Last week, a reader emailed me:
Hey Dan!
Hope this finds you well. I am seeking ideas about introducing third graders to ham radio. My daughter is into soldering and has an interest in radio with me. This came up and her teacher invited me to spend some time with her class toward the end of the school year.
I can’t decide what to do or how to do it. Our club president has offered a Morse practice key. Any ideas on how to intro the hobby and maybe hook some young minds without boring them?
Many thanks.
I replied:
Boy, third graders are really tough. I don’t think that they really get the idea of radio at that age yet. Soldering little kits might be a good activity, but I wonder if kids that young—on average—can safely handle soldering irons. Teaching kids to send their names in Morse Code is something that I’ve had success with.
One thing that was successful was something that I did in conjunction with a librarian at a local elementary school. She had second graders read a book titled Mr. Crumb’s Secret. The book teaches kids how to research topics using a variety of means, including the library and the internet. In this case, the kids are researching their neighbor Mr. Crumb’s new hobby, which happens to be ham radio. At the end of the class, I was invited in and gave a little talk about ham radio and gave them a little demonstration by talking to someone over a local repeater.
Part of that demo—if you have enough time—is to get kids to send their names in Morse Code.
Not having kids myself, I’m at a loss to suggest anything else. Do any of you have some ideas?
Bill KJ4MXM says
I started teaching my son to solder back when he was 5yo, in pre-K. My rationale was that, if 2yo children in 3rd world countries learn enough about knife safety to begin helping with food prep, then my 5yo could learn which end of the iron to grab safely, and how to use it.
Of course, YMMV when teaching other people’s kids en masse in a brief encounter. In that case, older is most likely better. But, I do want to dispel the notion that young kids with an interest can’t be trusted with a hot iron at all — it just may take more time and individual mentoring.
Fred W8ZLK says
KISS: Have them make cup and string “radios,” so they can see how hams communicate long distances. The cup is the “transceiver,” illustrating both transmit and receive, and the string is the long distance transmission path, just like ham radio! You could put some logos on the cups, or maybe copy a radio front panel w/dials / display to mimic the radios we use.
Rob W4ZNG says
Riffing off this Fred, you could cut the string in mid-conversation. Then hand the same two kids some FRS HT’s and pretend/try to cut the “string” between them with the same scissors. This would get across a lot of why we do ham radio: no infrastructure in the middle to break, and it’s really hard to stop the signal from getting through.
That, and trying to cut and invisible nonexistent string is goofy enough to get and hold a third grader’s attention.
Tom Gioia says
I was coaxed into building a crystal set when I was about 6 or 7 years old, and it got me hooked on radio and eventually led to a career in electrical engineering. Demonstrating to a group of 3rd graders that you can listen to music using nothing but an old oatmeal box, some coiled wire, and couple of parts, may spark an interest or two. Even in a time ruled by tablets and apps, there is still something “magical” about basic RF.
ps – maybe hook that Morse key up to a simple Part 15 AM oscillator and have the kids send and receive their messages over the oatmeal box crystal set. Especially if there aren’t any available commercial AM broadcast stations in the area.
Tom
KE8HUM
Walter Underwood says
Third grade is a hard age to work with. When I was a Den Leader for that age (Bear Cub Scouts), the boys were a mess. They would do stupid stuff precisely because it was stupid.
Keep it simple and fast, like using phonetic alphabet to spell each other’s names. Call it a Pilot Code, because that is pretty accurate, really.
For a general idea of age-appropriate stuff, look at the requirements for the Bear Cub Scout badge and especially at the “elective adventures”.
http://usscouts.org/advance/cubscout/bear.asp
http://usscouts.org/advance/cubscout/bear-elective.asp
Scotty K3TLC says
I’ve considered how to get young people engaged in amateur radio, and have a few ideas that others might find beneficial. Each approach takes advantage of available space, and can be used individually or together.
1: Kids Day. On a recent Kids Day (which falls on a Sunday), I had announced I’d be helping kids at our church connect to other people via amateur radio. I brought a couple HTs to our church, and (wearing my yellow vest) I had each of them stand and read the “CQ script” I had written for them. I had made arrangements with our club president to be on the repeater, and he had a short talk with each of them. In a very short time, we were able to indoctrinate fourteen young people into the wonderful world of amateur radio.
2: Bunny Hunt. I obtained a low wattage transmitter, and hid it on the grounds of a nearby school, then handed HTs to my three grandkids and challenged them to locate and “rescue the “bunny”. For inspiration I even gave our little team a name, the “Bunny Rescue Squad”, and a motto of “No Bunny Left Behind!” I spent about 45 minutes walking the school grounds with my grandkids, as I showed them how to turn with the HT (eventually with antenna removed) listening for the “crackle” indicating their bodies were blocking the radio signal. All three grandkids successfully located the bunny, and to congratulate them, I took them to breakfast!
3: “Show me the Bunny”. I devised this approach for limited-range scenarios such as a Field Day, that don’t allow kids to safely wander around a school yard or public park. I took a plastic hula hoop and taped six paper sheets around the exterior, numbered 1 through 6. I placed the hoop on the ground, and the children were each allowed to step into the loop with an HT, use the same body turn technique as the above bunny hunt, and then announce what direction they believed the (previously hidden) bunny was by choosing a number. I tabulated their guesses, and announced the winners as a group at the end. This game can be modified periodically by moving the “bunny” transmitter, or by having multiple hidden transmitters located at various distances and directions, etc.
I believe the reason all three of the above approaches have been successful is that we placed radios into the young operators’ hands, so they could actually touch and interact with the radio hardware. I believe young people learn far more by participating, than they do by watching.