Students in the 4th Grade at the Cambridgeport School have built
electrically working models of classrooms as a performance assessment
for their study of electricity. This project was originally designed
using the Expeditionary Learning framework by fellow Cambridgeport
teachers during a 5 day sabbatical at the Museum of Science sponsored by
Genzyme 2 years ago. Groups of students are given a cardboard box and
are asked to turn it into a model classroom with working electrical
model appliances. They are given batteries, wire, light bulbs and
motors. They are also given an outlet, a plug and a switch, just like
the actual ones in their classrooms. Students have to wire up the model
showing what they know about series and parallel circuits. They create
"working" ceiling lights, lamps, video projectors, smartboards, document
cameras, fans, spinning globes or whatever else they can dream up. They
also describe in writing how their circuits work and present their work
at a parent breakfast. Check out some of the great models they have
created!