We had our first school outreach event this semester with Talbot Elementary School's 4th-grade class as part of their Engineering Process in Science unit. At the request of the teacher, we designed our outreach plan mainly focusing on some fun electrical engineering-related activities and some hands-on building experiences, since a long presentation wouldn't keep the attention of the children for too long. We had 11 volunteers come out, and we were able to present to 76 kids.
We started the day with a short presentation on what IEEE is and explained the concept of open and short circuits. We followed up our presentation by having students participate in a game where they would pass paper balls around like electrons flowing through wires. Afterward, the kids went off to three stations each representing different aspects of electrical engineering: circuits, programming, and physics. Through these activities, kids were able to build, play and learn some basic electrical engineering concepts. For the final half hour, we helped all the kids each make a lightsaber to take home using a milkshake straw, a coin cell battery, a LED, and electrical tape.
The outreach event was a great success, and by the end, a lot of kids hugged our volunteers and said it was the best day of their school life. Two weeks later, we received a thank you poster signed by all the kids that participated that day.
Date: Wednesday, November 16th, 8:00 - 11:00am
This was such a great learning experience for the kids! Can't wait to go back to teach the 5th graders in the Spring!