Unit Plan
Other

The Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits

For Students 3rd - 8th
An exciting interactive site of games, activities, information, and quizzes about electric circuits. You'll learn what makes circuits work, all about conductors and insulators, switches, changing circuits, and circuit diagrams. Learning...
Interactive
Other

Tech Topics: Electricity: Circuits

For Students 9th - 10th
What is a circuit? How does it work? The animated diagrams and accompanying text will make it easy to understand the concept of circuits!
Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Introduction to Electric Circuits

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity will show how to properly connect wires to make a closed electric circuit. Included in this will be how to connect batteries in series and/or in parallel, and how to properly measure potential drops across a resistor and...
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Lighting the Way: Electrical Circuits and Lamp Wiring

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Through a series of self-guided activities, students will explore basic electrical circuits and then build a working model of a circuit through the process of wiring a lamp. They will understand the flow of electrons through a circuit,...
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Electric Circuits Guided Inquiry

For Teachers 6th - 8th
An electrical circuit guided inquiry where middle schoolers investigate what an electric circuit is, the main parts of a circuit and the difference between series and parallel circuits. Students groups create a circuit using materials...
Interactive
Physics Classroom

The Physics Classroom: Electric Circuits: Circuit Builder

For Students 9th - 10th
Students manipulate this virtual electronic circuit board where they can add resistors, light bulbs, wires, and ammeters to build a circuit, explore Ohm's law, and compare and contrast series, parallel, and combination circuits. Three...
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigate Electric Circuits Through Construction and Illustration

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this physics instructional activity 4th grade students investigate electrical circuits in greater depth than the FOSS unit used in a prior grade in school. Students become familiar with a computer simulation allowing them greater...
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Introduction to Open and Closed Electrical Circuits

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
This activity introduces students to the concepts of electrical current and open and closed circuits. Students will act out open and closed circuits as a whole class with some students acting as the "motors" or "light bulbs."
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Saltwater Circuit

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students build a saltwater circuit, which is an electrical circuit that uses saltwater as part of the circuit. Students investigate the conductivity of saltwater, and develop an understanding of how the amount of salt in a solution...
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Current Electricity Lights On

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
An exploratory lesson that provides the learners with a chance to discover the possible connections in an electrical circuit in a controlled setting.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Comparing Current Intensities of Series, Parallel, and Complex Circuits

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will investigate the differences of current in series, parallel, and complex circuits through the construction of a small house containing the different types of circuits.
Interactive
BBC

Bbc Schools: Ks2 Bitesize: Science: Physical Processes: Electrical Conductors

For Students 3rd - 5th
Find out which material will save Steve from getting shocked by the electric eels. Following the activity, read more about electrical conductors, and then take a quick quiz to check for understanding.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Magnets and Electricity: Creating Magnetism With Electricity

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Young scholars will work in small groups to design at least one complete circuit using multiple materials. They will record their observations of how they created an electrical circuit using diagrams and notes in their journals. Using a...
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigating Electricity

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this interactive activity, students will explore electricity and be able to design and create a complete electrical circuit. Students will also learn what is necessary to light a light bulb. Creative thought, ideas, and, brainstorming...
Activity
Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments: Ac Circuit Analysis

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This electrical engineering activity uses a TI graphing calculator to analyze AC circuits including sine waves, capacitance and inductive reactance, solving series AC circuits, and RMS calculations.
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Introduction to Circuits and Ohm's Law

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students will explore the basics of dc circuits analyzing the light from light bulbs when connected in series and parallel circuits. Ohm's Law and the equation for power dissipated by a circuit will be the primary equations used. Using...
Online Course
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mit: Open Course Ware: Courses: Physics Ii: Electricity and Magnetism

For Teachers 9th - 10th
College-level physics course highlighting electricity and magnetism. This course is divided into several modules including electric fields, magnetic fields, electromagnetic forces, conductors and dielectrics, electromagnetic waves, and...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Keep It Moving! From Electrons to Electric Motors

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students act as engineers to apply what they know about how circuits work in electrical/motorized devices to design their own battery-operated model motor vehicles with specific paramaters. They calculate the work done by the vehicles...
Interactive
Concord Consortium

Concord Consortium: Stem Resources: Heat and Light From Electricity

For Students 6th - 8th
Understand the energy transformations that happens when you light a bulb with a battery. Activity requires students to build a simple circuit and take temperature and time measurements. Lab includes procedure with questions that can be...
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Investigating Electricity: Building Circuits in Elementary Science Class

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
In this exploration activity, students compare the difference between series circuits and parallel circuits using wire, light bulbs, and D batteries.
Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Electric Current and Circuits

For Students 9th - 10th
Students have the opportunity to explore the basics of current and circuits in this online module. Some of the activities include interactive animations, informational text, practice problems, and lab experiments.
Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Put a Spark in It! Electricity

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Uncountable times every day "with the merest flick of a finger"each one of us calls on electricity to do our bidding. What would your life be like without electricity? Students begin learning about electricity with an introduction to the...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Nxt Ball Shooter

For Teachers 4th - 8th
This activity helps students understand how a motor in a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robot uses electricity produced by the battery to move a robot to do useful work in the form of throwing a ball. Students relate the concepts of electricity and...
Activity
Hunkins Experiments

Hunkin's Experiments: Electric Shocks!!

For Students 9th - 10th
Hunkin's Experiments is a group of simple cartoon illustrations of scientific principles. Some would work well in the classroom, but others have little value beyond entertaining students. All of the projects are easy to do. These...