This week in STEM, the 2/3 class built off of their investigation into inventions in Global Studies by exploring how inventions shape our lives and which ones we use on a daily basis. We brainstormed how they might work, and what might have come before them. Each group was given an “invention”, such as an alarm clock, a phone, a calculator, and a pair of speakers. They discussed what its job is, and what other inventions or prototypes might have come before the more modern one- such as the abacus that was invented almost 5000 years ago! The groups also brainstormed how their machines worked, thinking about what parts were inside the machines.

Then, using pliers and screwdrivers, each group carefully took apar their machine to look at the parts inside. Some surprises that were discovered included magnets and copper wire. The students also examined circuits, wires, and other mechanisms inside their machines!

Next week we’ll look more closely at how circuits work in these machines, and get some practice making circuits of our own!