I’m a prairie kid who loves research. I have a Master’s in economics with a focus on public programs, labour and education. Long before that, I did my undergrad in physics & English with a math minor.

Besides my resume, you’ll find this page full of sewing projects, the odd published poem, and stories about Canadian science.

A note about the blog title: in math and physics, the prefix eigen means one's own. It comes from the german, but mostly I always liked thinking about a particle's eigenvalues, and thought I might apply the same thought to my excursions.

Playdough Circuits (Preschool and Kindergarten)

Playdough Circuits (Preschool and Kindergarten)

kindergarten-circuit-diagram.png

This year, electric playdough got streamlined for Saturday science. I had the preschoolers make the conductive play dough and reused it with our kindergarten-aged group. (Regular play dough works too, but it's cheaper and more fun to make a salt-heavy recipe, plus it allows some experimentation.) To up our challenge level in circuit making with playdough, I had all of the little ones draw circuit diagrams in advance.

This was especially fun for the three-year-olds, who I had draw a big circle, with a little circle on it, and a rectangle. It was very challenging for them and they drew me lots and lots of circles.

For the kindergarterners, the kids also had to add the word "Circuit," arrows for the way electricity moves through, and little pluses and minuses for charge (a concept I didn't expect them to understand, but just to familiarize). Then they built their circuits on their diagrams.

Playdough circuits and diagrams for kindergarteners. Busy #science class.

A photo posted by Victoria Martinez (@eigenmotion) on

The older kids didn't get a chance to do their circuits this week due to a high number of short circuits and other burn-outs, but look forward to seeing their creations!

Previous adventures in electric playdough.

 

An awesome playdough circuit

An awesome playdough circuit

Crowdfunding Equipment for Ebola Reporters

Crowdfunding Equipment for Ebola Reporters