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Participants learn about circuitry
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick.Bruce Sherman and Stephanie Corrette-Bennett helped at an OH WOW! program Jan. 18.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick.Kim (left) and James Meckley volunteered at an OH WOW! program Jan. 18. Participants made drawdios using circuit boards.
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Neighbors | Elise McKweown Skolnick.Audra Carlson, OH WOW! education manager, worked with Samantha Nemcik, on a circuit board Jan. 18.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick.Participants could make their own tech devices at OH WOW! Jan. 18.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick.Addison Thompson (left) and her grandfather, Dick Thompson, worked on a circuit board at OH WOW! Jan. 18.
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
Children explored circuitry while making their own tech device at OH WOW! The Roger and Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science and Technology Jan. 18.
“This is our first leap into programming for older kids,” said Audra Carlson, education manager. “We’re actually engineering and making our own circuit boards.”
Participants soldered components onto a circuit board to create a drawdio. The drawdio is a pencil that the circuit board will connect to graphite, which is a conductor of electricity. The user’s body completes the circuit. When completed, the children could draw pictures and by touching the lead drawing and the pencil the circuit is completed and plays a frequency. The pitch is changed by the level of resistance.
The activity is based on the work of Jay Silver at the MIT Media Lab.
Dick Thompson brought his granddaughter, Addison Thompson, to the center specifically for this program.
“I got a circuit board for Christmas,” Addison said.
The project is “pretty cool,” she added.
The program is great, Dick said.
“She has this interest in electronics, and when I saw the ‘make it’ project it just fit,” he said.
Kim and James Meckley helped out with the event. Kim is a member of the center’s education board. The couple tried their hand at making the drawdio, too.
“I’m learning things that I’ve never learned before,” Kim said.
James added, “It makes you think really hard.”
The program was part of the center’s twice-monthly “make it” offerings.