Students Investigate Electric Circuits Through Construction and Illustration

Personal experience has shown that many students, having previously completed guided inquiry about electrical circuits in third grade, do not yet remember enough about conductors and insulators at the beginning of our unit for energy conservation at fourth grade. Until now our grade level curriculum has not included electricity activities, but adding them could prove helpful, since there is conceptual overlap between electrical flow and heat energy conservation, which is in the curriculum. These activities give students one more opportunity to better understand important concepts before the 5th grade state testing.

There are advantages to pairing simulation to the hands-on work. Use of a simulation allows students to test ideas about conductors without the whole class seeing what didn't work unless a student wants to share that information. The simulation includes a greater variety of objects not commonly available in the classroom. During the simulation frustration with damaged electrical equipment lessens. To me the simulation is the "picture that's better than 1000 words". Also, wouldn't it be great if students really did e-mail their illustrations home? Time spent with the simulation is a benefit to students.

Prior to these lessons, the teacher will need to download the simulation lab:
PC Windows
1. Go to ftp://ftp.nsta.org/VLabsWin/
2. Double click on the file Vlabs_Electricity_Setup.exe
3. When the prompt comes up, click "Save."
4. Choose the location where you want to save the file

MAC:
1. Go to ftp://ftp.nsta.org/VLabsMac/
2. Double click on the file Vlabs_Electricity_DL.bin
3. When the prompt comes up, click "Save."
4. Choose the location where you want to save the file

This lesson is written as the result of a summer class. It is subject to revision during the upcoming school year.