On Friday, I was so pleased to be able to return to one of my favorite days of the year, High-Interest Day at Brookfield Elementary School. This is a day where I have been able to bring the concepts of physics to k-5 graders. You may be asking yourself, "Elementary students doing physics?" YES! Not just experimenting, but understanding the concepts behind the physics of electricity and sound. This is a very special day I have had the opportunity to be involved in since 2017. So, how are we able to bring the concepts of electricity and sound traditionally taught to high school 11th and 12th graders to the elementary level? There are a few keys 1) make it a hands-on experience 2) remove the mathematical calculations and make it practical. In the past, I had the luck of bringing a handful of my physics students with me to guide the elementary students through the concepts that they had learned over the course of the year. But in my new role as a Teaching and Learning Speciali
My practice the last few years has been collaborations with classrooms outside of my building. It's something that I always looked forward to. You can read about some of these amazing collaborations between high school and elementary school kids in these older posts: Fury Road Harmonious Instruction Last week, I was invited to be part of one of our elementary school's high interest day in which students are able to attend a wide variety of sessions that allow them to explore a range of topics. I decided to see if any of my high school students wanted to be a part of sharing the physics of sound and electricity with the elementary students. I was lucky enough to have 5 amazing students answer the call! I won't go into too much depth about what we did. But we designed two different activities to engage in. The first was using Makey Makey Kits to use as music inputs and video game controllers. The second was using LittleBits Synth Kits to allow students to expl