Lightbulb Moments

What were once just shoeboxes have been brought to life by Bryn Mawr Lower School students over the past three years (read the story in Bloom above!). Beginning in third grade, students create tiny living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, libraries and more as a part of their world language studies. The next step of the multi-year project turned fourth grade students into electrical engineers as they installed wiring and circuits to light their rooms in science class. 
 
Taking the project one step further this year, Computer Science teacher Alisha Caruso helped students create figures to live in the shoebox rooms. Inspired by the book “Doll-E,” in which a young girl tinkers with toys and creates her own interactive doll, fourth graders created their own character with copper tape and a conductive base so that the figurine could speak in English and either French or Spanish. The characters can even help teach younger students basic world language vocabulary.

 See the video below of the interactive Makey Makey elements: