what is a sensitive switch??

[happyjo]

Help

My 13 yr old daughter has to describe a 'sensitive switch' for design and technology., and provide examples.

I do not consider myself stupid but have no idea what one is...

can any of you help

Thanks in advance

Jo xxx

[kempie]

Search for switches that react to:

light
temperature
pressure
touch
etc.

[tiggerblue10]

Where I work the light turns on when you walk into a room. There is no switch.

[kempie]

Oh yes there is.

[happyjo]

Thanks guys

[Hymie]

I would strongly advise against parents seeking answers on behalf of their offspring for school homework � as many do on AB.

The reasons for this should be obvious:-

1) Your children will very quickly realize how dumb you are � unable to answer even a year 7 question.

2) Should you answer a question incorrectly (see number 1 above), you will rightly be blamed by your offspring for their poor school grades.

3) In 10 years time, little Johnny will be calling you from work, the conversation will go something like this �Hello mum, I�m calling from work � you know those dial gauges thingies I told you about, on the control panel I have in front of me at work. Well, the needle in all of them is hard over to the right, in the red area, marked �Danger�, and all the red lights on the panel are flashing. There is a very loud Seiren sounding, and the computer display reads �Danger, Reactor Critical � Evacuate Immediately�. Anyway, I haven�t got a clue what to do � do you think you could post a question on AB and ask if anyone knows which button I should press?�

[harley_Husky]

Isn't knowledge something to be shared....?

[theprof]

Oh dear Hymie, methinks you're being a little too critical of AB parents here.

Whilst I agree that providing a child with an answer to a question in order for it to be copied verbatim into his or her homework book is wrong, there's nothing in principal wrong with the concept of pointing the child in the right direction. This is no more than a good teacher will do at school in any event. The key thing for the parent and teacher alike is to incite a train of thought in the child that will enable them to provide their own answer and perform their own research where needed. It is the acquisition of just such a talent that will enable them to think twice before ringing mummy when the reactor needle moves into the critical zone.

If the child fails to arrive at the correct answer as a result of their own research, then the parent cannot be blamed for bad grades so your first and second points never arise.

Believe me, I've got considerable personal experience in this matter as I'm a Science Dean, Senior Fellow and Biochemistry professor at a leading UK university. I've got doctorates in chemistry, biological sciences and biochemistry and children of my own who have spent many years nagging me for answers to their science homework questions at school and university. I adopted this policy with my own children many years ago and I can assure you, it works and teachers here on AB will tell you the same. Now and again, I've come across the odd teacher or lecturer who has set an unusually difficult question for my children once they knew who daddy was, but we even managed to overcome that eventually.

(continued)

[theprof]

I've been on AB long enough to recognise a school homework question when I see it and in most cases, I'll only give an outline of the answer to encourage the poster to do their own research. As far as the sciences are concerned, there are a number of chemists, biologists and other scientists on AB that are very capable of answering these questions, but I can tell you that just like myself they generally show a great deal of reluctance to provide an answer for a school student that could be copied out into a homework book verbatim.

OK,many parents are admittedly without any expertise in many subjects that their children learn at school. So what are they to do? Well, depending on the subject involved, parents in my experience point the children towards online resources, libraries or general works such as Encyclopedia Brittanica Online. At the end of the day, it's still the child that does the research and if the child foolishly plagiarises such resources, they themselves have to face the music.