Brief Description | Students build the tallest tower possible to support a marshmallow. They can use only dry spaghetti and tape. |
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Subject | Types of Engineering, Miscellaneous |
Grade Level | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
Time | 1 Hour Total |
Lesson Objectives: | Depending on your goals for the unit, the lesson objectives may include:
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Materials Needed: |
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Necessary Background | This activity requires no specific background. Many STOMPers use it to introduce the engineering design process. |
Procedure |
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Author | Laura Fradin, Jake Hellman |
Reference 1 | http://sites.tufts.edu/stompactivitydatabase/files/formidable/SpaghettiTowersOutline.pdf |
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Squishy Circuits and Circuit Diagrams
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Name of Activity | Squishy Circuits and Circuit Diagrams |
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Author | STOMP |
Keywords | squishy circuit, circuit diagram, electricity |
Subject | Non-LEGO |
Grade Level | 4, 5, 6 |
Time | 1 Hour Total |
Brief Description | Using experience with squishy circuits and the symbols for elements in a circuit, students will practice building and drawing circuits. The circuits will have batteries, LED lights, and Play-Doh as resistors/wires (that bit can be confusing, especially when talking about short circuits!) |
Lesson Objectives: | The goal of this lesson is to introduce students to circuit diagrams and to get them to think about designing circuits. They will practice going back and forth between drawing circuits and building them. In addition, students will practice figuring out why a circuit isn’t working the way it’s meant to. |
Materials Needed: | Each group (2-3 students) should have: 9V battery Play-Doh 2 LED lights 2 Alligator clips to connect the battery to the rest of the circuits A worksheet with example circuits for them to build and room for them to draw the circuits that they build |
Preparation and Set Up: | While one person introduces the class, the other person can distribute materials and worksheets to each group. |
Necessary Background | Teachers should be familiar with the symbols used and with the idea of a short circuit and the idea that electrons flow through the path of least resistance. |
Procedure |
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Extensions: | If a group finishes early, they can play a game where one person draws a circuit (that either works or doesn’t) and the other person has to build it. If the circuit was purposefully designed to be broken, the other person also has to figure out how to fix it. |
Modifications: | use snap circuits instead of squishy circuits. |
Umbrella Unit/Curriculum (if applicable) | Intro to Electricity and Circuits |
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