Science Experiments for the Primary Classroom






         Providing a clearer understanding

April 14, 2010

What is electricity?

Filed under: — pbutler @ 2:52 pm

Strand – Energy and forces

Strand Unit – Light

Class – 2nd – 6th

Electricity

Prior knowledge required by students

Electricity is a form of energy. Many of our household items and gadgets require electricity so that they can work. We must always remember to be very careful when dealing with electricity.

Stage 1

Stimulus questions to engage the students and get them interested

How is electricity made?

Where does electricity come from?

Why is electricity so important to us?

What is a battery?

What are the dangers of electricity?

Listen to an audio clip of the children questioning each other.  

Stage 2

The Experiment

Materials needed – (battery, copper wire, bulb, small screwdriver)

I have recorded the following video demonstrating how you create a simple circuit. Divide the class into pairs and see if they can create their own simple circuits. Before carrying out the experiment, ask the groups to predict how they might get the bulb to light using the wire, battery and bulb. Clearly record their predictions.

Video –  simple circuit

Try something different by cutting off a piece of the wire and replace it with different materials like wood, paper, paperclip, plastic. Record which of the above allowed the electricity to flow through it. From here you can introduce the words conductors and insulators. Those that allowed the bulb to light are conductors and those that didn’t allow the bulb to light are called insulators.

Stage 3

Learning outcomes

At the end of the lesson make sure the children get the opportunity to share their experiences and record their results. Ask the following questions.

What caused the bulb to light?

If you removed one end of the wire from the battery, what happened?

Listen to an audio clip of the children’s explanations and findings 

Conclusion

Revisit the predictions and see which groups made the closest predictions to the actual outcome. Have some fun with the interactive quiz which will reinforce the science lesson. Discuss how the children worked like scientists where they answered some research questions, planned an experiment and then carried out the experiment.

Interactive Quiz – Electricity



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