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Building Your Own Crystal Radio (continued)
Day 3: Crystal Radio should be completed
• Students will construct and finish making their crystal radio. Students will demonstrate if their crystal radio works to the
teacher. *Crystal radios should be done after the first 10 minutes of class for any minor repairs.
Presentation/Poster/Flier should be completed
• As the teacher is walking around to test out the crystal radios students will demonstrate their crystal radio to other classmates
as they wait for the teacher to come around to their team. Students will be given a small piece of paper or sticky note to vote
for which two teams they think had the best quality of sound and whose crystal radio looks the most creative?
Post Activity Assessments: Closure
• The closure for this lesson is the conclusion section in the Crystal Radio Lab. Students will answer questions to summarize
their understanding of how a radio works and reflect on their construction of the crystal radio.
• Teacher will also tally the votes up to decide which team the class voted as having the best sound quality for the crystal radio
and the most creative design. You can provide extra credit as an incentive here or a free homework pass.
• Teacher will grade the crystal radio.
• Teachers will also collect their flier, poster, or Google slides presentation.
• Teachers should create a rubric (sample on page 5) to show students what they would like to see in the final product.
Culturally Inclusive/Responsive Components:
• On day 4 of the lesson you can incorporate a mini lesson about Alan Turing. If you find difficulties you can add this mini lesson
before or after the lessons too.
• Students will be watching the Youtube video link: Alan Turing—betrayed by the country he saved
• It is important to give students time to process their own thinking first after watching the video. Have students write down
their answers to the questions referenced in day 4 above. After students have at least 5 minutes to formulate their own indi-
vidual answers, have students turn to their AB partners to share.
• Before having students share their thoughts aloud in class, please remind students that this is a safe zone and that they will
respect each other's thoughts and beliefs. Remind everyone that we are a small family and to be open minded that everyone
has different experiences and perspectives.
• If you are having a great discussion or have extra time use this link for even more discussion questions.
Sample question from link: In what ways do you use computers in your daily life? What do you think it would be like to live in
a world without computers? What do you think Turing would think if he could spend a day with you learning about modern
technologies that he helped inspire?
Educator Resources:
• Mini Hobby Speaker—2 inch 4 ohms
• Micro Speaker—8 ohm 1W with leads
• Alligator Clips
• 24AWG Stranded Copper Wire—Four Colors—10m each
• Wire Stripper Tool
• 10 pack Piezo Electronic Alarm Buzzers with Leads—1.5V
