We are finally getting back into our science lesson. I am so glad to be able to do this with a friend who is very good in science. We split the duties, one week I do the experiment the following week my friend does the experiment. We are continuing with our Physics from Real Science 4 kids. We haven't been very thrilled with the experiments in this program so we have had to come up with some of our own. We do however like the written text in these books which is why we continue to use them. This lesson was to teach open and closed circuits. My friends found this experiment
OOPs I forgot to get the name of the book where the experiment came from.
The kids created a wire sculpture and we taped it down onto wooden planks
Next we added a battery pack and attached it to the wire sculpture. On the opposite side we added a buzzer or a motor (kids choice) along with a wire guide.
then the kids tried their hands at using the guide wire to maneuver around the wire sculpture. If the guide wire touched the sculpture it rang the buzzer or made the motor spin the fan:) closing the circuit. If they made it around the sculpture without ringing the buzzer or making the motor spin it remained an open electrical circuit. The kids had fun with this great experiment.
The next week was my turn to come up with a experiment again looking at what is a circuit and looking at insulators and conductors. The experiment I decided to use was from Science Buddies. Here is the You tube video I found. We only did the first two experiments:)
Now it was time to have the children try it.
It worked perfectly...I always love when an experiment works likes it suppose too
My friends had a gauge (forgot what it is called) that can detect the amount of resistance (ohms) in the graphite. The further the pins where the larger the number, the closer the pins the lower the numbers hence why the light shown brighter when the alligator clips where closer together.
We also made paper circuits and got results all though not at good as the video. Our circuits had to be much smaller if the light was to turn on, so this was a bit frustrating for the children.
We had a great time exploring circuits and these were great fun experiments to do!
The book is called 'How Science Works" published by Readers Digest. the guage is a multimeter - it measures all sorts of things, but we used it to measure resistance in this case. It also measured voltage, temperature (Using a thermocouple) and all sorts of other useful things that I can't remember!!
Wow, I don't know if I could have done this one. I have a phobia when working with any kind of electricity. I would worry about being shocked. A great learning experience again for your children. I love how hands on you are in your teaching. it is great to have some one share the lessons with you. Blessings!
Cool! I personally hate physical science, so am not very good at those experiments. I recently learned about Squishy Circuits and we gave their set a try. I mistakenly believe that we could do more with the set than we could. Once i started looking at the directions for the particular project, I thought that it was more complicated than the directions were implying. We couldn't get it to work. So two weeks later, I make another batch of the dough and bring in the hubs. He concluded what I had already suspected, that to make a dough animal with eyes, would involve and complicated internal play dough structure. We set it up so that the LED's would light up and Little Miss enjoyed turning the lights on and off. The dough was more work to make than it was worth, in our opinion. I like your friend's idea of making wire sculptures instead! Your experiment sounds cool too, it just the wire sculpture was pretty identical in theory to what I was trying to complete with the Squishy Circuits.
The book is called 'How Science Works" published by Readers Digest.
ReplyDeletethe guage is a multimeter - it measures all sorts of things, but we used it to measure resistance in this case.
It also measured voltage, temperature (Using a thermocouple) and all sorts of other useful things that I can't remember!!
Thanks :) I kept meaning to ask you while you were over last week and forgot:(
DeleteWow, I don't know if I could have done this one. I have a phobia when working with any kind of electricity. I would worry about being shocked. A great learning experience again for your children. I love how hands on you are in your teaching. it is great to have some one share the lessons with you.
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
Cool! I personally hate physical science, so am not very good at those experiments. I recently learned about Squishy Circuits and we gave their set a try. I mistakenly believe that we could do more with the set than we could. Once i started looking at the directions for the particular project, I thought that it was more complicated than the directions were implying. We couldn't get it to work. So two weeks later, I make another batch of the dough and bring in the hubs. He concluded what I had already suspected, that to make a dough animal with eyes, would involve and complicated internal play dough structure. We set it up so that the LED's would light up and Little Miss enjoyed turning the lights on and off. The dough was more work to make than it was worth, in our opinion. I like your friend's idea of making wire sculptures instead! Your experiment sounds cool too, it just the wire sculpture was pretty identical in theory to what I was trying to complete with the Squishy Circuits.
ReplyDeleteMy husband did this experiment once with the boys and they thought it was the coolest thing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking to Science Sunday!