top of page
This site was designed with the
.com
website builder. Create your website today.Start Now

A: Informational Components

 

Lesson Title: Current Electricity!

 

Grade Level: 5th

 

State Standards Connection:

  • Intended Learning Outcome:

    • Standard 3. Students will understand features of static and current electricity

      • Objective 2. Analyze the behavior of current electricity

        • A. Draw and label the components of a complete electrical circuit that includes switches and loads (e.g., light bulb, bell, speaker, motor).

        • B. Predict the effect of changing one or more of the components (e.g., battery, load, wires) in an electric circuit.

        • C. Generalize the properties of materials that carry the flow of electricity using data by testing different materials.

        • D. Investigate materials that prevent the flow of electricity.

        • E. Make a working model of a complete circuit using a power source, switch, bell or light, and a conductor for a pathway.

 

Specific Lesson Objective:

Students will be able to observe and record their observations of current electricity.

 

Lesson Purpose:

The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand how current electricity works. 

 

Vocabulary Focus:

  • Current

  • Electricity

  • Conductors

  • Insulators

  • Circuit

  • Electron

 

Materials:

  • Internet

  • Pencils

  • Lab sheets

  • 25 pink erasers

 

Anticipated Time Frame: 45 minutes

 

 

 

 

B: Instructional Procedures

 

Engage and Launch: (10 minutes)

  • Assess prior knowledge. What is something depend on every day?  What do you know about electricity?

  • Give brief introduction and history of current electricity.  Show Brainbop video https://youtu.be/Ww6xYGu3O10

  • Discuss new information and introduce vocabulary

 

Teacher Role

Asks questions; Assesses prior knowledge; Causes disequilibrium or doubt; Provides information needed for Explore phase

Student Role

Gains interest; Calls up prior knowledge; Experiences disequilibrium or doubt; Develops a need to know

 

Explore: (15 minutes)

  • Students will act out an electric circuit.

    • Ask students to join me in forming a circle.  Tell students that I represent a battery and they represent a wire conductor. The circle represents a circuit.  Ask everyone to join hands to create a connected circle.  Tell students that our hands represent electrons inside a wire conductor.  Explain that a wire conductor is full of electrons.

    • Remind students that I am playing the part of the battery in this circuit, and explain that all batteries have a positive end, represented by my left hand, and a negative end, represented by my right hand.  I will squeeze my right hand to represent the repel of an electron. The student receiving my electron should in turn pass the electron by squeezing the persons hand on their right.  Have students continue passing on electrons to the person to their right.  Tell students that because electrons share the same negative charge, they repel one another, which keeps them moving along in the same direction.  State again that the flow of electrons through a conductor is called electrical current.

    • Tell students that as long as the circle remains intact and the electrons continue to flow, their circuit is closed.  To illustrate what happens when a circuit breaks, or opens, create a gap in the circle of students that is too wide across to pass electrons.  The current will stop as a result.

 

Teacher Role

Makes open suggestions; Questions and probes; Provides feedback; Assesses understanding and processes

Student Role

Explores resources and materials; Hypothesizes and predicts; Records observations and ideas; Seeks possibilities by thinking creatively

 

 

 

 

Explain/Summarize: (5 minutes)

  • Excuse students to return to their desks.  Reflect on the activity.

    • Recall the main idea of the circle activity.  Review main vocabulary and give examples of current electricity.

 

Teacher Role

Asks for clarification and evidence from students; Enhances or clarifies student explanations; uses students’ experiences as a basis for explaining new concepts; provides new vocabulary; evaluates student explanations.

Student Role

Clarifies understandings discovered; Shares understandings for feedback; Communicates understanding using recorded observations (writing and drawings); Forms generalizations; Seeks new explanations

 

Elaborate/Extend: (10 minutes)

  • Pass out lab sheets and give students time to complete only the prediction portion of the “conductor or insulator?” column. 

  • Collect lab sheets from students.  Students will complete the result portion of the table in the next lesson.

 

Teacher Role

Asks questions; Poses new problems and issues; Offers alternative explanations

Student Role

Applies new knowledge by performing related tasks; Asks questions; Plans and carries out new project; Records observations and explanations

 

Evaluate/Assess: (5 minutes)

  • A summative assessment will be the completion of the prediction portion of the lab sheet, and listening to student responses to open-ended questions.

  • A formative assessment will happen in the form of a whole group quiz.

 

Teacher Role

Observe and assess students; Asks open-ended questions; Allows students to assess their own learning and skills

Student Role

Demonstrate an understanding of a skill or concepts; Evaluates his/her own progress and knowledge; Answers open-ended questions by using observations, evidence, and previously accepted explanations

 

Adaptations for Gifted/Talented, ELL, and Special Education:

Since several students in the class are advanced, they can record information prior to the experiment in their science journals and explain their prior knowledge, but it will also be filled out as a class during the explanation portion of the lesson.  For ELL students, the keywords including pictures will be on the whiteboard as they are discussed.

bottom of page