Curated OER
Conductors and Insulators
Students explore electrical terms and circuits. In this conductor activity students divide into groups and complete a lab on electricity.
Curated OER
Science Word Search
In this science activity, students identify and locate various science related vocabulary terms. There are 21 words located in the puzzle.
Canada Science and Technology Museum
Canada Science and Technology Museum: Background Information for Electricity
The Canada Science and Technology Museum answers some of the most common questions about electricity. For example, get the definition of electricity, the difference between alternating and direct currents, and learn how a fuse works.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Build a Charge Detector
In this hands-on activity, students explore the electrical force that takes place between two objects. Each student builds an electroscope and uses the device to draw conclusions about objects' charge intensity. Students also determine...
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: Conductivity
Students make a simple conductivity tester using a battery and light bulb. They learn the difference between conductors and insulators of electrical energy as they test a variety of materials for their ability to conduct electricity.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Cooking With the Sun Creating a Solar Oven
For this activity, students will be given a set of materials: cardboard, a set of insulating materials (i.e. foam, newspaper, etc.), aluminum foil, and Plexiglas. Students will then become engineers in building a solar oven from the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Is the Best Insulator: Air, Styrofoam, Foil, or Cotton?
That heat flows from hot to cold is an unfortunate truth of life. People have put a lot of effort into stopping this fact, however all they have been able to do is slow the process. Working in groups of three to four, students will...
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Electrifying Energy
This tutorial reviews over electrical energy.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium: Science Snacks: Physics/electricity & Magnetism
Exploratorium Science Snacks are miniature science exhibits and experiments that can be made with common, inexpensive, easily available materials. These electricity snacks represent a set of devices that you can build and experiment with...
Utah State Office of Education
Utah Science: The Mysterious Force
There is a secret mysterious force in your home right this very moment! Try these activities to first identify that force and then extend your knowledge of the force by investigating the other activities provided.
OpenSciEd
Open Sci Ed: 6.2 Thermal Energy Teacher Professional Development Overview
This four-day professional development session introduces teachers to the OpenSciEd materials generally in addition to the 6.2 Thermal Energy unit.
Utah State Office of Education
Utah Science: Properties and Behaviors of Heat, Light and Sound
How can scientists lump heat, light and sound together when investigating properties and behaviors? This learning module will address that question through a series of activities.
CK-12 Foundation
Ck 12: Forces on Charged Objects
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Students learn which subatomic particles contribute to static electricity, and determine the charge of an object based on what particles it has gained or lost.
BBC
Bbc Schools: Ks2 Bitesize: Science: Physical Processes: Electrical Conductors
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.
OpenSciEd
Open Sci Ed: 6.2 Thermal Energy
This Thermal Energy unit has students investigating two ways to transfer energy into a drink: (1) the absorption of light and (2) thermal energy from the warmer air around the drink. They are then challenged to design their own drink...
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Elements Metals, Nonmetals and Metalloids
Students investigate several properties of the given elements and decide whether each element is a metal, non-metal, or a metalloid.
University of St. Andrews (UK)
University of St. Andrews: Insulators
The nature of insulators is described at the atomic level. Band gap theory is used to explain what distinguishes insulators from conductors.
Other
University of Delaware Physics Department: Lithography
University of Delaware Physics Department provides this indexing page for a slide show presentation.
Other
Univ. Of Delaware Physics: More Semiconductor Physics
The University of Delaware Physics Department provides this site from a site titled "Silicon, Circuits, and the Digital Revolution," here is a series of four pages which explain the details behind how semiconductors work. An introduction...
Other
Fun Science Ring: Leyden Jar
Everything you need to know about how Leyden jars work, and how to construct your own. Many pictures, references, other sites, other electrostatics projects and topics.
Scholastic
Scholastic: Study Jams! Science: Energy, Light and Sound: Heat
A video and a short quiz on heat, covering its difference from temperature, thermal energy, and the means by which heat is transferred.
University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Ucar: Atmospheric Processes Conduction
This simple demonstration helps students understand the concept of conduction. Site includes background information, images, and lesson plans outlining the demonstration of conduction.