Physics is Elementary

 

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 Specialist, I was on my own this year. But, I am lucky to work in the Elmbrook School District where the staff is amazing and the parents step up to volunteer their time to make a wonderful experience for the students.

Alright, so how do you teach physics to a 5th grader, much less a kindergartener? The 2 major tools that I used were Makey Makey Kits and LittleBits Syth Kits. We had a total of 12 different stations for students to explore.

Makey Makeys allow students to be part of a circuit. Don't worry it is a very low voltage so there is no fear of harm, just fun. So how does it work?  Look at the image below.

Students use the red USB wire on the right to connect the Makey Makey, the device in the center of the picture, to a computer. We used Chromebooks I brought from Brookfield Central to complete the circuit and have electricity flow through the students. They need to use the outlets on the bottom called Earth and then touch the different controls: up, down, left, right, or the buttons which are space or click. 

Sound too complicated? If a 6-year-old can grasp it, I think you can too. The key is explaining that metal (like wires, aluminum foil, pencil lead) and things that contain water (like humans, playdough, and fruit) conduct electricity. So when we touch the Earth to any of the controls, we complete a circuit. There are a whole bunch of different station activities we play with like musical instruments or even video games. 

In the video below, the student played the piano by completing the circuit by being attached to the Earth of the Makey Makey and touching cups of water that had wires connected to different controllers. 

In the brief video below, the student used a foil rod attached to the earth to hit different pieces of playdough connected to different controls on the Makey Makey to play Super Mario Brothers.

The other part of the High-Interest Physics Day involved a Little Bits Synth Kit. The point of this was to help students understand the concepts of pitch and frequency, among other concepts. Different stations were set up that had different musical instruments created with the kits. The major components were a keyboard and a sequencer (to create beats). It allowed students to have free reign to explore different aspects of how electric sounds are created and what the concepts mean. They were briefly shown what each instrument was and then given time to explore on their own.

It was wonderful to be able to be able to return to Brookfield Elementary for High-Interest Day and run my "Shocking Sounds" session again. A big thanks goes out to Brookfield Elementary Principal Erin King and Meghan Binder who invited me back and did an amazing job leading the set-up for High-Interest Day!

I hope to return next year and make it even better by adding new stations and possibly bringing some high schoolers along with me to help build those student-to-student connections. 

Learn about Makey Makeys from their Web site: https://makeymakey.com/ 

Learn about LittleBits's many great hands-on electricity kits for all grade levels. I have loved using their kits in my classroom to demystify electronic components. Learn about these kits here: https://classroom.littlebits.com/welcome.