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Electronics Projects for 12-Year-Olds?
nepheles asks: "I've recently been asked to teach some electronics classes for a group of 12-year-olds. They're all new to it. Electronics always seemed boring in school, so for them, I've been looking at hands-on projects: I've considered making basic motors, steady-hand games, and Morse-code communication systems. What experiments have you seen in electronics that amazed you, and that could be recreated in the classroom? What cool things have you made that would be simple enough for a kid to do? At a meta level, how would you like to have been taught electronics?"
Super easy to build. We made a bunch of boards for some elementary school kids and had them solder on the components and play with the thing in general. We were kind of time limited to a few hours, but it was a good experience.
Ramsey siren kits are always well-received.
http://www.ramseyelectronics.com
A.
...bringing you cynical quips since 1998
Indeed, the battery experiment would be a great example. All you need is two different metals and an acid. Two plain coins of different metal composition (american coins are perhaps not best because they are made of a sandwich metal) seperated by vinegar. That should easily demonstrate a current.
You could then attach wires to the coins and wrap them around an iron bar to make a magnet, and pick up iron filings. Not bad for turning familiar, extremely easy to find materials into a primitive but working electronic device.
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that's exactly what I was thinking. I used to LOVE those...
A co-worker bought one of these awhile back, and I was impressed with it. Not a bad choice for a bright 12-year-old.
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
Unless the metal composition of U.S. coins has changed since the early 80s. you can get a voltage off of a penny and a nickel (i.e., 1 cent and 5 cent pieces) separated by a saliva-soaked piece of paper. Great fun.
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You cannot wash away blood with blood
I learned electronics when I was 14, not much different from 12 when you get down to it. Wanna know what hooked me the first day? Crossing a 15 Fd. capacitor with a screwdriver (Plastic handle with gloves on) with the lights off.
POPFIZZLESPARK
Took 15 minutes of hammering away with a chisel to get the screwdriver out, freshly melted to the contacts. The heat was so intense in that instant that the teachers forearms looked pretty sunburnt. As a matter of fact, many students swear they saw his skeleton light up and the one hot girl's shirt dissipate. One thing we all had in common, we were all thinking the same thing:
"I gotta try that on someone, I'M MAKING A TAZER!"
Of all the Universal Constants, here's one I know: Nice guys finish last
All I can suggest is, as a kid my Dad bought me something like "101 electronic experiments" from radio shack circa early 80's (a quick google and I can't find anything, perhaps I have the name wrong?) It was a wooden box frame with a breadboard surface that had various marked connections. You could connect power and the crystal and tuner and amp and make a radio! Although I was by no means a rich kid, I also had a "101 physics experiments" kit that included a little solar cell. Those kits were awesome! I was a lucky kid.
Unless the metal composition of U.S. coins has changed since the early 80s...
Not to pick a nit, and not that it'd change the coin battery setup, but the metal composition of the 1 cent piece has changed since mid-1982.
From the US Treasury Website (emphasis mine):
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
At my old school, we had an amazing teacher called Mr. Swinson. He taught woodwork and metalwork to 9 to 12 year olds.
On the electronics front, we built a robot that would follow a white line painted on the ground (by coupling two light sensitive cells to circuits that controlled the opposite motors), and a working (if a bit squealy) electronic organ.
Aside from electronics, he had children working with blow torches and lathes, constructing working steam engines that trundled along the floor from raw materials - pistons, cylinders, the boiler - everything. The only teacher to have to run extra classes after school due to demand, and not one accident worth mentioning in all that time.
He was a superb guy all round, and I've never forgotten how exciting his classes were.