Author:
Sarah McGlothlin
Subject:
Scientific and Engineering Practices
Material Type:
Lesson Plan
Level:
Middle School
Tags:
  • Cell Phone
  • Electrons
  • Elements
  • Engineering
  • Giles
  • Neutron
  • Periodic Table
  • Proton
  • License:
    Creative Commons Attribution
    Language:
    English
    Media Formats:
    Downloadable docs

    Education Standards

    Cell Phone Electrons

    Cell Phone Electrons

    Overview

    Students break apart cell phones to determine what elements are located in cell phones.  They then use the elements to determine how the flow of electrons works in the cell phone.  Lastly, create designs using legos to practice engineering practices that would be common in engineering.

    Element of a Cell Phone Inquiry

    Electrons, Cell phone and Engineering Design Constraints

     

    Standards Addressed:

    Possible Science SOLs:

    6.4a. Atoms consist of particles, including electrons, protons, and neutrons.

    6.4b. Atoms of a particular element are alike but are different from atoms of other elements.

    6.4c. Elements may be represented by chemical symbols.

     

    NGSS:

    MS-PS1-3. Gather and make sense of information to describe that synthetic materials come from natural resources and impact society.

    MS-ETS1-1: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

     

    Objectives:

    1. Students will be able to name elements used in a cellular phone, their element type and their place in the periodic table.
    2. Students will be able to identify copper, lithium and silicon components in pieces of electronics and describe the property of these elements that makes them a crucial element in the manufacture of electronics.
    3. Students will be able to define constraints and explain the role of constraints in typical engineering design problem, such as designing a cell phone.

     

    Materials:

    • Cell phones for taking apart
    • Ping pong balls, cups and bowls
    • rope/string
    • Legos
    • Handouts (periodic table, pictures of individual elements (Lithium, silicon, copper), bridge building constraints, elements in a cell phone take away)
    • Pencils

     

    Overview of activity:

    Students will disassemble cell phones and explore the different elements that are used in a cell phone. Students will participate in an activity replicating the transfer of electrons from lithium battery through copper wire semiconductor to a silicon circuit chip to understand the movement of electrons as electricity. Constraints to design will be modeled through assigned constraints during a team building activity with legos where there are certain objectives. After this activity, constraints will be applied back to the design and building of cell phones.

     

     

     

     

    Breakdown of activity:

    1. Discussion of what a cell phone is used for in their lives. Identification of parts of a cell phone. Each student will draw a picture of a cellphone and work to label the parts. We will guide them to think about the parts on the inside of the phone… linking back to the flashlight project (eg. think about the parts inside the flashlight, do you think a cellphone may have similar parts? What are other things that may be needed to make a cell phone work that were not needed for the flashlight?) 10 Minutes

     

    1. In pairs, students will take apart a cell phone using a screwdriver. Facilitators will prompt students to consider what elements, as depicted in the periodic table, are present in a cell phone and can be identified visually. Display periodic table with images related to the elements as a guide for them to think about what elements are in the cellphone (using the smart board or overhead projector). 12 Minutes

     

    1. Students will identify elements in the cell phone (e.g. copper and gold) and circle/identify in some way those elements on a periodic table - ideally this is on periodic table worksheets they have already completed in class prior to our visit. 3 Minutes

     

    1. Facilitators will lead a discussion about three key elements found in the phone (Li, Cu and Si). Plus following activities. 10 minutes
    1. A large group activity to share concept of atoms in the universe all having electrons, students will be asked to stand up and touch something that is made up of atoms with electrons.
    2. Students will be assigned to these three elements for the electron activity.
    3. Clean up cell phone - put back together if possible

     

    1. Students will be given a copy of whatever element they are assigned and will be prompted to identify the protons, neutrons and electrons. Valence electrons will be defined and they will be asked to identify their number of valence electrons. Students will review location in the Periodic Table of these elements and share ideas about why these elements are best suited for these roles in the phone (metal, nonmetal groups) 5 minutes

     

    1. Students group by element to receive their materials and instructions for how their element will function in the model of electron movement in a cell phone. As a full class we will model the movement of electrons from battery (Li) to circuit board (silicon) through conductor (copper). A string/twine piece to complete the circuit between silicon and lithium will be added to the group. A short discussion about the purpose of that will be facilitated. Then, they will divide into groups of 5 (1 Li, 3 Cu and 1 Si) to model the movement of electrons in a cell phone with differing number of electrons to start to better understand how movement changes when lithium is depleted of the number of valence electrons. 20 minutes
    1. Lithium modellers will be instructed to pass electrons (ping pong balls) to copper when an empty cup is presented. They pass quickly when their bowl is full, and slow down as their bowl is depleted.
    2. Copper modellers will be instructed to pass their electrons individually from one cup to the next as their partner copper presents an empty cup.
    3. Silicon modellers will be instructed to receive electrons from Copper and to fill corresponding cups of cell phone activity per required amount of electrons/electricity to operate the phone.
    4. Before the activity starts students will be asked what they represent in the activity (atom), what the ping pong balls represent (valence electrons) and what we are representing as a whole class (flow of electricity).

     

    1. Facilitators direct students to begin thinking about the engineering and design of a cell phone. Now that we have an idea of the components/parts of the cellphone and what some of the key elements in it that make it work, how do we think the people who created these phones came up with these ideas? What were the hurdles/constraints to how they made these decisions? 3 minutes

     

    1. Students will be assigned to teams of 4 for engineering constraint exercise. Facilitators will define design and building constraints. Each group will be given a specific constraint for the lego build activity and each group will attempt the activity with their various constraints. Define constraints together. 12 minutes

     

    1. Facilitator will lead a discussion of the impact of various constraints on the building of the lego object. A link will be made from the groups given constraint to possible real-life constraints. For example, if a group was told that they have to go across the room to receive their supplies this could be related to the process of lead time when ordering supplies. 7 minutes

     

    1. Students will brainstorm in groups the constraints they had in building the structure that may apply to the design or building of a cell phone. They will also consider additional cell phone design/building constraints. The group will be asked to “consider what types of things you or your family members look for in a cell phone and how that might impact the design of a cell phone.” These ideas will be shared out by small groups writing their ideas/thoughts on post-it notes and posting at the front of the class on the board. 7 minutes

     

    1. Challenge - what are the elements you would expect to find in a bridge (the object built with legos). Where are these on the Periodic Table. Why did you choose these? 10 minutes