Smithsonian Institution
Lemelson Center: Spark!lab: Make a Light Bulb
This lab shows students how to make a light bulb using 6V battery, wire, cork, and a nail. Print a form where you can record your results.
Other
Math, Physics and Engineering Applets
Written by Paul Falstad, these educational Java applets address myriad concepts related to electrostatics, magnetostatics and electrodynamics. You'll find instructions on how to operate each applet, but little explanatory material.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Ph Et Simulations: Replace Real Equipment in Lab Circuit Construction Kit
Students explore with a PhET interactive simulation to replicate the construction of electrical circuits.
Education Development Center
Center for Children and Technology: No Way: Electricity
Moving away from the fantasy worlds of video games, No Way draws students into a compelling real-life scenario in which they are editorial interns at a science-themed website. This classroom activity on electricity offers a fun way for...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Ap Physics 1: Electric Circuits
In this unit students discover the meaning and some applications of electric potential, commonly known as voltage, and how it powers some simple circuits.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Ap Physics 2: Electrostatics
In this unit students take a deeper look into charges beyond the simplified 'opposites attract." Students learn to calculate those attractive and repulsive forces and to show how invisible fields are responsible for them.
DOGO Media
Dogo News: Plant Powered Lamps Bring Light to Village in Peru
Read about the amazing development of plant-powered lamps that are bringing electricity to a village in remote Peru. Includes video.
Museum of Science
Museum of Science and Industry: Online Science: Make a Circuit Board
Step-by-step illustrated instructions showing how to build a circuit board using everyday materials.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: The Power of Food
Students imagine they are stranded on an island and must create the brightest light possible with the meager supplies they have on hand in order to gain the attention of a rescue airplane.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Renewable Energy Living Lab: The Bright Idea
Students use real-world data to evaluate the feasibility of solar energy and other renewable energy sources in different U.S. locations. Working in small groups, students act as engineers evaluating the suitability of installing solar...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Renewable Energy Living Lab: Energy Experts
Students use real-world data to evaluate various renewable energy sources and the feasibility of implementing these sources. Working in small groups, students use data from the Renewable Energy Living Lab to describe and understand the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Renewable Energy Living Lab: Power Your School
Students use real-world data to calculate the potential for solar and wind energy generation at their school location. After examining maps and analyzing data from the online Renewable Energy Living Lab, they write recommendations as to...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Renewable Energy Living Lab
Students become familiar with the online Renewable Energy Living Lab interface and access its real-world solar energy data to evaluate the potential for solar generation in various U.S. locations. They become familiar with where the most...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Static Cling
This hands-on activity explores the concept of static electricity. Students attract an O-shaped piece of cereal to a charged comb and watch the cereal jump away when it touches the comb. Students also observe Styrofoam pellets pulling...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Charge It!
Students use a balloon to perform several simple experiments to explore static electricity and charge polarization.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Two Cell Battery
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.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Will It Conduct?
Students build their own simple conductivity tester and explore whether given solid materials and solutions are good conductors of electricity.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Switcheroo
In this hands-on activity, 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.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Light Your Way
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...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Bulbs & Batteries Side by Side
We are surrounded everyday by circuits that utilize "in parallel" and "in series" circuitry. Complicated circuits designed by engineers are made of many simpler parallel and series circuits. In this hands-on activity, students build...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Designing a Thermostat
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...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Power Your House With Water
Students learn how engineers design devices that use water to generate electricity by building model water turbines and measuring the resulting current produced in a motor. Students work through the engineering design process to build...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: A New Angle on Pv Efficiency
Students examine how the orientation of a photovoltaic (PV) panel relative to the sun affects the efficiency of the panel. Using sunshine (or a lamp) and a small PV panel connected to a digital multimeter, students vary the angle of the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Ice, Ice, Pv!
Students examine how the power output of a photovoltaic (PV) solar panel is affected by temperature changes. Using a 100-watt lamp and a small PV panel connected to a digital multimeter, teams vary the temperature of the panel and record...