Curated OER
Series or Parallel?
Physics classes that are studying electricity connect photovoltaic cells into both series and parallel circuits. Inquiry and critical thinking come into play as learners try to determine which circuit is more productive. They associate...
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Electricity
Students experiment with a series of circuits. In this chemistry lesson, students discuss voltage, resistance and current as they flow through an electrical circuit. They work in pairs to solve the questions.
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Leyden Jar: Static Electricity
Students experiment with a Leyden Jar, a device that stores electrical charges. A large voltage can be built up in this jar by adding more and more charge. The modern name for this device is a capacitor.
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Electricity And Magnetism
Pupils explore the relationship between magnetism and electricity byby explaining how the model motor operates. They observe the the spinning of a coil of copper wire that is part of a circuit.
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Organization Station
After students complete an in-class unit on electricity they participate in making a hands-on circuit to create electricity. Then they use the computer program Kidspiration to create a graphic organizer of the content. They print their...
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What Configurations Work to Light a Bulb?
Students explore simple electrical circuits. Students experiment, using different configurations, to determine what is necessary to compeete a circuit. Students observe similarities between arrangements that work and differences in...
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Electricity: Going with the Flow!
Fifth graders explore a simple circuit. They experiment with a wire, light bulb and a bettery to see how many ways they can make the light bulb light up. Students describe how they were or were not ablt to light the bulb.
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Light the Bulb
Students explore electricity. In this power experiment lesson plan, students determine what is required for lighting a bulb. Students develop an understanding of open and closed circuits, and how energy is formed
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Electrical Circuits
Young scholars explore parallel and series circuits. In this electrical circuit instructional activity, students investigate the differences between series and parallel circuits. Young scholars observe the benefits and drawbacks of...
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Energy Conversion in Electricity – Resistors and Circuits
Students explore electrical energy. In this electricity lesson, students design and build a large circuit in order to determine whether circuit size correlates with the light of a bulb.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Electric Messages: Then And Now
Learners engage in a instructional activity that is concerned with the history of communication devices that are used today and in the past. They practice using morse code as a look into the past and then cover the modern subjects of...
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How Photocells Work
Give small groups of physical scientists tokens that represent electrons in a photovoltaic cell. They play a dice game in which they move the tokens around, representing the flow of electrons through the p-n junction of a semiconductor...
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Orienting a Photovoltaic Cell
By mounting a light bulb on a stand and a PV cell on another, physics apprentices experiment with the angle of incidence. Their goal is to determine the optimum angle for collecting solar energy. The use of a scientific calculator is...
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The Shocking Truth About Fruit
Looking for a great lesson plan on circuits and conductors of electricity? Take a look at this one! In it, 6th graders create circuits out of pennies, washers, alligator clips, fruit, and LED’s. Learners use voltmeters to analyze the...
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Electric Light Art
Students write a poem about a single work of art by Flavin. In this descriptive response instructional activity, students express their feelings about the work and organize words into phrases. Students arrange word phrases on paper to...
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How a Circuit Works
Students explore the differences between parallel and series circuits by designing and constructing several different circuits. In small groups, they use miniature light bulbs, wires, and nine-volt batteries to build the circuits they...
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Switcheroo
Students construct a simple switch and determine what objects and what types of materials can be used to close a switch in a circuit and light a light bulb.
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Electricity Generation
Students study the history of electricity and the different ways we generate electricity. In this electricity lesson plan students complete several experiments on generating power.
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Electrical Circuits - Current & Voltage in Series Circuits
Students investigate the relationship between current and voltage in a series circuit. In this physics lesson, students measure the current across each light bulb. They predict what happens to the circuit if one bulb is blows out.
Wind Wise Education
Understanding Forms and Sources of Energy
What is the difference between a form of energy and a source of energy? This first activity in a series of 19 lessons uses demonstrations and discussions to introduce energy to the class. Through using hand-generator flashlights,...
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Lemon Battery
Students construct their own battery made of lemons. In this electrochemistry lesson, students explain why lemons conduct electricity. They perform a series of experiments to investigate its conductivity.
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Electrifying Electricity
Students explore the basics of electricity using common everyday items as well as demonstrate how parallel and series circuits can be used in electronics and electrical devices. They explore how common items in their world can be wired...
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The Science of Color and Light
Students listen to a story about colors and then conduct various experiments to determine how people see colors, identify which colors stand out best from a distance, show the results of mixed colored lighting and explain the phenomenon...
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Applied Science - Physics Lab
Students investigate electricity. In this Physics lesson plan, students experiment with insulators and conductors of electricity. Students use batteries as the energy source for the experiment.