On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:42:25 -0800 (PST), "Sal M. Onella"
wrote:

I have a diverse collection of demonstrations for them, hoping to
catch each one of them with something they find interesting.

Perfect. That's the right idea. Lots of show and very little tell
(unless they ask).

I have a
handout with eight Morse Code characters on it, enough to spell out
some easy words,

Good idea. Mind if I steal it?

They're mostly 4th graders. I'm doing magnetism and
communications and showing how they relate.

9-10 years old is the right age to start. Between 8 and 15, I tried
literally everything I could find. Cooking, guns, sewing, carpentry,
elecronics (buzzer and magnets), chemistry, fizzix, etc. Getting my
attention for only a few minutes was easy. More than an hour was
impossible. Somewhat later, I took the ones that were of interest and
went deeper. I still recall round the clock repeater building
sessions in my fathers garage.

I taught school in the
Navy, but I have no experience with little kids, except my own.

When I took teacher prep, one of the first exercises was to reduce my
vocabulary to about 9,000 words which was about right for a 12 year
old. I later found out that the typical 12 year old knew far more
words than officially recognized. Just avoid any technobabble with 3
or more syllables and you'll do ok. Try to get them to ask questions
and answer the questions at the same level as was asked.

My
Navy students were almost always well-motivated but I have no idea
what the 4th graders are going to be like.

They will be out to see how far they can push or taunt you. Don't
fight it. Just be their friend and not their diciplinarian. If they
go over the top and riot, then maybe sacrifice the leaders for the
greater good. Smart kids are much easier to deal with than the
academic losers. My favorite line for getting them curious is "wanna
see what's inside" or "wanna know how this thing works"? Don't be
surprised if you get high level questions. Most of these kid so read
magazines and techy stuff online, mostly ammunition to make themselves
look good in class. Be prepared to answer tough basic questions like
"why does one radio talk around the world, while others just talk down
the street"? You might learn as much from their questions as they're
learning from your demo.

They are all in the
Gifted And Talented Education program and I think it's either going
to be great or awful -- no in-between.

In the accellerated classes, they'll all be trying to show off how
much (or little) they know.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558
# http://802.11junk.com
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS