LESSON 2 – MOVING ELECTRONS, cont.

Law of Electric Charges, Static Electricity, and Vocabulary Review

LESSON OVERVIEW - Summary of the task, challenge, investigation, career-related scenario, problem, or community link.

Day two in the Forces of Nature Unit will be less hands on with a large lecture component that will be used introduce the Law of Electric Charges and to make certain the necessary vocabulary is in place to effectively move forward in the unit. A computer simulation will be used to show how electric charges and electron move from one object to another. This will be the basis for understanding current and voltage in a future lesson. Students will complete a group activity towards the end of the class to reinforce the vocabulary presented during the lecture. An extension will provided for the honors classes and the any others that would like to try to make their own electroscope at home that they can use to identify charged objects in their house.

STANDARDS - Identify what you want to teach. Reference State, Common Core, ACT College Readiness Standards and/or State Competencies.

SPI 04.12.02 - Determine how an electrically charged material interacts with other objects.

SPI 06.12.02 - Identify materials that can conduct electricity.

OBJECTIVE - Clear, Specific, and Measurable – NOT ACTIVITIES - Student-Friendly

Students will be able to identify what causes an object to become electrically charged and the effect that charge can have on another nearby object.

Students will be able to differentiate between an electric conductor and an electric insulator.

ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION - Students show evidence of proficiency through a variety of assessments - Aligned with the Lesson Objective. Formative/Summative. Performance-Based/Rubric

The vocabulary activity will require students to formulate sentences using the concepts from the day’s lesson. The sentences will be written in the student’s interactive notebook with definition and examples of each of the vocabulary words. The will be definitions and sentences will be reviewed for accuracy by the teacher while the activity is being conducted. If time allows, the sentences will also be shared in class in the form of a quiz game.

MATERIALS - Aligned with the Lesson Objective - Rigorous & Relevant

Research Experience for Teachers

LESSON 2 – MOVING ELECTRONS, cont.

  • PowerPoint/Flipchart
  • Balloons, ~3, inflated
  • Electroscope
  • Wire, coated with ends stripped
  • Holt Textbook

Research Experience for Teachers

LESSON 2 – MOVING ELECTRONS, cont.

ACTIVATING STRATEGY - Motivator/Hook - An Essential Question encourages students to put forth more effort when faced with a complex, open-ended, challenging, meaningful and authentic questions.

The class will start with a Bellringer question. The question will be on the board as the students enter the room. They should go to their seats and begin answering the questions as soon as the bell rings. This procedure was taught during the first few weeks of school and has been practiced almost daily. The students should understand the expectations and be able to follow the procedure with out direction. The Bellringer questions are:

Write a definition for electric charge in your own words in your science journal.

Where do you experience electric charges the most?

When do you experience them most, in winter or in summer?

Explain your reasoning.

The class will be given time to formulate their answers and record them in their Interactive Science Notebooks (ISN’s). The students will share their answers with their neighbors, then the neighbors will nominate a classmate to share their ideas. Two to three student should be given a chance to share. The teacher will leave the answer open and revisit the question toward the end of class.

INSTRUCTION - Step-by-Step Procedures-Sequence - Discover/Explain – Direct Instruction, Modeling Expectations – “I Do”, Questioning/Encourages Higher Order Thinking, Grouping Strategies

The lecture begins with an explanation of the day’s objectives. They are:

  • Students will be able to identify what causes an object to become electrically charged and the effect that charge can have on another nearby object.
  • Students will be able to differentiate between an electric conductor and an electric insulator.

The lecture continues with an introduction the law of electric charges. This will be followed by a quick review of the previous day’s lesson on magnetic forces and fields in an effort to connect the new concept to previous knowledge. The lecture continues with the introduction of the terms friction, conduction and induction, and how they explain transfer of electric charges from one object to the next. A simulator developed by the University of Colorado at Boulder will help the students visualize how these processes work. The teacher will use an electroscope to demonstrate how electric charges can easily be detected on every day objects.

The lecture will continue with an explanation of static electricity and electric discharge. This subject is easy for students to relate, as they may experience during the colder months or when playing on a plastic slide at the playground. Their simple idea of static electricity will then be expanded as they are introduced to how lightning in formed during store using a short video clip from Discovery’s United Streaming.

The direct instruction portion of the class concludes with a comparison and contrast of insulators and conductors. Simple samples of insulated wire will be pass though the class so students can put their hands on an example.

The class will then transition into the vocabulary activity. Every student will be expected to record a definition, provide an example, and use each word in a sentence. This information should be recorded in their ISN. The class will be divided into groups of 3 - 5 students. It will be important to have a verbal/linguistic learner in each group in order to facilitate the formation of proper sentences. The teacher will need to provide an example of the finished work that is desired. For example:

Induction - the rearranging of electrons in an uncharged object without direct contact with a charged particle

It is similar to what happens when you try and stick magnets together with similar charges facing each other. One of the magnets willnaturally flip itself so the like charges are farther apart and the opposite charges can get together.

The negatively charged balloon was able to stick to the wall because induction caused the electrons to move away from the surface, leaving it with an opposing, positive charge.

GUIDED & INDEPENDENT PRACTICE – “We Do”-“You Do” - Encourage Higher Order Thinking & Problem Solving, Relevance

As previously stated, every student will be expected to record a definition, provide an example, and use each word in a sentence. This information should be recorded in their ISN. The class will be divided into groups of 3 - 5 students. It will be important to have a verbal/linguistic learner in each group in order to facilitate the formation of proper sentences. The students willanswer the following questions about each of the words or phases in your Interactive Science Notebook:

1. What is it?

2. What is it like? What are some examples?

3. Use it in a sentence that could be used as a fill in the blank question on a test.

This will be done with the following words/phrases:

Research Experience for Teachers

LESSON 2 – MOVING ELECTRONS, cont.

law of electric charges

induction

friction

conduction

electric field

electric force

electrical conductor

electrical insulator

Research Experience for Teachers

It can also been made into a game if class time allows. A member of each group/team reads one of the fill in the plank questions they have written. If someone on one of the other teams fills in the blank correctly, they receive a point, if the class is unsuccessful, then the group/team with the question gets a point.

CLOSURE - Reflection/Wrap-Up - Summarizing, Reminding, Reflecting, Restating, Connecting

The class will revisit the Bell Ringer the definitions for electric charge the students entered in theirISN’s.The students will be asked to evaluate the accuracy of their original answer usingtheir new understanding of electric charges, and decide if they picked the correct location for where they experience electric charges the most.

The studnets will also be asked to reason through why they should experience electric charges more during the winter. It may be dificult for them to correctly identify the fact that this phenonmina has to do with the amount of water in the air and that moist are is constantly allowing electrons to transfer from their body into the air. When the air is less moist during the winter, they will build up a charge and discharge it all at ounce when they touch a conductive surface.

Finally, a general servey will be taken to determine what percentage of the class had their explanations change?

CROSS-CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS

There is direct connection to language arts as the students will be required to properly structure their sentences during the Guided & Independent Practice.

NOTES

Students can be given the opportunity to make their own electroscope either as a homework assignment or as an optional extension or extra credit opportunity. Please see the attached .pdf file.