Building a simple circuit in a box for matching words or definitions to concepts in a fun way. – SCOPES-DF
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Lesson Details

Subjects *
Science, Technology
Age Ranges *
8-11, 11-14,
Fab Tools *
Classroom Materials, Hand Tools,
Author
Carlos Luna

Author

Carlos Luna

Summary

The idea of this lesson is to have students build a simple circuit in a box designed to be a simple game of matching words or definitions to concepts. On the surface the box can have images and words that are related in some way. Each word or image has a metallic contact next to it. The box also has an LED on its face and 2 “probes” coming out of its side. If the user touches a word or image with one probe and another matching word or image with the other probe, the LED lights up. On the inside each metallic contact is wired and connected to the rest of the circuit (LED and batteries) in such a way that only when connecting matching elements the LED will light up. 



 

 

 

By building this box, students will learn and put in practice basic principles of electronic circuits, but will also have an opportunity to investigate and select the concepts or images that will make up the game. This makes this box suitable for different subject areas, since the elements to be matched can be freely chosen, and if needed the circuit can be rewired easily.

What You'll Need

 

For recreating this activity, you will need:

 

  • A cardboard box (like a shoe box)
  • Nuts and bolts (as many nuts as options available to match; twice that amount of nuts)
  • Alligator clips or insulated copper wire (a dozen pieces should be enough)
  • One LED of any color
  • One resistor of any value ranging from 220 Ohms to 1 kOhms.
  • A pack of batteries. AA o AAA are ok, 2 or more in a battery holder.
  • Glue and hot glue.
  • Scissors and/or cutter and a cutting surface.
  • Small screwdrivers both driving the bolts and making holes on the boxe´s surface
  • Ruler, masking tape, pencil.

 

Additionally you will need the images or words that will be used as the elements to match. You can use the following document as a template:

 

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/15nc-pXFxb8WLYtnflV_0qU44nI0sjhg8ADpLEx2dbxc/edit

Learning Objectives

  • Wiring a simple circuit, taking into account the correct orientation of wires and leads of polarized elements (in this case, LEDs).
  • The specific learning objectives related to the area to which the elements (images and concept) to match belong.

 

Reflection

I learned that for this kind of projects, flexibility is key. Most of the time you can’t 100% anticipate what topics students will bring up or what ideas they will try to implement on an otherwise simple project, but by letting them experiment and change the basic idea of the project, they might end up learning more things than what you had originally planne for the activity – even (or specially) if their ideas don’t work as they had expected.

The Instructions

Introduction and preparation

In this step we will introduce the activity and the game we will build to the students. The idea is that they have a clear understanding of how the machine is operated, even if at this point they still don’t know how it works on the inside. If possible, show them a video of the game working, so they know exactly what happens when 2 matching options are touched with the probes and what happens if the options don’t match. Finally, and depending on the subject area developing the activity, students will be given a framework for choosing their images and concepts. For example, if we are doing this as part of a biology class, they could be told to choose 2 different species and choose characteristics that belong to just any one of those species. Using that information they will have the elements needed to build the “face” of the game.

  • Show the students an example of the device they will build. You can use this video if needed.
  • Depending on the area and subject the students are studying, ask them to plan their game. For example, in the video the context is:
  • We want to know how difficult it will be for robots to have the same kind of interaction we humans have with the physical world. For that we will first get some information about our “biological sensory systems” and the information they can give us.
  • Choose 2 human senses.
  • For each of those senses, find what kind of information about the world they give us. Keep in mind that what our senses tell us about the world has to do both with the “sensors” but also with how the brain processes the information it receives from those “biological sensors”.
  • Find some images that represent the senses you have chosen.
  • Draw a mockup of the face of the box you will build. Make sure to mark here the position of the images and the information that the senses give us (in no particular order, remember that the idea is that the person playing the game has to match the words to the images). Also mark the position of the LED that will be used to show when two matching elements have been touched with the probes.

 

Placing the elements on the box

In this step we will place the images and words on the top part of the box, based on the mockup that the students prepared in the previous step.

  • Print on a sheet of paper the images and words you gathered in the first step.
  • Using the mockup you prepared, place and glue your elements on the face of the box.

 

 

  • Using a small screwdriver punch a hole for the LED. Then push the LED through the hole from the underside of the top of the box, and secure it in place with some hot glue.

 

 

Preparing the circuit

In this step we will place the nuts and bolts that will act as terminals next to each of the elements of the game. We will also wire those elements to build the main circuit, the one that connects matching elements “behind the curtains”

  • Punch holes next to the images and words that you have glued on the face of the box. You can use a small screwdriver for that.
  • Put bolts through each of the holes, and secure them on the other side of the face of the box with nuts.

 

 

  • Connect the bolts to match the images to their corresponding words or concepts. For this you can use alligator clips or insulated copper wire. 
  • If using the wire, make sure to strip some insulation off from both ends of the wire, then twist the exposed cable around the bolt, to make sure a good contact is made. Then, once all cables have been placed, use a second nut to secure everything in place.

 

Final steps

In this step we will connect the remaining parts of the circuit and test it to make sure everything works as expected.

  • Make a cutout on one side of the box.
  • Place the battery holder on the bottom of the box. Secure it with some tape. Also secure the cables of the pack, and make sure they don’t touch each other or it will cause a short circuit!
  • Use some tape to place the resistor near the end of the red wire of the battery holder (the positive lead).

 

 

  • Use an alligator clip to connect one end of the resistor to the positive lead of the battery holder.
  • Use another alligator clip to connect the other side of the resistor to the long leg of the LED.
  • Connect an alligator clip to the black wire of the battery holder (the negative side). Then pull the cable through the hole on the side of the box to the outside.
  • Connect an alligator clip to the short leg of the LED and pull the cable to the outside of the box through the hole you made previously.

 

 

  • If the cables going to the outside of the box are too short, you can chain them connecting extra alligator clips to them.
  • Inside the box, secure the cables that go to the outside by sticking them with some tape to prevent pulling off the electronics of the circuit.
  • If everything is connected properly, then connecting the external cables to each other should light the LED. If this is not happening, then:
  • Check that your battery holder has an on/off switch. If so, make sure it is in the “on” position.
  • Check that every cable is secured in place and make good contact.
  • Check that the cable coming from the resistor is connected to the long leg of the LED. LEDs need to be connected in a certain orientation. If they are connected “backwards” current will not flow through them and they will not light up!
  • Try another LED.
  • When you get the LED to turn on, the circuit is ready for the next test. Use one probe to touch the bolt placed near one of the images. Then use the other probe to touch the bolts next to the words or concepts you placed elsewhere on the box. The LED should turn on when the correct word or concept is touched, and stay off if the word or concept doesn’t match the image. If the circuit doesn’t work as expected, check the wiring going from one bolt to the other, making sure that only corresponding elements are connected.
  • Once the circuit passes this test, the box is ready to be used!

 

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