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Holiday Paper Circuit Cards

11/27/2018

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As part of our monthly Quickfires last year, our English 12 students made Christmas/holiday paper circuit cards for our local Senior Center.  The students really enjoyed creating them and it was a great creative outlet.  Due to the rigor of their classes as students get older, sometimes the content is deep and there isn't always a chance for the creative outlet, so I love working on creative projects for our older students.

We liked the idea and outcome so much from last year, that we decided to do it again this year with the English 12 classes.  We have had so many things that have hit our staff unexpectedly this year, that we decided to focus on staff as our recipients.  We wanted to have a little pick-me-up for our staff when they came back from Thanksgiving break.  We had students draw names of staff members (the red and green slips of paper in the black bin above), and then they created Christmas/holiday cards that were personal to that staff member.  Some of their awesome work is below!

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I made sure to get to work early on the first day back from break (plus a snow day added at the end!) so I could stick the cards in the staff mailboxes.  We included a little note explaining how the cards work (so they can test student work), who made them, and a little holiday note.  The students were so curious to hear about what teachers thought!  It made the whole experience personal for them knowing the card was going to someone they knew.

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Circuitry - 3 Ways!

3/12/2018

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This trimester, our high school is offering a new class, Tech Support Internship, where students apply to be part of the class, choose a learning pathway (self-discovery), and also learn about the various aspects of tech support.  Our Tech Director, Dan Townsend, and District Media Specialist, Kelly McGee, and myself are going to work with the classroom teacher, Jeff Patin, to do some weekly Quickfires to get them thinking critically and incorporate some aspects of some of the pathways they might have selected.
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For this Quickfire, the constraints were pretty simple:
  1. Figure out how to create the circuits with no directions provided
  2. Make a recognizable object.
Below are the three signs (folded) that I placed on the tables.  I intentionally placed the resources that would be used for that project on the back as well as a link that can help them through building the circuit - to see how observant they are of what they are given and how to make best use of what they are given.
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Conductive Play-Dough Table Sign
http://bit.ly/conductiveplaydough
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Pipe Cleaner Circuits Table Sign
http://bit.ly/papercircuits01
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Paper Circuits Table Sign
http://bit.ly/pipecleanercircuits
Printable Circuitry Table Signs

1st Way - Conductive Play-Dough

This was my first time trying conductive play-dough and it took a little bit of trial and error, but worked great!  I try to do the activities that I share with students first because I am nerdy like that, but more so, it gives me great insight for problems that might occur and prompting questions I can ask.  Plus, I had to see what kind of recognizable object I could create - you can totally tell it is a macaroon, right? :)
​
For the play-dough, I used the recipes found at Teach Beside Me and they worked great (recipes below)!  I doubled the given amounts for both and it turned out to be the perfect amount for the group of students.

Conductive Play-Dough (I used lemon juice when I made it)
1 cup Water
1 1/2 cups Flour  
1/4 cup Salt
3 Tbsp. Cream of Tartar (or 9 Tbsp Lemon Juice gives the same results)
1 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
Food Coloring, if desired
Mix in a medium size pot and cook over medium heat stirring consistently. It will thicken into a dough as it cooks.  Let it cool, then if it is still too gooey, knead in a bit more flour.

Insulating Play-Dough
1 1/2 to 2  cups Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
3 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
1/2 cup Water (use distilled for better results)
Food Coloring, if desired
Mix well. Start with less flour, but add more if dough is too sticky. Mine was really sticky so I added quite a bit more flour to get it to the right consistency.

What is needed...

  • Conducting Play-Dough
  • Insulating Play-Dough
  • Battery Pack
  • (4) AA Batteries
  • LED Lights
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What they were given...

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At the station table
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At a separate table

To make something like...

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2nd Way - Pipe Cleaner Circuits

Oh goodness - I don't even know where to begin.  Other than if I personally never have to create a pipe cleaner circuit again, I am totally cool with that.  This was a definite test of my patience and I couldn't tell you how many times I walked away and then came back to it.  But I eventually got it to work and that is all that counts - right?  Modeling perseverance is what this one was for me. 

What is needed...

  • Pipe Cleaners
  • Scissors
  • LED Lights
  • Lithium Batteries
  • Rubber Bands
  • Paper Clips
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What they were given...

Picture
At the station table
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At a separate table

To make something like...

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3rd Way - Paper Circuits

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I am not going to lie, I did not re-create this example of a paper circuit as I have done them a couple of times before (remember my gnome card from here?).  For this one though, I do like to have an example on hand that I can pull out if necessary to help them work through their circuits.

What is needed...

  • Markers
  • Paper
  • Lithium Batteries
  • Copper Tape
  • LED Lights
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What they were given...

Picture
At the station table
Picture
At a separate table

To make something like...

Picture
Picture

I didn't get that many pictures because I think the intentional lack of direction through some students for a loop and they had quiet a few questions.  The conductive play-dough proved to be the most difficult station in learning how to work with the two kinds of play-dough to make the circuit (they did not realize that they were two different kinds of play-dough that needed to work together to make the circuit work).  They seemed to enjoy the pipe cleaner circuit station (and made me question why I had so many problems with it!) as well as the paper circuit station.  The interesting thing about the paper circuit station was that once they figured out how to make the basic circuit work, they started working on how many lights they could get to work on their existing circuit (they could get 2 to work consistently and sometimes a third!).

This was our first time working with this group of students and so we weren't sure quite what to expect with giving them little to no direction.  It definitely test their skills in more ways than one!  I saw a few of the signs turned around to the back, but they did not notice the websites I provided!  ;)
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Paper Circuit Christmas Cards

11/29/2017

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Now that Thanksgiving has passed, my mind travels towards holiday themed activities.  Christmas is my favorite time of year (and luckily I LOVE snow and live in a place where we get a decent amount!) so I was ready to jump into some fun learning activities.
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For this Quickfire, I worked with high school seniors to make paper circuit Christmas cards which we would give to our local senior center.  The students could decorate their card however they wanted, but they were to include at least 1 LED light that when pressure was applied to one point of the card, the light would light up.  I had a DonorsChoose project funded in which I received lithium batteries, copper conductive tape, LED lights, and cardstock paper.  The only other resources I needed were tape and coloring resources!
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If you haven't heard or seen paper circuits before - they are so awesome!  Below is a short video (or you can view it here) for how to make a paper circuit card.
It was amazing how quiet the room was as the students were working.  Students who made cards in the morning came back at lunch to show their friends their cards.  Students who weren't even in the classes I was working with today wanted to come and make a card because they heard what we were making.  I think everyone had a blast working on these and the senior center was blown away by the cards and were so excited to decorate with them where people could interact with the cards.  What a fun way to use learning about circuitry to give back to the community!
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Some Student-Created Cards

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