The Elms are wrapping up their study of electricity. We began with the vaguest notion of how our lights went on and the students are now able to apply their knowledge of series circuits to create a party line with speakers and receivers from old land-line hand sets.
Richard Schulte, Lauren's grandfather, came in last Thursday to share his expertise with us. He had created different electrical components on blocks that could be combined in different orders to experiment with different ideas. It was a wonderful way to push the students' understanding of things like resistance, ohms (units of resistance) and amperes. With a little practice, they were able to use the tools that Mr. Schulte brought to make hypotheses and test them. When we set up a parallel circuit, students were able to predict what would happen if we added resistance (heat coils) to the circuit. (They thought there wouldn't be enough power left to light the lights.) They were right!
Be sure to come to our Science Night on March 24. We've been very busy planning an informative and fun evening. As our nation (and our community) focus more on science education, we'd like for all parents to fully know what science looks like in a progressive setting. Child care for all students is available (please contact Colleen to let her know how many children to expect).
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