should understand better than the normal version of this exercise, which is when a teacher makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.