Exciting electronics video?

April 8, 2011 8:29 AM

I am looking for an interesting or exciting video that would, in some small way, get Grade 7 kids excited about electronics or science in general. The video will be one part of a talk by Skype I'll be giving to a teacher friend's Grade 7 class. Ideally, the video would be less than 15 minutes and deal with electricity or electronics directly.
posted by sirsteven to Education (4 answers total)

How about something from Mythbusters? You might have to do some splicing since the show jumps from myth to myth, but there are a lot of electricity-focused myths: Ben Franklin's kite, shower in a thunderstorm, the goofy "free energy" devices they try from various internet sources...
posted by deludingmyself at 9:16 AM on April 8, 2011

Here's a 1 minute video featuring:
-Tesla coils shooting lightning into the air
-A hacked Kinect (video games!) controlling those Tesla coils
-A kid doing the controlling (right at the end)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNN4Oo0KhZo

That'd be good for general excitement building about the potential (har) of playing with electricity if that's what you're after, or are you looking more for videos that also impart some actual knowledge?
posted by contraption at 10:08 AM on April 8, 2011

I should be taking commission. Drawdio. Lots of different electronic principles explained, especially conductivity and resistance. You can even buy one, or order a kit that you could build right in front of them. Or send them a fully built one that the teacher could pull out when the lesson is done.
posted by Iteki at 10:50 AM on April 8, 2011 [1 favorite]

Not electronics, but electric current perhaps?

Bill Nye the Science Guy!!! My AP Physics showed some clips from him in 12th grade and we were SO excited that day.

List of all episodes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Nye_the_Science_Guy
posted by fuzzysoft at 11:57 AM on April 8, 2011