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Exploring The Exciting Connection Between Magnetism & Electricity

Our high school Physics class had great excitement as they explored the fascinating connection between magnetism and electricity. Guided by Science Teacher, Marcia Siebert, juniors and seniors utilized project based learning to deepen their understanding through a variety of experiments and building electromagnets, simple motors, and a working telegraph. They also utilized online simulations to aid in their understanding of electrostatistics, static charge transmission and series and parallel circuits. 

Mrs. Siebert emphasized the persistence students displayed throughout the projects and the payoff afterwards, “It was wonderful to see the students persevere and press through the struggle with the materials, but then having the ‘ah-ha’ moments when they saw a breakthrough as everything came together.” She further shared how she was encouraged by the way students embraced the learning process and rose to the challenge, “I was so impressed by the way students engaged in challenging material and were able to experience the thrill of learning.”

Senior Evan Seay further emphasized how meaningful this was to him, “I love getting to apply what we learn through experiments. For example, seeing the coil in the battery when it gets electromagnetic force from the battery, and then causing the coil to spin."

The biblical integration in this lesson was clear, the intricacies of magnetism and electricity remind us that it is Jesus, as Colossians 1:17 teaches us, that holds all of these things together. We engage in science because God is the Designer and Sustainer of our world.

Students Learn Engineering & Biblical Lessons In Design Challenge

For the past two weeks, Lower School STEM students have been working on designing, building, and testing a boat. 

STEM teacher, Ellen Peek said, "As we built, we focused on the foundation of our boats. We discussed what would help it float and how to balance weight on the boat. Students found that some foundations tipped easily even though they floated. We then discussed the importance of foundations in life. What we build our life on and around matters." 

During the lessons, students studied the story in Luke 5 where Jesus tells Peter to let out the nets again even though they worked all night and caught nothing. Miraculously they caught so many fish that the boats began to sink. Students also learned about the Galilee boat, a fishing boat from biblical times that was found in the Sea of Galilee in 1986. They loved testing how many “fish” their boats would hold!