Students and adults held hands to make a continuous human circuit.
How many people can you put into an electrical circuit?
On June 13, Heather Bogart’s third-grade class at Vestal’s African Road Elementary School decided to find out.
Students tested potatoes and other objects to assess conductivity.
The class welcomed SUNY Broome’s Director of Training, Education and Workforce Development Danielle Britton (and mom of class member Elliot) and Dean of STEM and Workforce Development Christine Martey-Ochola to explore concepts in insulation, conductivity, circuitry and more.
Said Martey-Ochola, “A big part of our mission as a community college is to lean into that first part of our name: Community. We are delighted to visit classrooms in our community’s schools and share our excitement about science, math and more. When we give children early exposure to concepts in engineering and technology, they have the tools to ask better questions, think about the world and their lives, and become the inventors of the future.”
Britton and Martey-Ochola brought along Makey Makey brand kits – students used the kit’s alligator clips, conductive clay, probes, and circuit boards to build various circuit formations. The Makey Makey app on a Chromebook connected their circuit builds to electronic keyboards and drums that only worked with a completed circuit. Students also tested various objects for conductivity, discovering that the human body, lemons, potatoes, bananas, and metal work well, but hair, clothing, and plastic do not.
At the program’s conclusion, all 17 students and three adults held hands to make a complete conductive electrical circuit. Said Britton, “The Guinness World Record for largest human electrical circuit is 2,576 people – I’d love to top that!”
To schedule a visit to your classroom next year, contact Danielle Britton at brittondf@sunybroome.edu.
Submitted by: Workforce Development
Tags: Workforce Development
