Based on the questions many of the students asked yesterday, we began with a reading of short introduction to littlebits, taken from the booklet in the deluxe kit. It helped students understand the different “jobs” of the components (power, input, output and wires/linking) and the importance of the order the bits are sequenced in. Although they read this information, the students really needed to just tinker away and play around with the bits to see the effects of putting them in different orders.

We then provided the students with a set of circuit maps and asked them to create the circuits as shown and then test them with the power bit and battery. This gave students practice in following directions and having success with a series of bits. Having only two kits means only two power/battery combinations and the students have been great about sharing the components.

We then watched an overview video of the components of the deluxe kit so that the students had some understanding of the possibilities for the different components. The students were then asked to create one of two structured projects from the kit guide  – either the tickle machine or the wave greeter. This projects provided the students with practice adding new found materials to their projects, such as a feather or a cut out object that they could make move.

Again, students recorded their observations, questions and findings. They also began to think about their own projects and what they might like to create with littlebits.

The following is a short animoto video of today’s investigations:

~Janice

This week I am spending my afternoons at Diefenbaker Elementary in Rick Hikida’s grades 4 and 5 classroom. We are piloting a set of littlebits electronic components with his students. I explained that this would be a STEAM-based project (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Mathematics) project and the students were on board before they even handled the littlebits.

We handed out plates of components to small groups of students and asked them to investigate the pieces and record what they noticed along with their questions. Rick noticed that some students began drawing and labelling the pieces on paper while others couldn’t help but start manipulating and tinkering with the bits.

 It wasn’t long before the students discovered that the pieces snapped together and most students figured out that there was a magnetic pull involved so they inferred the bits were magnetized. They also noticed that the bits were different colours and had words and numbers on them.

More information about littlebits and the short intro video we watched can be found HERE.

~Janice