Events | What we have already done

Visit to the Infante D. Henrique Elementary School (2014)

On 3 February 2014, the Academy made a visit to the Infante D. Henrique School in Tomar. On this visit, 14 groups of third-grade children were guided and monitored throughout a series of experiments under the motto: "Get your hands dirty with micro-electricity". In this activity, each group of two children handled various materials including a battery, an incandescent miniature bulb lamp, electrical wires, a switch, a screwdriver, a thermometer, a multimeter, a piece of fruit or a potato, a nail and a 2-cent coin.  This activity was mainly designed to stimulate children to learn science in the specific area of: 

• Conversion of chemical energy (stored in the battery) into electricity (bulb filament);
• Conversion of electrical energy into thermal energy (filament heating);
• Conversion of thermal energy into light energy (light emission).

With the help of three physics professors and two maths professors from the UDMF department, the children:

• received an introduction to handling electric wires with the aid of a screwdriver;
• created an auto-ignition electric circuit of a bulb lamp (using only a battery and a lamp);
• created a controlled-ignition circuit of a bulb lamp (using the battery, the lamp, the switch and electric wires);
• measured the temperature rise of a wire while acting as an electrical conductor (using the battery, thermometer and connection wiring);
• measured and recorded the potential differences across the terminals of an orange, a lemon or a potato using a nail and a coin as electrodes and a multimeter for measuring.

The staff from the mathematics and physics department who participated in the activity were pleasantly surprised with the enthusiasm, commitment and creativity revealed by the children in this first experimental initiative.

Visit duration: 3 hours (10:15-13:15)                                                  Activity instructor:  Rosa Brígida (UDMF)