November proved to be an exciting month for the Mobile Makerspace!
With help from Brown Dog Gadgets, the Mobile Makerspace brought paper circuit cubes to students all over the Linn-Benton region.
Paper circuit cubes are a versatile project that allows students to quickly and easily create circuits to explore the fundamentals of electric circuits. Using Brown Dog Gadget templates, MM participants constructed 3 paper cubes, 1 switch, 1 power source, and 1 with an LED light. The three cubes worked together to help participants learn about opening and closing circuits, polarity, and necessary components of a circuit.
The designers at Brown Dog Gadgets really thought of everything when designing this project. The interior of the cubes even featured zinc washers and magnets to support a strong connection from one cube to the next.
After all cubes were constructed, participants were encouraged to connect all of the group’s cubes together to see how large a working circuit they could create!
That’s not all though, the Mobile Makerspace also made an appearance at the Salmon Watch Program at Clemons Park in Alsea, put on by Benton County Watershed.
Program Coordinator, Kelsie Szeszulski, alongside other volunteers led interactive activities to educate the participating students on topics related to rivers, forests, fish, ecology, native flora, and more.
These activities asked students to gather stream samples, look for spawning salmon, and identify local plant and animal species in order to learn about what defines a healthy ecosystem and how we can all help protect our watersheds.
Szeszulski and the Mobile Makerspace were specifically in charge of the riparian area activity where students gathered data to determine if the watershed’s ecology was suitable salmon habitat. After gathering and discussing data collected along the banks of the Alsea river the participants came to the conclusion that the area they were studying was optimum for salmon spawning and life cycle completion.
It’s always an adventure with the Mobile Makerspace! We hope you join us at an event near you. See you soon Linn-Benton!
- 12/1/23 Harrisburg City Library from 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
- 12/15/23 Scio Public Library from 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
- 12/18/23 Philomath Community Library from 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
- 12/19/23 Lebanon Public Library from 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
- 1/18/24 Ophelia’s Place from 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- 1/19/24 Scio Public Library from 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
- 1/25/24 Sweet Home Public Library from 4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
- 1/26/24 Brownsville Community Library from 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
***NOTE: The second photo embedded in the story shows a small lamprey the students found in the Alsea River while collecting data
during the Salmon Watch event.
