tronics for 6 y/os

[Baphomet]

"N. Thornton" <bigcat@meeow.co.uk> wrote in message
news:a7076635.0312191455.3c577ff@posting.google.com...

Hi

Well, a whole bundle of ideas - thanks to eevryonefor contributing. A
wiggly wire thing it shall be!

Regards, NT

How about a wireless A.M. microphone? I always found them fascinating when I
was a kid.

 

[Russell Shaw]

N. Thornton wrote:

Hi

I need some ideas for one session projects with some 6 year olds. I
cant think of much, only those wiggly wire games where you try and get
the loop round the bent wire or it goes bzzz.

Maybe thats the thing to do?

NO. The losers will be put off for life

Show how to light a bulb with batteries, and show the effect of
putting more batteries or bulbs in series. Explain voltage and
current.

Make some electromagnets and experiment with them. Make a floating
water compass and test normal and electromagnets on them.

Make an open-frame 3 or 4-pole motor using a commutator made of
sheet copper.

Experiment with relays and small motors.

Run all the above with solar cells and show the similarity to
batteries.

Make cars powered by batteries or solar cells.

Small boats made from polystyrene sheet and hot glue is good too.
The propeller can be made from a small piece of sheet brass/copper.
Make a boat propelled by an air propeller.

Advanced: make a battery, make a wire glow as a lightbulb.

These exercises can be one session at a time over 2 weeks.

Following the one session one there might be some longer ones too.

Regards, NT

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Russell Shaw
<rjshaw@iprimus.com.au> wrote (in <3FE6E9BD.2020002@iprimus.com.au&gt
about 'tronics for 6 y/os', on Mon, 22 Dec 2003:

NO. The losers will be put off for life

The wiggly wire thing is just a game and a poor one that doesn't have
flashing graphics or demons.

Show how to light a bulb with batteries, and show the effect of
putting more batteries or bulbs in series. Explain voltage and
current.

I agree with this and the rest of the post. These experiments show how
electricity is used for practical, useful things. Even things that the
children themselves can find useful.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk
Interested in professional sound reinforcement and distribution? Then go to
http://www.isce.org.uk
PLEASE do NOT copy news posts to me by E-MAIL!

 

[ddwyer]

In article <vu46frnh6qim5f@corp.supernews.com>, Walter Harley
<walterh@cafewalterNOSPAM.com> writes

"N. Thornton" <bigcat@meeow.co.uk> wrote in message
news:a7076635.0312181304.1e0b8be6@posting.google.com...
I need some ideas for one session projects with some 6 year olds. I
cant think of much, only those wiggly wire games where you try and get
the loop round the bent wire or it goes bzzz.

I don't think I was much older than that when I first started playing with
batteries and light bulbs. If you can figure out how to connect wires while
dealing with relatively limited manual dexterity, you can have fun with
things like how incandescent bulbs get dimmer or brighter if you hook them
in series, parallel, whatever. Of course, you'll blow out some bulbs if
you're not careful...


Also battery and bulb at 6 years by 7 electric motor with fuse wire and

cork.
Nails hammered into wood as breadboard.
--
ddwyer

 

[Tim Shoppa]

John Woodgate <jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote in message news:<uNeOVcDLfv5$EwZ1@jmwa.demon.co.uk>...

I read in sci.electronics.design that Russell Shaw
rjshaw@iprimus.com.au> wrote (in <3FE6E9BD.2020002@iprimus.com.au&gt
about 'tronics for 6 y/os', on Mon, 22 Dec 2003:

NO. The losers will be put off for life

The wiggly wire thing is just a game and a poor one that doesn't have
flashing graphics or demons.

One of the difficulties with teaching anything to kids these days is
that they expect *everything* to be pre-packaged with nice graphics and
neat sound effects. TV and computers work very hard to convince them
that if it doesn't have those frills, then it's not worthwhile.

I agree with this and the rest of the post. These experiments show how
electricity is used for practical, useful things. Even things that the
children themselves can find useful.

When I stop to think about it, I'm amazed that closing a copper contact
on one side of the room can cause a light on the other side to turn on.
You have to catch kids while they still have that appreciation of the
magic, and I think by 6 most modern kids have moved past it. Three or four
is the age to start.

Tim.

 

[Russell Shaw]

Tim Shoppa wrote:

John Woodgate <jmw@jmwa.demon.contraspam.yuk> wrote in message news:<uNeOVcDLfv5$EwZ1@jmwa.demon.co.uk>...

I read in sci.electronics.design that Russell Shaw
rjshaw@iprimus.com.au> wrote (in <3FE6E9BD.2020002@iprimus.com.au&gt
about 'tronics for 6 y/os', on Mon, 22 Dec 2003:


NO. The losers will be put off for life

The wiggly wire thing is just a game and a poor one that doesn't have
flashing graphics or demons.


One of the difficulties with teaching anything to kids these days is
that they expect *everything* to be pre-packaged with nice graphics and
neat sound effects. TV and computers work very hard to convince them
that if it doesn't have those frills, then it's not worthwhile.


I agree with this and the rest of the post. These experiments show how
electricity is used for practical, useful things. Even things that the
children themselves can find useful.


When I stop to think about it, I'm amazed that closing a copper contact
on one side of the room can cause a light on the other side to turn on.
You have to catch kids while they still have that appreciation of the
magic, and I think by 6 most modern kids have moved past it. Three or four
is the age to start.

If any of them look properly interested enough, give them a kit
of parts to mess with at home (beware how you do it, or everyone
will want them). You can write off the short attention span ones
as brain damaged nintendoites

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that Russell Shaw
<rjshaw@iprimus.com.au> wrote (in <3FEC0176.2040408@iprimus.com.au&gt
about 'tronics for 6 y/os', on Fri, 26 Dec 2003:

You can write off the short attention span ones
as brain damaged nintendoites

Except for the 1% that have a short attention span because they know it
all already.
--
Regards, John Woodgate, OOO - Own Opinions Only. http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk
Interested in professional sound reinforcement and distribution? Then go to
http://www.isce.org.uk
PLEASE do NOT copy news posts to me by E-MAIL!

 

[N. Thornton]

Russell Shaw <rjshaw@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message news:<3FEC0176.2040408@iprimus.com.au>...

If any of them look properly interested enough, give them a kit
of parts to mess with at home (beware how you do it, or everyone
will want them). You can write off the short attention span ones
as brain damaged nintendoites

You can, or you can convert them to long attention span achievers.
That would seem better.

Regards, NT

 

[Peteris Krumins]

bigcat@meeow.co.uk (N. Thornton) wrote in news:a7076635.0312181304.1e0b8be6
@posting.google.com:

Hi


I need some ideas for one session projects with some 6 year olds. I
cant think of much, only those wiggly wire games where you try and get
the loop round the bent wire or it goes bzzz.

Maybe thats the thing to do?

Following the one session one there might be some longer ones too.

Make the kids to join hands and give a wire to those two kids who are at
the both ends of the semicircle.
Then insert one wire in one pin of rosette and after a short delay in the
other.


P.Krumins

 

[Russell Shaw]

N. Thornton wrote:

Russell Shaw <rjshaw@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message news:<3FEC0176.2040408@iprimus.com.au>...

If any of them look properly interested enough, give them a kit
of parts to mess with at home (beware how you do it, or everyone
will want them). You can write off the short attention span ones
as brain damaged nintendoites

You can, or you can convert them to long attention span achievers.
That would seem better.

But how? Apart from genetic effects, the damage is done by clueless
parents letting them vegetate in front of the TV or computer games
from a young age. They get conditioned as clueless consumers of
instant gratification that takes no longer than the flick of a
tv remote. Any longer than that, and their little pea brain
can't stand the required attention span and they head for the
kitchen to pig out. Takes no genius to figure out the rising
obesity stats of school children (less ride bikes than they
used to, which contributes).

 

[N. Thornton]

Russell Shaw <rjshaw@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message news:<3FEEDB88.1080903@iprimus.com.au>...

N. Thornton wrote:

You can write off the short attention span ones
as brain damaged nintendoites

You can, or you can convert them to long attention span achievers.
That would seem better.

But how?

Hi

Atention is founded on
1. interest,
2. and awareness that 'input eventually leads to payoff'.

So firstly we need to establish interest. Notice how each person is
into different things - so the interesting idea must come from the
child, not from the adult. (Another downfall of school education.) So
we begin by asking the child what theyd like to make if there were no
practical limits. Get em dreaming, get em thinking. Well sooner or
later theyll come up with something that can in fact be done, probably
after several undoables. Now we have interest.

So set out to do the project. The kid wont have the attention span to
do it all of course, but even 2 minutes can achieve something, if
nothing more than another 20 turns on that coil. The project is done
by a series of short attention bursts. The trick now is to teach the
litlun how to handle frustration and short attention.

Frustration should be handled by never destroying the work in
progress, but rather hitting something else when it gets to that. Also
never push them, they will do it when they want to, when their
interest has recovered. Explain that there is only one way to move a
mountain: one stone at a time. And the place to start is to move just
one stone. If I move one stone one foot, and repeat daily, eventually
the pile will be cleaerd, and I'll have my goal. These are key life
success concepts.

So, at times interest will reawaken, and a bit more will be done.
Short attention span kids tend to criticise themselves heavily when
they get frustrated, and will need to know its ok, we all have only so
much attention, and by doing this it will increase until they are able
to solve progressively bigger more complex projects. Taking the
pressure off, and the emotional out, enables one to tackle something
till tired of it, then go do something else, then come back to it
later, all quite calmly.

So now we have the project getting done. First projects should be
short, as the one thing a short attention span person needs to learn
is that they _do_ reach the end of the road, and succeed at their
goal. Their previous experience will lead them to expect giving up and
failing.

At this point we have a form of longer atention span, made by piecing
one short span after another. With repeating, this turns into longer
and longer attention, as the difficult emotional aspects subside and
the goals are achieved. Give them a year and that span will be normal.
Give them 20 years with this technique and they will be able to solve
very complex problems.

Inabillity to pay attention seems to be an educational matter.

The very worst cases, who dont pay any attention any time at all, AFAI
can tell will only begin to pay attention once they get physically
hurt by their lack of it. In the real world this soon happens, and is
actually the way we all learn to pay attention and look where we're
going, usually at toddler age. All we need do is react calmly to their
minor self injury, and point out that they walked into /trod on
something because they were not looking. They need to be told that
their inattention caused the accident, and told it calmly with none of
the typical scolding or hysterical emotional content. Once this is the
feedback they get, they have the clarity and a real motive to pay
attention, and begin to do so.

My experience with all this is limited in amount, but it works well
enough, and consistently.

Apart from genetic effects, the damage is done by clueless
parents letting them vegetate in front of the TV or computer games
from a young age. They get conditioned as clueless consumers of
instant gratification that takes no longer than the flick of a
tv remote. Any longer than that, and their little pea brain
can't stand the required attention span and they head for the
kitchen to pig out. Takes no genius to figure out the rising
obesity stats of school children (less ride bikes than they
used to, which contributes).

I used to play mindless games as a kid, and watch tv, and I can pay
attention. Therefore this isnt the cause. I believe the cause is the
failure to learn basic life lessons, things that a minority of parents
dont understand themselves, and thus fail to teach their kids.

Excess time TVing I do believe is harmful, as it robs the time and the
will to do constructive things. However a limited amount of it is
something most of us grew up with, and we survived, even if we got
rather brainwashed into giving our money away and failing to
appreciate what we have.


One last thing, people need to learn that the way to solve a problem
is to try one approach, which has only so much probability of
resolving it, and if this doesnt do it, look for another approach and
try again with that. And repeat, and continue to repeat, until it gets
solved. This is a very simple concept that a remarkable percentage of
the population does not seem to do.


Regards, NT

Postscript:
These are the lessons that make for ability to solve lifes problems.
In other words, and somewhat controversially, they are the things that
make up intelligence. Problem solving can be taught, IQ is learnt.

 

[Bob Stephens]

On 30 Dec 2003 09:17:53 -0800, N. Thornton wrote:

Russell Shaw <rjshaw@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message news:<3FEEDB88.1080903@iprimus.com.au>...
N. Thornton wrote:

You can write off the short attention span ones
as brain damaged nintendoites

You can, or you can convert them to long attention span achievers.
That would seem better.

But how?


When I was a kid growing up in the Boston area, the extent of my interest

in science was the ballistics of lobbing snowballs at cars. My parents
signed me up for a weekly program at the Boston Museum of Science called
"Junior Science Explorers" or some such which consisted of live
demonstrations of cool stuff like dropping a chunk of pure Sodium into the
Charles River and watching it blow up, demonstrating why it is unwise to
store gasoline near an oil furnace and so forth. Easy on the theory, long
on gee whiz - just the thing for the ADHD set (kids). If you've never been
to the BMS, it is a great place for introducing science to kids, kind of
like the San Francisco Exploratorium on a larger scale. Most of the
exhibits actually do something in response to user input - Van de Graf
generators making your hair stand on end, a thriving beehive under glass, a
full ship's bridge with operating radar showing shipping traffic in Boston
Harbor. This was back in the early '60s, so hopefully they have kept pace
with tech. advances and it is still a fascinating place for the current
generation of kids.

Bob