Physical Processes 1.1 Electrcity
Sc 4: Physical Processes
1.1 Electricity
P.O.S.
Key Stage 1 Sc 4: 1a, 1b, 1c
Key Stage 2 Sc 4: 1a, 1b, 1c
Key Stage 3 Sc 4: 1a, 1b, 1c
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- To identify everyday things that use electricity
- To know that electricity can be dangerous and some of the dangers.
- To be able to identify everyday things that use mains and/or batteries.
- To know that electricity can be used to produce light, heat, sound, movement.
- To be able to make a simple circuit.
- To be able to draw simple circuits.
- To be able to find faults (breaks) in circuits and correct them.
- To identify common circuit symbols – bulb, battery, wire, switch.
ICT
Modelling programmes e.g. Crocodile Clips /LINKS
D & T /VOCABULARY
Electricity, battery, hazard, danger, sockets, bulb, wire, circuit, light, connection, buzzer, conduct, filament, flow, motor, crocodile clips, brighter, dimmer, resistance, energyACTIVITIES
- Discuss things that use electricity – mains and batteries – at home and school
- Make a display of objects that use electricity (in any form).
- Use prepared sheets/posters to discuss dangers/safety aspects.
- Cut pictures of electrical items from magazines/catalogues and stick onto different rooms in the house (pictures cut ready or printed symbols).
- Cut/draw pictures of things that use electricity to make sound, light, heat, movement
- Do any rooms not have electrical appliances? (Bathroom).
- Identify where electricity is used in the classroom.
- Sort pictures into those that use mains, battery, no electricity.
- Label anything in the room that could electrocute you.
- Design a safety poster/safety list
- Allow children to experiment to make the bulb in a circuit light.
- Make a bulb light using a bulb, piece of foil and wire then move onto a bulb in a holder and two pieces of wire.
- Discuss and draw attention to the connections on the bulb.
- Give opportunities to reverse connections on batteries and wires to see if they make a difference.
- Draw circuits and talk about how they work.
- Install a light in a model house/lighthouse etc.
- Allow children to experiment to make the buzzer work. Reverse the connections to see if it makes a difference.
- Make a circuit with a light and a buzzer so they both work at the same time.
- Draw circuits they have made.
- Put components in different orders to see if there is any effect.
- Reinforce the concept of a circuit – use drama/analogies to help e.g. give each child a ball (electricity) to pass round the circuit. Alter shape of circuit to show that shape makes no difference.
- Make a simple circuit. Unclip a wire – what happens? Loosen the bulb – what happens?
- Find as many ways as possible to stop the bulb working.
- Give sheets of simple circuits to predict which will/will not work.
- Set up circuits with faults (e.g. broken bulbs, bulb loose in holder, wire not fastened to battery? Bulb? Buzzer: two wires to one terminal) for children to identify and/or mend.
- Draw wire mazes i.e. several bulbs wired correctly and incorrectly to a number of batteries. Children colour bulbs in complete circuits.
- Reinforce the concept of a broken circuit using drama and analogies e.g. passing ball round a “circuit” – make a “break” to show that the ball cannot be passed round.
- Ask children to show the path of electricity round a circuit.
- Children draw circuits that will/will not work for others to try.
- Show children a simple circuit with a knot in the wire. Use this for discussion about whether the circuit will light and a reason for their thinking.
- Again show a simple circuit with two wires each side of the circuit and again discuss. This will help assess the children’s level of understanding.
- Annotate or talk about circuit drawing to explain why bulb lit.
- Construct circuits using different sized batteries and components. Ensure children use correct battery voltage for component.
- Trace the electrical circuit inside bulbs, torches, toys.
- Involve children in acting out electrical circuits. Balls can be used for energy – each component will use some energy. Use other analogies e.g. water, central heating, tipper trucks on a road.
- Use photocopiable worksheets with circuits that do/do not work. Children predict first and then try.
- Using drawings of circuits that will/will not work to sort into class sets. Discuss what they would need to do so that circuits could be swapped from one set to another.
- Make a bulb light with a battery and no wires.
- Discuss short circuits.
- Brainstorm what children think may affect brightness.
- Connect more than one bulb in a series and record what happens. Can measure brightness by counting number of sheets of paper through which bulb can be seen.
- Make series circuits with mixtures of different components – do they all work?
- How many bulbs? buzzers? motors? can a 4.5v battery work?
- Make a dimmer switch using a pencil cut in half lengthways (pencils do vary so check out first). As a wire is moved along the pencil ‘lead’ the bulb becomes dimmer.
- Make a simple rheostat by winding very thin wire round dowel. Replace bulb with other components to see affect.
- Simply talk about what is happening. Link resistance to work on conductors and insulators and use analogies.
- Discuss where this is used in everyday life (e.g. dimmer switches, cinemas, volume control knobs, slide controls).
- Introduce children to conventional symbols for circuit components.
- Draw circuits using symbols (e.g. Draw me a circuit with 1 battery 2 bulbs and a switch).
- Make circuits and record using symbols.
- Make circuit diagrams for other children to construct.
- Use photocopiable worksheets/books to consolidate work on symbols.
- Construct circuits from prepared diagrams.
- Circus of circuits and symbol diagrams; some correctly and some incorrectly drawn. Identify them with a tick or a cross.
RESOURCES
- Prepared sheets from a scheme. Safety posters.
- Magazines; scissors; catalogues. Outlines of a house and rooms. Printed symbols – cut out pictures of appliances
- Bulbs, bulb holders, wire, crocodile clips, foil (correct voltage and bulbs for battery needed)
- Card etc to make model house or
- Buzzers, wire, batteries, bulbs, bulb holders.
- Bulbs, batteries, wires, buzzers, bulb holders.
- A variety of constructed circuits.
- Battery, bulb, 2 wires – one with knot in, 4 wires, crocodile clips, battery holder.
- Transparent torches
- Worksheets, bulbs, batteries, wires, buzzers, motors etc.
- Battery with copper connections on top; bulb of correct voltage.
- Throughout: Batteries and holders, bulbs and holders, wire, crocodile clips.
- Pencils cut in half lengthways.
- Long thin wire, dowel
- Photocopiable worksheets and books.
- Prepared diagrams
- Circuits and diagrams of circuits
POINTS TO NOTE
- Switches are in KS2
- Pupils often think that only 1 wire is needed because household appliances just have one flex.
- Pupils often find it difficult to identify connection on bulbs and batteries.
- Buzzers only work one way round in the circuits.
- Ensure that pupils are aware that wires are made of metal.
- Resist the urge to move into complicated circuits
- Because the mechanism of a switch is usually not visible pupils are often unclear about how a switch works.
- Do not use parallel circuits. This is KS3 work.
- Take care that bulb voltages do not get mixed up as this can cause confusion. Even bulbs that are similar may show variation – it is worth checking before giving them to children.
- Modern mains dimmer switches are electronic and don’t work via a
there is an old
radio about you could show this.
- Dataloggers can be used to record changes in brightness not easy to detect by eye.
- Emphasise that electricity is used in the home and the potential dangers.
- Pupils have diverse ideas about where electricity comes from and may confuse it with gas.
- Emphasise that some batteries may be safe to handle, mains electricity can be very dangerous.
- Aspects of electrical conductors and insulators can be found in Sc3:1 Grouping and Classifying Materials
OWN ACTIVITIES
POSSIBLE INVESTIGATIONS
- Does the colour of the wire make a difference?
- Does the type of battery make a difference?
- Does a shorter wire make a brighter circuit?
- Can the wires be connected to the battery in more than one way?
- Are all bulbs the same?
- Does the shape of the circuit make a difference?
- What makes the buzzer loudest e.g. type of battery, type of wire, presence of bulbs, nearness to battery?
- Does it matter where the circuit is broken?
- Can you make a circuit to send messages across the classroom using light?
- Do two batteries have to be next to each other in the circuit?
- Can you make a question and answer board game?
- Which wire is broken? (use a box/container with separate wires passing through it – one of the wires is broken)
- Does the position of the switch affect the bulb?
- Can you make a burglar alarm circuit? – burglar treads on a mat or opens a window.
- Can you make a flashing light house?
- What affects how bright a bulb is e.g. type of bulb, numbers of bulb or batteries, type of battery, wire used etc
- Does the thickness of the wire affect the brightness of a bulb?
- Does the length of a wire affect the brightness of a bulb?
- Does the type of wire affect the brightness of a bulb?
- What is the dimmest bulb possible?
Name:
Date Record Began:
Outcomes: NC Level 1 NC Level 4
1 /- Takes turn in discussion.
- Connects given components (not laid out) to light bulb.
- Know that electricity can be dangerous
- Can make a bulb light up
- Can make a buzzer work in a circuit
- Can name some appliances that produce heat/sound/light
- Can identify something that uses mains or batteries
1+ /
- Can demonstrate how to work the switch
- Can connect up a circuit with a switch in it
- Can tell you one specific danger
- Can point out the connections on a bulb and how to light it up.
- Can draw a simple circuit
- Can make a bulb and buzzer work together
- Knows that a bulb/buzzer won’t work with a break in the circuit.
- Can detect obvious breaks in a circuit (e.g. wire disconnected).
2 /
- Knows that electricity can have different effects
- Can detect a break in a circuit and put it right.
- Can describe the effect of adding extra bulbs or buzzers to circuit
- Can make a simple switch
2+ /
- Can explain how to connect the bulb and buzzer to make them work.
- Can explain why an incomplete circuit won’t work.
- Can construct circuits drawn with pictures
- Can explain that a switch can complete or break a circuit.
- Can tell you other sources of electricity e.g. solar, wind.
- Can explain that something doesn’t work better if it is nearer the battery.
- Can explain exactly what the effect will be of more batteries or bulbs.
- Can explain that the longer the wire, the dimmer the bulb.
- Can explain simply what resistance is.
- Knows that more bulbs (in a series) makes them dimmer.
- Can record their own circuits using symbols.
3+ /
- Can explain how the switch works.
- Knows most of the symbols for simple components in a circuit.
- Can construct circuits drawn in symbols
4 /
- Can record own circuits using symbols
- Knows that wires made from different materials will affect the brightness of the bulb.
Further Comments