Breadboarding A Circuit and Communicating With Light

As part of the culminating unit for our first graders, they are using their knowledge of sound and light to communicate. In past posts, we saw how they used vibrations to communicate by creating "tin can" telephones. Next they created their own "Morse" code using sounds to communicate with their classmates.

Now we have moved onto using light to communicate. This idea came from one of our first grade teachers. Her husband teachers design and fabrication at our Upper School's Sullivan Center and he does a lot with electronics and robotics. They were talking and the plan was to have some of his students come down and work with the 1st graders. They were going to build a circuit to light up a RGB LED and then design a code to communicate with their peers.

Because of timing and scheduling issues, we weren't able to bring the older kids down to help, be the project rolled on. We made "kits" for pairs of 1st graders that included a bread board, jumper wires, battery, battery holder, resistors, switches and the RGB LED.

Using the iPad and projector, we took the students, step by step, through the process of making the circuit on the bread board. Some kids had to problem solve and figure out why the LED wouldn't light when they pressed a button, while others worked the first time.

The next step is for the kids to design a "morse" code system to communicate with their partner, using the combination of colors available in the RGB LED