Bright Minds: West Branch students create flashlights

The Alliance Review
·1 min read
A class of fourth-grades shines their plastic bottle flashlights, which they assembled in class.
A class of fourth-grades shines their plastic bottle flashlights, which they assembled in class.

West Branch fourth-graders got a little help during their recent electricity unit and built their own flashlights with plastic water bottles. Longtime West Branch volunteers Bill and Beverly Caruthers helped prepare the components for the project. The project is the culminating activity in the electricity unit, allowing the students to put their understanding of circuits, switches, insulators and conductors into a tangible product. The Carutherses prepare bottles that are the housing for the flashlights, and the students add wiring and a battery pack. They craft a switch from brads and paper clips. At the end of the day, the students added light bulbs and their batteries, then flipped the switches to light up their flashlights.

A student adds a paperclip to act as the switch, completing the circuit which he has wired in his plastic bottle flashlight.
A student adds a paperclip to act as the switch, completing the circuit which he has wired in his plastic bottle flashlight.
West Branch students worked together to create flashlights out of plastic bottles, getting help from Bill and Beverly Caruthers, who have been active volunteers with the district since the 1980s.
West Branch students worked together to create flashlights out of plastic bottles, getting help from Bill and Beverly Caruthers, who have been active volunteers with the district since the 1980s.
West Branch fourth-graders work together to assemble a flashlight that is made out of a plastic bottle.
West Branch fourth-graders work together to assemble a flashlight that is made out of a plastic bottle.

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Bright Minds: West Branch students create flashlights