The Art of Hands-On Science

By Michael Nagle

Last school year, I ran a science club for 15 1st through 3rd graders in a Cambridge, Mass., public school’s after-school program. The kids were loud and full of energy, wound up from sitting at desks all day. We took computers apart, made sparks fly, and soldered together LED flashlights; they loved it.

Despite their enthusiasm, though, the students often got frustrated when it came to working with their hands. The simplest tasks I gave them to do—tasks I hadn’t anticipated needing to explain—would quickly frustrate them. This was particularly apparent on the day we made electromagnets.

The project consisted of first winding wire around a nail, producing a coil of wire, and then attaching the wire to a battery, making the nail magnetic. I gave the kids the materials, showed them an example, described the first step (wrap wire around the nail), and then told...