This past week Elina's school had its first Science Fair for the 1st grade class. It was really exciting! Each student picked their own Toys from Trash science project (by Arvind Gupta). The idea was that the science experiments could be made from items laying around the house. Elina chose to make a Spool Generator using copper wire, strong magnets, rubber, a bamboo stick, paper clips, a spool, and an LED bulb. B said that he had all the items laying around the house and that it wouldn't take him and Elina more than an hour or so to complete the project.
Fast forward to Saturday....B and Elina started working on it and things looked ok. But there were a few items that just weren't "right." First, we didn't have enough copper wire to wrap around the spool 800 times (like we were supposed to do). Then, the magnets we had weren't the "super strong" ones they specified. But B just went ahead and helped Elina build the project as is....and, of course, the LED bulb didn't light up at all! Then B replaced the magnets with some other ones laying around. A few hours later, still nothing.
So...B had to run to Radio Shack and get some more wire and a few other things. When he got home, he and Elina rewrapped the wire so that it was 600 times around the spool (still not enough wire to reach 800) and hoped for the best.
After spending $20 (on items that were supposed to be laying around the house) and a full day on the project, B and Elina finally got the light bulb to light up that evening! It was funny because B had worked so hard on it that by the time the light bulb lit up his face had that "Eureka!" expression on it! It was awesome! Elina was so excited that it finally worked and she couldn't wait for her big day! She worked really hard on her tri-fold board and it turned out great.
As an intro to the Science Fair, the kids sang a cute song about the Scientific Method. Here's part of it--
Here is Elina presenting her project. It was so weird how nervous she got. We had practiced a little at home, but I didn't realize how nervous she would be. She (like all the other kids) just faced their tri-fold boards and read right off their papers. It was hilarious! But then she did a good job of explaining how her project worked when she held her spool generator in her hands.
The teachers turned the lights off just so she could show everyone her little LED bulb lighting up.
Everyone won a prize at the Science Fair. Elina won "Best Spool Generator!" She was so proud of herself. The other kids had great experiments, too. It was fun to watch all the kids and their hard work.
Elina left the Science Fair saying, "Science is so cool!" That's all we wanted to hear!! Yay for science!!
1 comment:
She's so cute when she's presenting!! She knows her stuff...GO NERDS!!
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