Students build a foundation of terminology and fundamental understanding to describe circuits, electricity, and power generation. 

Students build and explore various components of a circuit including supply, load, and switches. Students also analyze circuits with respect to resistance and conductivity.

In this lesson, students explain the basic principle of resistance, conductance, and voltage. Students also explore the original and transformed Ohm’s Law representations.  

Students explore Joul’s Law and the relationship of current and voltage to Wattage to understand how electricity is measured by a rate of production and consumption and how utility companies use this information to charge consumers.

Students are introduced to the basic functions and uses of a multimeter. Students will use a multimeter to measure resistance and battery charge while using appropriate measurement units and metric conversions. Students will also calculate Mean and Percent Change.

Students review Ohm’s and Joul’s Law formulas then are introduced to the “Power Triangle” relationships of the formulas. Students then apply their understanding to Series and Parallel Circuits.

Students review and apply their knowledge of series and parallel circuits to explore the flow of energy through the different circuits.

Students research Kirchoff and the principle of electric conservation he defined.  

Students use the Protoboards to light lamps and apply what they’ve learned to lead their teammates through a series of builds where they explore parallel and series circuits.

Students reference the Periodic Table of Elements to understand the basic chemistry behind batteries and other electrical reactions.

Students create a model battery using simple materials that will illustrate the chemical reactions within a battery to generate electric current.

Students explore how the flow of electrons affects ferrous and non-ferrous materials by creating a small electromagnet