Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Basic Electric Transformers
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...
Perkins School for the Blind
Building a Basic Series Circuit
Make science a fully accessible subject for your learners with visual impairments. They'll use tactile models to explore the nature of basic electrical circuits. Template board, wires, batteries, and Velcro are used to construct the...
Teach Engineering
Circuits
Don't know how to make the initial connection on electric circuits? This lesson provides the background to present the introductory vocabulary to learning about electric circuits. It is organized in a meaningful progression with an...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Get Connected with Ohm's Law
Ideal for your electricity unit, especially with middle schoolers, this lesson plan gets engineers using multimeters in electrical circuits to explore the relationships among voltage, current, and resistance. Older learners may even plot...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Electric Switches
Students examine how electric circuits are controlled with a switch. They incorporate a switch into a battery/bulb circuit. They design and create their own switches using everyday materials.
Bonneville
What is Electricity and How Do We Use It?
Use some electrifying lessons to learn about electricity. Future scientists discover the history of electricity and the basics of electric circuits. They learn how to read an electricity bill and then create circuits to power a fan,...
Curated OER
Series and Parallel Circuits
Fourth graders explore electrical circuits. In this electrical circuit lesson, 4th graders research the history of the use of light and read a biography regarding Benjamin Franklin. Students the build basic circuits, series circuits and...
LABScI
Circuits Lab: Lightbulbs
Electrons flow from negative to positive, but the general consensus is that current flows from positive to negative. Scholars explore current through construction of circuits in both series and parallel. The focus is on voltage,...
Curated OER
Exploring Electricity - Four Activities
These are four classic activities used for instructing upper elementary electricians. The first involves experimenting with the Van de Graaff generator. The second is a series of hands-on experiences with static. In the third activity,...
Teach Engineering
Introduction to Circuits and Ohm's Law
Take a very basic understanding of circuits and develop a strong understanding of the parts and function of a circuit. This activity is developed to be an independent exploration of circuits from the basics to series and parallel models....
Curated OER
Simple Circuit: Electric Currents and Circuits
Through inquiry and exploration, 4th graders will learn and understand the functions of open and closed circuits. They will break into 2 groups, define vocabulary, hypothesize how to light a bulb, then test their hypothesis 4 different...
Virginia Department of Education
Electricity and Circuits
Electrify your classroom as you lead pupils through a series of steps to demonstrate basic principles of electricity and magnetism. They design a simple circuit and test this for static electricity and current electricity. Next, they...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Light the Bulb!
Third graders investigate electrical circuits and how light bulbs are powered. In this electricity and power activity, 3rd graders study the vocabulary necessary which includes the different types of circuits, electrical currents, and...
Curated OER
Simply Circuitry and Series Circuit
Students investigate a series circuit. In this physical science lesson, students use a battery, switch, and light bulbs to build an electrical circuit. Students identify the standard symbols being used in electric circuitry.
Curated OER
Electricity: Series and Parallel Circuits
Fourth graders explore electricity and electrical circuits. They explore series and parallel circuits using Christmas lights. Students pull lights out of each strand of lights. They observe the results when the light bulb is pulled out....
Curated OER
WHAT MAKES A LIGHT BULB LIGHT?
Young scholars are able to use inquiry to answer the essential questions. They are able to predict and test configurations of a battery, bulb, and wire that make the complete circuit. Students craft a group and individual theory of a...
Curated OER
A Shocking Experience
Learners differentiate between current and static electricity, conductors and insulators, explain how energy is converted from chemical to electrical, measure voltage of batteries, collect data on voltage, and predict voltage of...
Curated OER
Wire Maze
Pupils investigate what causes electrical circuits to work. They construct a wire circuit and pass a paperclip through the maze, trying not to touch the wire, and answer discussion questions.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Two Button Buzzer Circuit
Learners explore circuit structure, draw a schematic for it, and construct a two button buzzer model out of wires, a battery, buttons (switches), and a buzzer.
Curated OER
Electricity
Students examine basic electrical components. They build a simple electrical circuit which rings a buzzer. They experiment with conducting and nonconducting materials.
Curated OER
Introduction to Electric Circuits
High schoolers explore using a circuit board in this physics lesson. They will analyze current and battery set up on a circuit board. Teachers check the board before the students experiment.
Curated OER
Electricity - How it Works and How We Measure and Pay For It
Students investigate energy consumption by researching wattage. In this electricity lesson, students discuss how electricity works and gets transferred to our electronic devices through generators and circuits. Students examine their...
Curated OER
Electric Circuits
Students model the flow of electrons in a circuit, draw diagrams of an electric circuit and build an electric circuit. Students explain how to tell when the path of an electric circuit is complete, and test the conductivity of a variety...
Bonneville
Solar Panel Basics
Going outside is a logical step when dealing with solar panels. Future scientists learn about the n-type and p-type layers of solar cells in the third of 14 lessons in the Cost Effective Solar Cells unit. They go outside to model the...