PBS ran a program concerning how people learn. Part of the experiment took place at MIT, no less, on graduation day. It was sponsored by Harvard. The interviewer had a AA battery, one short piece of copper wire about 6 inches long and an appropriate flashlight bulb. He asked at least a half dozen new MIT engineering grads if they could make the bulb light up. All but one could NOT! So, do we judge MIT by its alumnus? Is it fair to knock their school because some of it's participants couldn't make a simple electrical circuit?

With one piece of wire, if that is interpreted rigorously and no cutting is allowed, neither could you, probably. It is not impossible (you could stick the bulb in the ground or something) but how would you complete that circuit with only one connector? THe battery requires a return path to its negative terminal from the second filament contact on the bulb, now?


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