Fresh off lessons on magnetism and circuitry, Franklin Elementary School third-grade students were busy putting the concepts to use in the classroom last week.

Tiffany Strausberger's class spent part of Wednesday afternoon trying to create an electromagnet.It is the latest project in Lehighton Area School District's Science Technology Engineering and Mathinitiative."This was a lesson in getting the students to connect different things they have already learned," Strausberger said."It was an open investigation in which I handed them components and they had to figure out how to make them work."Students formed groups and were given a cup of washers, a piece of steel and an insulated yellow wire.They were asked to mimic a crane picking up the washers."Our group figured out that wrapping the wires around the steel piece and connecting them through the Fanhestock clips would allow us to turn the magnet on and off and pick up the washers," Dante Angelus said.Before reaching their ultimate goal, students worked through a trial-and-error process to get the electricity at the head of the steel piece."They had some failures and successes, and I slowly added in different tips to help them meet success," Strausberger said."The trick was realizing where the electricity needed to be, and how they wound the wire and organized it was key."With the circuitry lessons behind them, students will be moving on to a module on structures of life."Students will be growing plants via hydroponics and discovering animal behaviors," Strausberger said."We are getting a shipment of crayfish and beetles. We'll be studying the crayfish to see how they mark their territory and interact with each other. We'll also have harnesses to attach to the beetles to study their strength and show how much weight they can carry."Future projects also include using telegraphs and communicating in different rooms using Morse code.