ROYALSTON – The atmosphere at the Royalston Community School if often electric during the school day, but most recently, “It’s Electric” after hours as some 20 students participate in a 12-week program by that name, exploring electricity with first grade teacher Cindy Drouin.
Underwritten by Royalston Academy, Inc, the program began with snacks and a dance (The Electric Slide, of course) and then Ms. Drouin removed her first grade teacher hat and became project manager. Within the first five minutes, it was clear this is not some warm and fuzzy after school club, it is serious scientific exploration.
Students selected cards, and according to their draw, partnered with three other students. The five tables of four students each selected their own timekeeper, materials handler, speaker, and a recorder, who was instructed to take two-column notes; Attribute blocks visibly identified each student’s area of responsibility.
Terminology was the next order of business, ensuring all students were using not just proper, but precise wording as they worked on their project. The challenge was creating a circuit on the back of an oak-tag tray, to light up LEDs on an image of Albert Einstein on the front side. Ambiguity in terms is rejected in this program. An “open circuit” for example, just doesn’t make sense, since, by definition, a circuit starts and ends in the same place.
Ms. Drouin attempted to create a circuit on her little Einstein display, by inserting a 9-volt battery connect the two ends of a copper tape pathway. It failed. Multiple times. Each time she asked students for reasons it may have failed. Dead battery? Oh, how about removing the plastic wrapper? Backwards?
When the various suggestions had been considered, changes made, and ultimately resulted in the LEDs in Einsteins eyes and pointer lighting up, Ms. Drouin said that learning often happens outside of the comfort zone. There’s going to be some discomfort in doing things that don’t lead to success, but all the times that didn’t result in success are learning, too.
As students worked in their groups, discussions ensued on the differences between voltage, current, amps, wattage, and power; the logical placement of resistors and what happens if they’re left out of the circuit or misplaced; how does overlapping or an over-run of the copper tape affect the conduction of electricity; Can energy be wasted?
Scientific chatter continued for the remainder of the 75 minute session, as each team’s materials handler obtained the necessary items to complete their circuits, and members began to apply the copper tape to the backs of the projects. Recorders wrote the groups’ two-column notes – a Cornell standard – which allows for organizing main ideas and important details during the note-taking process, and a quick, accurate summary.
The program – and learning – will continue into March, with support from Royalston Academy, Inc, an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization established by Katherine Seymour Bullock Cole, to enhance educational and cultural experiences for the children and adults of Royalston. For information, contact the Royalston Academy, Inc.; P.O. Box 130; Royalston, MA 01368; Chairman Alan W. Bowers at 978-249-7164, or “It’s Electric” project leader Cindy Drouin at cdrouin@arrsd.org or 978-249-2900.