Students begin by using batteries, wire, and a light bulb to build a circuit on their own. Through discovery learning they make the contact points necessary for the bulb to light. They continue to study circuits, switches, motors, and fuses. A tour of The John Amos Power Plant, with its very tall smokestacks, is an exciting part of the study. Joe Haynes, a public relations director, demonstrates with models and diagrams how the plant generates electricity and delivers it to homes.
Students ride the school bus around to tour the plant.
In the classroom the boys and girls use technology to enrich their learning. They follow a webquest to find out more about famous scientists who helped made the electric age possible. They Ask Jeeves about electricity. Then they learn how to use multi-tasking on the computer. While writing a report, they minimize programs and keep open simultaneously, on the task bar, a Word Processing page, an Internet site, and a CD Rom reference article.