The Washington Post reported in a 2018 article entitled "Labor shortage is creating challenges to finding qualified contractors for home repairs" that "skilled trade vacancies are the hardest jobs to fill in the country." Furthermore, "Skilled trades (electricians, carpenters, welders, bricklayers, plasterers, plumbers, masons and more) have maintained the No. 1 position in vacancies from 2010 to the present."
My eighth grade students desire to fill the deficiency in the technical trades.
Many of them are excellent with building, repairing and cooperating as demonstrated when they built and raced boats to learn more about density and motion. They've also done an amazing job constructing Rube Goldberg machines as they explore simple machines, energy and energy conversions.
Although my students face challenges, with more than half of them coming from low income families, by preparing them for technical trades, they have the opportunity to build a new future for themselves, their families and their community.
My Project
Electronics and circuits can be very abstract, especially without actually experiencing them firsthand! However, the growth for electricians is projected to be around 10% for the next 10 years. I want students to dive in and dig deep while we study electronics.
Snap Circuits allow students the opportunity to experiment and explore circuits and their parts in a quicker and more intuitive way with their color coded parts and their easy to assemble design.
Throughout this unit, we will also be strengthening our math skills by finding voltage, current, and equivalent resistance in series and parallel circuits. We will also work on our literacy skills by labeling and drawing diagrams, explaining how they were built, and how they work.
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