Life as we know it would not be possible without electric transformers, so there are fewer more pertinent topics for your eager young engineers. An astounding amount of background information is provided to help you develop a lecture on...

Orange you glad you can make circuits using fruit? Young electricians learn about electric circuits and electricity. As part of the instructional activity, they build a circuit with an orange and then with a banana.

Need some activities to go along with your unit? A collection of hands-on activities from PBS offers opportunities to add to your electricity, sound, and force units. The electricity activities revolve around building a...

Do flexible circuits change dimensions during fabrication? Groups use GeoGebra software to measure the length of pictures of flexible nano-circuits. To determine if the circuits change dimensions, future engineers use Microsoft...

Though not commonly searched for, this is a vivid demonstration of how a fuse can be blown, or rather, how resistance works in an electric circuit. You will basically set up a circuit with no lights or bells or motors, allowing the wire...

Light up the solutions. By following a set of directions, pupils build a circuit board with six different circuits. Learners use the circuit board to create a matching activity by connecting the questions to the correct answers via a...

Generate a buzz about circuits. Scholars conduct four activities to learn about electric circuits. They create dance pads that buzz and flash when stepped on, build hidden alarms, design creatures with eyes that flash, and take part in...

Light up someone's day with conductive greeting cards. Scholars design and create greeting cards that include LED lights. Rather than use copper tape, they apply conductive paint or copper paint to create the necessary electric circuits.

Electrical engineers entertain and explain how to construct an electromagnet-driven motor. Kellie and Mike, the hosts of the show, are enthusiastic teachers that will help introduce a project that you likely include in your middle school...

Groups work together to design a lighthouse, from designing and drawing the wiring diagram, to creating prototypes of the switch and circuit, to envisioning and building a scale model along with a blueprint. By including different...

Pore over the properties of plastic. Working through four different stations, pupils investigate some properties of plastic, including chemical decomposition, mechanical breakdown, density, and the ability to infiltrate the food chain....

Have your class use compasses to try to find the magnetic field around an electric current. Groups use the same technique to visualize magnetic fields as they did in the second activity in the series, but this time, the field is...

Make electricity flow through Play-Doh. Individuals create animals or other creatures using Play-Doh. The engineering aspect? Eyes that light up and Play-Doh that conducts electricity.

Eat up a resource on using food to power electrical devices. Future engineers first experiment with different fruits and vegetables to determine the amount of electrical energy they provide. Based on the data, they design and create an...

In pairs, learners build a piezoelectric generator from readily available electric components in the second and final installment of the two-part series. Tapping the piezoelectric element produces enough electricity to light an LED....

Hang a strip of foil on a stand and form a loop out of it. Then attach the clips of a battery-operated circuit to the loop to see its sides repel each other. This simple demonstration is applicable and easy to add to your lecture on...

Students design and build a foam core house which has a light in each room. They demonstrate an understanding of series, parallel, and complex circuits. They complete a worksheet, in complete, sentences expressing these electrical concepts.

It's time to wake up! Young engineers build an electric circuit that will activate an alarm. The use of switches in the circuit is a must—because you don't want the alarm to keep beeping forever!

Put those old holiday lights to good use. Individuals use a section of ornamental lights to create electric circuits. If the lights glow, it's a success; otherwise, it's time to try again!

Light up a locker for a more festive hallway! Scholars learn about electric currents, LEDs, and switches, then experiment with their own circuits. They use the circuits to design and build locker decorations that light up when turned on...

Knead a resource on electric circuits? A fun activity teaches future scientists about conductors and insulators. They prepare conducting and insulating dough and use them to make creatures that light up.

Light and sound go hand in hand. Pupils set up a system that will emit sound when a laser is directed at a photodiode. Various objects, such as a comb and talcum powder, allow for modulation of the laser beam. Individuals also...

Using a simple circuit with the battery representing the brain, future physiologists test to see which solutions conduct electrical "nerve impulses." Enlighten learners with plentiful information on electric signals in the nervous system...

When you think electric circuits, your pencil probably isn't the thing that comes to mind. A simple experiment lets learners test whether the graphene in pencil lead is a conductor or an insulator. If the LED bulb lights up, a conductor...