Circuit Bugs

For this week’s activity, girls continued to review concepts that are important to the Electrical Engineering career! Students reviewed basic circuitry vocabulary, such as “closed and open circuits”, “currents”, and “energy transfer”. Then it was time to construct the circuit bugs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students were given materials, including clothespins, alligator clips, small batteries, wires, and LED lights to create a circuit. Building a circuit onto a clothespin is hard enough – when girls used pipe cleaners to design their colorful bugs, some groups experienced problems with their lights. At Girlstart, every “problem” is a learning opportunity. Girls discussed possible reasons why their lights stopped working. Students identified the culprit as the thin piece of metal which runs through pipe cleaners – this material interfered with the wires, diverting the current away from the LED lights. To prevent their bugs from being, well, buggy, girls were encouraged to continually test their designs. Eventually, there were hosts of flickering, shining bugs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Girlstart, we’re encouraging students to be creative and curious – and above all, to shine bright!