What hands-on electronics concept would you teach to 8th graders in 1-2 minutes?

zakqwy wrote 11/10/2016 at 15:22 • 0 points

I do a decent bit of work with Minneapolis Public Schools and they invited me to display a booth at their STEM career expo in February. They want hands-on practical career-oriented demos for the 8th graders that will be cruising around the fair, but it's pretty constrained: 8' wide table and only 1-2 minutes per student.

Before hearing the time constraint I planned to do a hands-on soldering demo, but I'm not sure we'll have time. What do you suggest, .stack?

Discussions

api wrote 11/15/2016 at 20:47

depending on budget, could hand out a reed switch example. magnetics are always fun

Are you sure? yes | no

John Duffy wrote 11/12/2016 at 10:17

What about something like this http://makezine.com/projects/make-30/eternal-flame-indestructible-led-lantern/ (or this http://makezine.com/projects/upgraded-indestructible-led-lanterns/ without the wireless charging part)

If you replaced the coin cell with an ultracap or two AA/AAA batteries that could probably be made pretty quickly.

Are you sure? yes | no

AVR wrote 11/10/2016 at 20:59

my friends designed a 3D Printable no solder LED flashlight when they taught a girlscout troop about electronics.

Are you sure? yes | no

zakqwy wrote 11/10/2016 at 21:10

Yeah, but soldering... kids _love_ soldering.

Are you sure? yes | no

Olaf Baeyens wrote 11/10/2016 at 20:09

The thing that impressed me back then is a levitating Earth under a magnet.

Are you sure? yes | no

zakqwy wrote 11/10/2016 at 20:13

Control loops! Magnets! I like it. I need to keep costs as low as possible, which is constraining the project quite a bit. But a levitating deal-o would be slick.

Are you sure? yes | no

Ben Hencke wrote 11/10/2016 at 20:08

Is it a take-home kind of thing you'd need to build a bunch of?

I was always a fan of Forest Mims III science projects. I thought the LED-as-a-color-sensor thing was particularly cool. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12856879 Now on Arduino too http://playground.arduino.cc/Learning/LEDSensor

With a few different colors you could build a crude spectrum analyzer. He was using a red + green to detect photosynthesis in green plants.

Are you sure? yes | no

zakqwy wrote 11/10/2016 at 20:12

That's a really good one. I like the crude spectrum analyzer.

Yeah, I'm hoping to have something students can take home.

Are you sure? yes | no

Ben Hencke wrote 11/10/2016 at 20:13

I wonder if you could wire this to your NeuroBytes and get a tiny brain to have a favorite color.

Are you sure? yes | no

zakqwy wrote 11/10/2016 at 20:30

Hah! Not a bad idea either. NeuroBytes compatibility.

Right now I'm putting a BOM together for a simple RGB LED light. Processor, LED, three buttons, uUSB power. I'll probably post it as a new project shortly.

Are you sure? yes | no

Ted Yapo wrote 11/10/2016 at 19:05

How about substituting a double-layer capacitor for the coin cell in one of these LED projects? You could add a USB port (power connections only) and resistor (limiting initial current to less than 100 mA, or whatever the maximum charging current for the cap is) to charge the device. Plug it in to charge, and it works for a few minutes (or more, depending on the cap and the circuit).

You've seen #TritiLED - a 0.1F cap can run one for about 20 hours.

I don't know about the relative safety of ultracapacitors, though. My gut feel is that they are less of an issue than coin cells, and likely to be only as dangerous as other "normal" components.

EDIT: I guess another difference is that the capacitor is typically soldered on to a larger assembly; coin cells are typically removable.

Are you sure? yes | no

zakqwy wrote 11/10/2016 at 19:18

Not a bad idea. I'll take a look to see how a supercap affects BOM cost.

Are you sure? yes | no

Ted Yapo wrote 11/10/2016 at 19:51

These are the cheapest I've seen:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G20168B

$0.50 each (qty 200). $0.60 each in smaller qty.

Are you sure? yes | no

zakqwy wrote 11/10/2016 at 19:55

Dang, that is cheap. Hmm..

Are you sure? yes | no

ActualDragon wrote 11/10/2016 at 17:09

how hard do you want it? you could just blink a led

Are you sure? yes | no

zakqwy wrote 11/10/2016 at 17:21

I'm not sure. I've got a few ideas I might prototype and test for newbie soldering time.

Are you sure? yes | no

ActualDragon wrote 11/10/2016 at 17:23

why r coin cells bad

Are you sure? yes | no

zakqwy wrote 11/10/2016 at 17:27

(replying to my original as yours is already at maximum indent)

Coin cells are potentially deadly if they're swallowed. It's not likely that an 8th grader would do this, but it _is_ likely that said 8th grader will take the product home and leave it in the same room as their younger sibling. Any product designed to face kids should _never_ have accessible coin cells for this reason.

Are you sure? yes | no

jareklupinski wrote 11/10/2016 at 16:59

Atari Punk Console ( and its many variants ) is my goto for getting ppl excited about moving electrons

Are you sure? yes | no

ActualDragon wrote 11/10/2016 at 16:31

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10723, it took me 30 seconds, and was one of my first projects

Are you sure? yes | no

zakqwy wrote 11/10/2016 at 16:33

No coin cells--definitely too big of a liability. Also would prefer to teach SMT. But the concept is sound!

Are you sure? yes | no

.Stack

What hands-on electronics concept would you teach to 8th graders in 1-2 minutes?

Discussions

Become a Hackaday.io Member