Wildcat Workshop @ Chester Arthur School
GRADE 2
Light, Electricity, & INVENTION
Essential Questions
How does light help me see things?
How can we use electricity to make things happen?
How might we use light and electricity to communicate?
How can we use what we know about light and/or electricity to solve a community problem?
What does it mean to be a good digital citizen?
Key Projects
Digital shadow puppet story
Invention that uses light and electricity to address a community need
May 2023
We began working on our inventions with light and electricity. We discussed how an invention can be an improvement on something that already exists—but it still needs to have something new. Some of our inventions include:
a device that would keep a pet cat entertained while the owner is away
a vending machine that uses a micro:bit and springs
an automated feeding device for a pet dog
a night light that is 3D printed
We worked toward earning a Digital Citizen Badge for being Intellectual Property Pros. This means we reflected on what the term intellectual property means and why it is important. We also also discussed and classified examples of intellectual property that may be protected by copyright, trademark, or patent.
March 2023
We recorded our scripts for our shadow puppet stories in the recording booth. Then, we edited our videos and audio in iMovie. We added transitions, titles, and credits.
February 2023
We discussed characters and characterization a little more by thinking about what kinds of things make our characters interesting and special. We also used brads to make some of our characters have moving parts.
Then, we filmed our stories using cameras from the WHYY Media Lab. Some groups chose to use color filters on their lights to influence the mood and/or setting of the story. We also reviewed some of the early footage and developed a list of tips for filming.
When students finished filming, they also began to write scripts for their stories. Ms. Amy moved around the room to help groups improve their scripts.
January 2023
To help us further develop our shadow puppet stories, we discussed how most stories have a beginning, middle, and end. We watched an animated story (The Three Robbers) and reflected on what happened in each part of the story. In the story, the narrator introduced the three characters first. We began writing about the beginning, middle, and end of our own stories. We also continued creating our characters and testing our designs with the light stages.
We continued working on our shadow puppet stories. We discussed how stories have a setting and most have some kind of problem or conflict. We discussed a popular story (Encanto) and identified characters, setting, problem, and a lesson learned. Then, we began writing down ideas for our own stories. We also continued creating characters and began testing them on our light stages.
We used what we’d figured out about opaque and translucent materials to start designing a shadow puppet story. First, we used our hands to practice making shadows. Next, we watched an example shadow puppet story (The Three Little Piggies) and discussed the characters, what they did, and what they wanted. Then, we started brainstorming characters we might include in our own stories. We began cutting the characters out of black cardstock. Some of us even used YouTube to help us draw characters.
For the length of the project, we will be joined by a guest teacher, Ms. Amy, who has more than two decades of experience supporting young playwrights.
We earned Digital Citizen Badges for being Conscientious Digital Sharers. That means we reflected on our digital footprints and what kinds of things we could and shouldn't share online. We discussed how footprints in sand or mud can disappear. But our digital footprints can be permanent.
We paused to reflect on what we'd be learning about light, electricity, and invention so far this school year. We discussed how most inventions and technology can have both positive and negative consequences. We focused on some of the specific positive and negative consequences of the electric lights that are part of our society. We discussed some things we learned about light pollution from a YouTube video.
December 2022
We returned to some of the coding applications we has used during the Hour of Code. Students chose among a number of options, including Scratch, Ozobot or micro:bit with Microsoft MakeCode, Tynker, Kodable, and code.org. Some students also used Snap Circuits and the lasers and mirrors. One group of students connected a Makey Makey to an arcade game that one student had created using Microscoft MakeCode earlier in the month.
We investigated with lasers and mirrors to try to hit a target. We noticed that when the laser hits the mirror, it reflects off at a similar angle. We started with one mirror and worked our way up to using four. When we turned the lights off and used a little bit of dust, we could see the path of the laser as it hit the mirrors.
Lasers are used in a number of different technologies.
November 2022
We worked toward earning Digital Citizen Badges for being Critical Media Consumers. This means we reflected on how a lot of the media we watch and interact with (websites and tv) have advertisements. We discussed why websites have ads and reflected on how different ads make us feel. We also analyzed screenshots of some sites and drew boxes in Google Slides to identify where ads may show up: from top to bottom, left to right, and even pop-up!
We also started creating story maps with Ozobots. Our little robots speed up, slow down, spin, zigzag, etc. as they read coded patterns we draw with red, green, blue, and black markers. We brainstormed characters and thought about why they might want to change speed or direction. Then, we designed costumes for our Ozobots.
October 2022
We explored how to code micro:bit's to create LED designs and messages. We discovered we could code the message to show up when you shake the micro:bit or press a button.
We used Scratch and transparency sheets to create “Pepper’s ghost” reflections. We observed an example and decided what code (next costume block, forever block, wait block) we’d need to make four animated sprites. We also needed to rotate our sprites.
We discussed how a number of inventors contributed to the development of the light bulb, including Thomas Edison and Lewis Latimer. We read a little about inventor Lewis Latimer and his work with patents. We wrote down important information about what we learned about Latimer: who, what, where, when, why, and how. We also discussed why people apply for patents.
Then, we also discussed two other inventors who worked with light: Garrett Morgan and Becky Schroeder.
We brainstormed and discussed ways that electric lights are important in our neighborhood and where we find them.
We built a variety of mini-projects using snap circuits. We selected mini-projects to build based on our interests. Eventually, we will be designing things to solve problems in the world with light and electricity.
September 2022
We're now exploring both electricity and light. We observed and sketched light bulbs up close. One thing we noticed was that the bottom of the light bulb had a metal tip that was separated from the rest of the metal bottom with some kind of black material. Mr. Smith told us that the black material was an insulator that kept the two conductive metal parts separate. These two metal parts connect to either end of the filament inside the bulb.
Then, we used a simulation to test what we needed to make a basic circuit. We started by exploring to see what we noticed about the kinds of circuits we could make. We realized that if we added batteries, the light bulbs seemed to shine brighter. We also realized that if two wires touched the same part of the bulb, the bulb wouldn't light up. We also created a parallel circuit that allowed us to switch off one bulb and allow the other one to stay lit.
We discussed how digital cameras work by watching a video and drawing diagrams. We searched for images that show similarities between cameras and our eyes.
Then, we used a web app, webcams, and glow sticks to create light paintings. (If we’d used a regular digital camera, we’d have needed to change the shutter speed.) As we practice light painting, we developed techniques with the classroom lights off. We also captured images in our super-dark podcasting booth.
We discussed whether we can see things if there is no light. We now know that we’re going to do a “light painting” project with glow sticks. So, we need to make our classroom (and podcasting booth) as light-free as possible. We brainstormed materials. Then, we discussed how we might use some of materials that we brainstormed to cover up the many windows in our room. And we started to realize that some are more expensive than other. Some may be harder to get, to put up, to remove. There are trade offs and constraints with different solutions.
We also began to test materials we might use after predicting whether they are transparent, translucent, or opaque. Some, of course, wouldn’t be very good. We found that some let some light through even though we thought they wouldn’t. We used our windows and flashlights to investigate.
We also explored how our eyes see different colors of light using a PhET simulation. We figured out what happens when we mix different colors of light together. For instance, we were surprised to find that mixing red and green light together makes yellow!
August 2022
Our theme for the year in grade 2 is “inventing things using light and electricity.” First, we shared some things we think we already know about light. Then, we began exploring how light helps us see things by comparing how many shapes we could see in brighter vs darker parts of the room. We collected data and compared our findings. We were surprised by what we (didn’t) see!
