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A Hands-on Approach to Teaching Electricity and Conductivity in 8th Grade Science

Olivia Ritter

CURENT Summer RET Program 2013

Unit Outline: Electricity, Conductors, and Insulators

Estimated time: 3-5 class periods (74 minutes each), depending on selection and number of hands-on activities

Standards addressed:

Embedded standards:

  • T/E.1 I can identify the tools and procedures needed to test the design features of a prototype.
  • T/E.2 I can use the engineering design process that incorporate design constraints, model building, testing, evaluating, modifying, and retesting.
  • Inq.5 I can review an experimental design to determine possible sources of bias or error, state alternative explanations, and identify questions to further investigate.
  • Inq.1 I can design and conduct an open-ended experiment to answer a question that includes a control and variables (independent and dependent).
  • Inq.2 I can use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, organize, analyze, and interpret data.
  • Inq.3 I can interpret and translate data into a table, graph, or diagram.

Direct standards:

  • 12.1 I can explain the relationship between magnetism and electricity.
  • 9.1 I can identify atoms as the fundamental particle making up all of matter. (can relate electrons to electricity here)
  • 9.9 I can describe the properties of the main groups of elements (including alkali, alkaline, transition metals, halogens, noble gases, actinide series, and lanthanide series). (relate to insulators and conductors and electricity)
  1. Pre-assessment and Pre-Survey
  2. Introduce/review electricity
  3. Ask students for prior knowledge and ideas about electricity
  4. Key questions
  5. What is electricity?
  6. Where do we get our electricity?
  7. How is electricity transmitted from source to appliance/technology we use?
  8. What are some renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy?
  9. Lecture and discussion
  10. Make connections to electrical engineering
  11. Introduce conductivity
  12. Define new vocabulary: conductivity, conductors, insulators, semiconductors, circuits, thermal energy, electric energy
  13. Ask students for prior knowledge and ideas about the above terms and their relationship to one another
  14. Lecture and discussion
  15. Key question: what makes some materials better conductors than others?
  16. Hands-on activity: Exploring the conductivity of various materials
  17. This activity could be done more as an inquiry activity before the lecture/discussion in part III.*
  18. Static electricity – balloons, bending water
  19. For “Charge it!” activities and a list of materials that give up or gain electrons, see:
  20. Energy balls and circuits to test conductivity
  21. More advanced activity to test conductivity of materials (including liquids) from sciencelearn.org
  22. Engineering connection: why do you think these concepts would be important for an engineer (especially an electrical engineer)?
  23. Hands-on activity (taking it a step further): Squishy Circuits
  24. Given the materials, make a circuit using both types of dough (conductive and insulating dough). The dough can be different colors to distinguish one from the other, but don’t tell students which dough is which.
  25. What happens with each type of dough?
  26. Does one type of dough conduct electricity better than the other? Which one?
  27. Key question/goal: Given the ingredients in each dough, have students develop an idea about why one dough allows electricity to flow through it (conducts), while the other dough does not allow the flow of electricity (insulates).
  28. Hands-on activity: Build an electrical quiz game
  29. Students practice more with circuits and create their own quizzes using the terms and concepts of the unit. *This is helpful and accessible to all levels of learners because students can put the concepts and their ideas in their own words.
  30. Adapted from
  31. Which materials used to make your quiz game were insulators? Which materials were conductors?
  32. What are the necessary parts of a circuit?
  33. Hands-on activity: Touchscreen Simulation
  34. Introduce solar (PV) panels
  35. Ask students for prior knowledge and ideas about solar energy
  36. Lecture and discussion
  37. How do PV panels work?
  38. What materials are PV panels made of?
  39. What are photons?
  40. Make connections with atoms, electrons, electricity, and conductivity (semiconductors)
  41. Hands-on activity: making a Solar Cell
  42. Students experiment with a solar cell made from sheets of copper and salt water.
  43. Hands-on activity: making a Solar Car
  44. Use solar car kits from Kelvin.com
  45. Hands-on activity: making a Solar Jitterbug
  46. Students use inexpensive and easily accessible materials to make a device that turns solar energy into motion using a solar panel and motor.
  47. Encourage student creativity and independence for completion of this activity.
  48. Possible data collection and graphing: Have students investigate various angles of the PV panels to see which angle produces the highest current. This could be done quantitatively using a multimeter and PV panel or qualitatively using descriptions of relative movement in their jitterbug apparatus.
  49. Have students outline the steps of the engineering design process as they design, build, and improve their jitterbug.
  50. Challenge students to find ways to move the jitterbug in specific ways by changing or manipulating the materials used in building their device.
  51. End-of-unit-assessment
  52. Post-survey at the end of school year