A brief report on week one of our English and Electronics (英語で電気工作教室) class:

We started with introductions and a safety talk then we looked at various components we will use in the course, for example switches, lights, LEDs, motors, batteries, wire etc. After trying to remember the names of these components in English we completed a worksheet about the symbols used to identify these parts in a circuit diagram.

We then looked at how electricity flows around a circuit. We identified the positive and negative ends of different batteries and measured their voltages using a multimeter---good chance to practice numbers. The idea of a complete circuit was a little difficult to grasp...all the components must be connected to each other to form a circle...with no gaps!

To reinforce the idea of a complete circuit we used the Snap Circuits board to quickly create a circuit using a battery and a light. We then expanded this to include a motor, push switch, on-off switch and an LED.

We then finished the lesson reviewing what we had learned so far, and looking forward to week two!