Engaging in Engineering is incredibly important for middle school students to help grow their love from problem solving, math, and science and to help show them that engineering is for EVERYONE and it something they could pursue as a career.
NIU SWE used this activity at STEMFest this year! And it was a hit!
Here’s an easy, fun activity and instructions for LED Popsicle Stick Flashlights:
The simple circuit helps to define different parts of a circuit ex: switch, wire, positive & negative sides of the battery, how the copper wire tape is connecting everything together. The circuit also highlights the use of a switch, binder clip, to turn the light bulb on and off . This can be compared to a light switch to make a real-life connection to the activity.
This is a budget friendly activity that does not require access to the internet and a cheaper alternative would be to use notecards or paper in place of popsicles sticks. This activity could also be more budget friendly if done in a smaller quantities.
This activity is a great intro to problem solving and circuits. Some common problems with the flashlights are;
copper tape being too short
battery not making a connection with copper tape and/or binder clip
copper tape connecting underneath the binder clip
Talk through these problems if they occur and see if you can find a reason and solution to the problem.
- Courtney Shimp
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