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Learning electricity concepts can be a snap
YOUNGSTOWN
The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County will teach children the principles of basic electricity in a simple, hands-on learning experience Wednesday.
The librarian-led class will take place at 4 p.m. that day in main library’s Mini-MakerSpace, 305 Wick Ave.
Intended for children in kindergarten through grade six, the free, one-hour program will use Snap Circuits as the teaching tool.
After that program, Snap Circuits assembly kits may be borrowed free of charge anytime the main library is open for use within the library.
The kits also may be borrowed between next Monday and Jan. 30 at the Boardman branch under the same terms.
Each kit comes unassembled, and users follow diagrams to build devices, such as doorbells, radios and voice recorders.
Users are encouraged to allow at least one hour for the assembly, said Pam Brockway, the librarian who will teach the class.
“It’s one thing to read about something in a book, and the great partner to reading about it in a book is to actually do it with your hands,” said Heidi Daniel, library system director.
“It’s a really fun program for an adult to do with a child together,” added Daniel, who has used the kits to teach her own children, age 5 and 7.
“You can ask that ‘what if’ question, and they can actually find the answer themselves,” Brockway said of the children.
Daniel recommended attending the librarian-led session before borrowing and assembling a kit on one’s own.
“If you come to the program, you already know what you’re looking at,” Daniel explained.
“If we can introduce children to basic concepts in a way that is visual, when they go to the books and read them, they will have a foundation for that learning because they will have seen how it happens,” said Josephine Nolfi, the library system’s director of programming and youth services.
Besides being available for borrowing in the libraries, Snap Circuits kits can be purchased in toy stores for between $30 and $80, depending on the complexity of the kit, Nolfi said. The kits are distributed by Elenco Electronics Inc. of Wheeling, Ill.
The battery-operated Snap Circuits consist of resistors, capacitors, transformers, switches, speakers, electric motors and other electrical and electronic components.
They are designed to teach fundamental concepts, such as the difference between series and parallel circuits.
In one assembly, a variable resistor is used to regulate the sound intensity of a siren and the frequency with which a light changes color.
“It certainly fits our mission of enrichment, where we are providing opportunities for students to work hands-on and increase learning,” Brockway noted.