eBook
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Electrical Engineering: Circuit Analysis

For Students 9th - 10th
Circuit analysis is the process of finding all the currents and voltages in a network of connected components. We look at the basic elements used to build circuits, and find out what happens when elements are connected together into a...
eBook
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Basic Electrical Quantities: Current, Voltage, Power

For Students 9th - 10th
Build an intuitive understanding of current and voltage, and power.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigating Batteries: Building an Electrolytic Cell

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this inquiry, students will attempt to build an electrolytic cell which will cause a bulb to turn on then diagram the set-up. Included in this lab, students will experience voltage, solve a problem using the Nernst equation, and...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Designing a Thermostat

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students investigate circuits and their components by building a basic thermostat. They learn why key parts are necessary for the circuit to function, and alter the circuit to optimize the thermostat temperature range. They also gain an...
Handout
PBS

Pbs Kids: Design Squad Challenge: Dance Pad Mania (Pdf) [Pdf]

For Students 3rd - 8th
Hands-on challenge to build a dance pad that lets you use your feet to either flash a light or to sound a buzzer. Provides full list of materials with ideas on how to design, build, test, and redesign the pad if necessary. Activity...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Electrocardiograph Building

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity will build upon the concepts taught in the lesson The Strongest Pump of All. The activity will pull together the concepts of bioelectricity, electrical circuits, and biology. It will allow the students the opportunity to...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Build a Toy Workshop

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Working as if they are engineers who work for (the hypothetical) Build-a-Toy Workshop company, students apply their imaginations and the engineering design process to design and build prototype toys with moving parts. They set up...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Build a Mini Led Lightsaber

For Students 6th - 8th
Build your own mini LED lightsaber with a straw in this quick Star Wars-themed STEM activity.
Activity
Technovation

Curiosity Machine: Challenges: Engineer an Electric Switch

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Using your knowledge of the flow of electricity, do you think you could build a switch that can complete a circuit to turn on an LED? This site contains the challenge, tips, a lesson plan, and a place for students to document their...
Activity
Science Museum, London

Science Museum: Robot Bugs

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Build a robot and watch how it moves. Activity is designed to help students learn how electrical circuits and switches control how things move.
eBook
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Electrical Engineering: Amplifiers

For Students 9th - 10th
Amplifiers make signals bigger. Amplification is often the most basic operation of an electronic circuit. There are many kinds of amplifier designs. We will describe the operational amplifier, the building block of most analog electronics.
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Where There Is Charge, There Can Be Sparks!

For Students 9th - 10th
In this short science project you will learn how to build a capacitor using common household items. By testing different charge cycles, you will work to discover how much charge is stored in a Leyden jar capacitor.
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: How Does a Robot Work?

For Teachers 4th - 8th
This lesson introduces electricity, batteries and motors using a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robot. The associated activity guides learners to build a simple LEGO NXT set-up and see the practical implementation of the concepts discussed. Before...
Whiteboard
ClassFlow

Class Flow: Circuit Conductors

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
[Free Registration/Login Required] This unit builds on children's previous practical experience of making circuits and extends their understanding of circuits, conductors and insulators and the need for a complete circuit in order for a...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Light Your Way

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
When there is a power failure, or when we go outside at night, we grab a flashlight so we can find our way. What happens inside a flashlight that makes the bulb light up? Why do we need a switch to turn on a flashlight? Have you ever...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Simple Coulter Counter

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students build and use a very basic Coulter electric sensing zone particle counter to count an unknown number of particles in a sample of "paint" to determine if enough particles per ml of paint exist to meet a quality standard. In a lab...
Website
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Solar Cell Power Output vs. Temperature

For Students 6th - 8th
Solar cells provide a clean way of making electricity directly from sunlight. In this project you will build a simple circuit and experimental setup to investigate whether the power output of a solar cell changes with ambient temperature.
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Two Cell Battery

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
In this hands-on activity, students build their own two-cell battery. They also determine which electrolyte solution is best suited for making a battery.
Graphic
Curated OER

Electricity: Simple Circuits

For Students 9th - 10th
Create your own simple electric circuit. Using simple supplies build your own battery and investigate conductivity. You can also construct a crossword puzzle with electrical vocabulary words.
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Go With the Flow

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students gain an understanding of the difference between electrical conductors and insulators, and experience recognizing a conductor by its material properties. In a hands-on activity, students build a conductivity tester to determine...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Bulbs & Batteries in a Row

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Everyday we are surrounded by circuits that use "in parallel" and "in series" circuitry. Complicated circuits designed by engineers are composed of many simpler parallel and series circuits. During this activity, students build a simple...
Lesson Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Get Charged!

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students are introduced to the idea of electrical energy. They learn about the relationships between charge, voltage, current and resistance. They discover that electrical energy is the form of energy that powers most of their household...
Handout
University of Waterloo (Canada)

Computer Assisted Chem. Tutorial/chemistry of Batteries

For Students 9th - 10th
A superb explanation of how a battery works. Discusses the associated chemistry which explains how a battery produces a voltage. Includes a series of "Confidence Building Questions."
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Wire Maze

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students will build a wire circuit and pass a paperclip through the maze, trying not to touch the wire. Touching the wire with the paperclip will cause the circuit to close, which will activate the indicator.