Today the class learned about some fundamentals of circuitry and the way to design a circuit. Dr. Rhett Davis taught the class about building circuits safely by using limited current flows to prevent burns and electric shocks. Next, the students learned about the way each of the components in a basic circuit work by looking at how they relate to the process of using a water wheel to grind wheat. They also learned about resistors, capacitors, the way a battery powers a circuit, and how to use a circuit diagram to put those together into a circuit with a 555 Timer chip to power an LED bulb. The students worked with a java applet for circuits that showed them graphically the way the circuits they built function. In the end, they were able to build some flashing LED circuits that the students were able to take home, and the students who finished early helped their classmates work through the circuits, building on both their abilities for taking initiative and for cooperating.