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AN INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRICAL CIRCUITS LESSON PLAN

Subject: Physics

Grade Level: 8th Grade

Lesson Duration: Approximately 20 Minutes

Objectives

After nishing this lesson students should be able to apply their understanding of
electricity to design a simple electrical circuit consisting of wires, a light, and a battery. In
addition, they should be able to explain the activity that goes on in an electrical circuit,
using ideas like electricity, electrons, a closed pathway, and the direction that electrons
ow in a circuit.
Materials Required:

Six (or more) tennis balls

One circuit kit for each group. The kit includes a battery, lightbulb, wires, and
wooden board with metal pegs. This lesson can also be performed with traditional
wires if the wooden board with metal pegs is unavailable.

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One positive sign and one negative sign printout, along with tape for sticking them to
the back of the hands of the person representing a battery. This will be more clear as
you read the lesson below. (Materials can be found at the end of this lesson.)

An Introduction to Electrical Circuits Worksheet. (The worksheet can be found at the

end of this lesson.)
Introduction - Approximately Three Minutes

The lesson begins with a short video clip of Bill Nye The Science Guy explaining the
history of electricity. The clip explains that in 1831 two scientists, by the name of
Faraday and Henry, gured out how to make electricity by performing a coil, magnet,
and compass experiment. At the end of the video, Bill Nye states that one day we will
gure out what is going on. The teacher will state that we are going to gure out what is
going on with electricity in wires today. After this brief video explaining the origin of
electricity students should be asked the following opening questions to begin the lesson:
What are ve devices that use electricity? What do you know about electricity? What is
needed to turn on a lightbulb? After discussing these questions as an entire class, the
introduction of this lesson comes to a close.

Approximate Dialogue, Actions, and PowerPoint Slides

PP (Power Point) SLIDE ONE

T (Teacher): Good evening everyone! The same thing that makes a toaster pop up,
makes a light turn on, and in turn makes an entire city light up - that is electricity.
Electricity can be carefully controlled using electrical circuits. I am really excited to
introduce everyone to electrical circuits today! Before we dive in I have a short video
from everyones favorite scientist, Bill Nye The Science Guy, who explains how
electricity was discovered.

PP SLIDE TWO

Action: Play the video.

T: Today is the day we are going to understand what is going on with the electricity in
wires and in turn circuits!

PP SLIDE THREE

T: Lets continue with some opening questions. What are ve devices that use
electricity?

PSR (Possible Student Response): Refrigerator, Microwave, Laptop, Lights, Washing

Machine, Cellphone, iPhone, iPad, Android Cellphone, Smartphone, and Cars.
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T: What do you know about electricity?

PSR: It powers electrical devices; It can kill you if your body comes into contact with too
much of it; It comes out of the wall at my house; It is the ow of electrons.

T: What is needed to turn on a lightbulb?

PSR: Electricity, a lightbulb, wires, a power source, and a switch.

Body of Lesson - Approximately 15 Minutes

Ask two student volunteers to come to the front of the classroom. Have one student
represent a battery and another student represent a lightbulb. While they are at the front
of the room the PowerPoint slide will display a picture of a lightbulb, battery, and tennis
balls to remind everyone what is being represented. While the tennis balls are not
introduced yet, placing them on this slide will allow the students to wonder why they are
there. The students will be asked what kind of information is on a battery. This is asked
in order to arrive at the answer of positive and negative symbols. The person
representing the battery will be given positive and negative symbol printouts to tape on
the outside of their hands to represent the positive and negative terminals of a battery.

Now that the two student volunteers are situated, the teacher should ask the class how
the battery can give energy to the light bulb in order to create light. Explain that
electricity is the ow of tiny negatively charged particles called electrons. They are not
only smaller than atoms, they are part of atoms. Explain that tennis balls will represent
the electrons of an atom. Have the battery give the lightbulb tennis balls, but only one at
a time and make sure that the person representing the lightbulb keeps all of the balls.
Once all of the tennis balls have been given to the lightbulb explain that the supply of
energy and in turn the electrons have been used up and no more light can be created.
Ask the students how we would be able to keep the lightbulb on for a longer period of
time. A student will likely mention the idea of having the lightbulb return the electrons
back to the battery. This will introduce the word circuit and in turn a closed pathway. The
students can now pass the tennis balls around in a circle between them. Ask the class
how they know what direction the electrons ow in a circuit. We know that electrons are
tiny negatively charged particles, so they travel from the negative terminal of a battery to
the positive terminal of a battery. Have the two students demonstrate how a proper
circuit functions by passing the tennis balls from the negative end of a battery to the
lightbulb back to the positive end of the battery. You can thank the two student
volunteers and ask them to sit back down. Reinforce the ideas that electrons ow
around a circuit (a closed pathway) from negative to positive using PowerPoint slide
ve.

This concludes the demonstration portion of this lesson. Now students will be able to
make their own real electrical circuit that turns on a lightbulb. The class can break up
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into three or four groups. It will be the students job as a group to use what they have
learned so far and the materials given to create an electrical circuit that turns on a single
lightbulb. They will be directed to connect the battery to the lightbulb using the wires and
small metal pegs on the wooden board. While they are working as a team to construct
the electrical circuit, they will be asked to answer the following questions on the
worksheet:

Does the lightbulb light up? Where does the electricity ow?

Yes. Electricity ows from the battery to the light back to the battery again.

In what order did you connect the parts? Does it matter what order you connect the
parts?

I connected the battery rst, wires second, and lightbulb third. The order that you
connect the parts does not matter.

What happens if one part of the circuit is disconnected? Why?

If the circuit is broken, the light turns off and electricity cases to ow through the
lightbulb. This is no longer considered a circuit because it is not a closed pathway.

Finally, they will be asked to draw a picture of a circuit that keeps a lightbulb turned on.
It should include and have labels for a battery, light, and wires. In addition, label the
positive and negative ends of the battery. Also, label the direction that the electrons are
owing through the circuit.

As the students are performing this group activity and answering the questions the
teacher should be walking around the room, group to group, checking to make sure that
they are on the right track.

Approximate Dialogue, Actions, and PowerPoint Slides

PP SLIDE FOUR

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T: Id like to continue with a little demonstration, but rst, what is some information that
can be found on a battery?

PSR: The brand of the battery; The amount of volts in a battery; An expiration date;
Positive and negative terminal symbols.

T: I need two volunteers to come to the front of the class. One of you is going to
represent a lightbulb and the other is going to represent a battery. We have negative
and positive symbol printouts that will be placed on the hands of the person
representing the battery.

Action: Place the small positive and negative symbol printouts on the back of the hands
of the person representing the battery.

T: So now that we have the battery labeled and ready to go, how can the battery give
energy to the lightbulb to create light?

PSR: The battery gives energy or electricity to the lightbulb through wires; The battery
provides energy to the lightbulb through the ow of electrons.

T: Electricity is the ow of tiny negatively charged particles called electrons. They are
not only smaller than atoms, they are part of atoms. These electrons store energy. We
will represent electrons with these six tennis balls. If the battery passes them directly to
the lightbulb, it will stay lit until we run out of tennis balls aka electrons.

Action: The person representing the battery will pass the tennis balls the to person
representing the lightbulb.

T: How can we keep the lightbulb on for a longer period of time?

PSR: We can keep the lightbulb on for a longer period of time by having more tennis
balls or electrons; We can keep the lightbulb on for a longer period of time by giving the
tennis balls or electrons back to the battery once they have been received by the
lightbulb.

T: In order to keep the light turned on the electrons must ow from the battery to the
lightbulb and back to the battery again. Therefore the electrons ow in a circuit or in
other words a closed pathway. Now, with a show of hands, how many of you think that
the electrons ow from negative to positive? How many of you think elections ow from
positive to negative? In fact, because electrons are negatively charged they ow from
negative to positive.

Actions: The two people pass the tennis balls around from negative to positive, like a
working electrical circuit.

T: Thank you for helping with the demonstration, you can go sit back down now.
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PP SLIDE FIVE

T: Lets recap what we just talked about. Remember that in the words of Pitbull,
electrons ow around a circuit (a closed pathway) from negative to positive.

Action: Play the Pitbull song clip that says From negative to positive, I just want yall to
know that.

T: While I do not endorse listening to Pitbulls music, he knows what is going on when it
comes to electrons in a circuit.

T: This concludes the demonstration portion of this lesson. Now everyone will be able to
make their own real electrical circuit. It will be their job as a group to use what they have
learned so far and the materials given to create an electrical circuit that turns on a single
lightbulb. You can nd the directions and questions that accompany this activity on
pages three and four of the worksheet. You can nd all the materials you need on your
tables! I will be roaming around the room as you work, good luck!
Closure - Approximately Two Minutes

In conclusion, the lesson can be wrapped up with asking the following four questions to
check for student understanding:

PP SLIDE SIX

T: Alright lets wrap up this lesson with a few questions. What is electricity?

PSR: Electricity is the ow of electrons.

T: What is a circuit?

PSR: A circuit is a complete pathway.

T: What direction do electrons ow in a circuit?

PSR: Electrons ow from negative to positive.

T: What happened when you disconnected part of the circuit? Why?

PSR: When the circuit was disconnected the lightbulb turned off because it was no
longer a complete pathway. Electrons were no longer able to provide energy to the
lightbulb.

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T: Alright, that concludes our lesson for the day. Thank you all so much for a great class!

If time permits show the last PowerPoint slide consisting of simple to complex real life
examples that function because of circuits. Also, mention that we will continue studying
circuits over the next few classes, specically investigating terms such as current,
voltage, series and parallel!
Assessment

Formative

The formative assessment will consist of questions three through six listed on
page three and four of the worksheet. I will observe how each group is answering these
questions while they are building the real electrical circuit. The teacher should be
especially interested in observing how they drew the diagram in question six. This will
be a good indicator whether or not the teacher is doing a good job achieving the
objectives of the lesson.

Summative

The summative assessment of this lesson will consist of ll in the blank, multiple
choice, and open ended questions. The questions will be derived from what was
covered on the worksheet of this lesson, with particular emphasis on pictures of circuits.
Students should be asked to perform things like, identifying which diagrams are proper
circuits, which are improper circuits, and why. In addition, they should be asked to draw
a diagram that represents a circuit that turns on a lightbulb.

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Positive and Negative Printouts

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Name___________________
Date____________________

Opening Questions

1. What are ve devices that use electricity?

2. What do you know about electricity?

3. What is needed to turn on a lightbulb?

FAST FACT BENJAMIN FRANKLIN DIDNT DISCOVER ELECTRICITY, BUT HE DID PROVE
THAT LIGHTING IS A FORM OF ELECTRICITY.
An Introduction to
Electrical Circuits
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Acting Out an Electrical Circuit

We are going to demonstrate in the from of the class how a circuit works
with two student volunteers:

One student will represent a battery.

Another student will represent a light.

Their arms and hands will represent the wires connecting the light and
battery.

4. Please ll in the blank:

The six tennis balls represent ________________.

Electrons ow around a circuit from _________________ to

_______________.

5. What is a circuit?

FAST FACT IF YOU HAD A LIGHT BULB ON THE MOON CONNECTED TO A SWITCH IN
YOUR BEDROOM, IT WOULD TAKE ONLY 1.26 SECONDS FOR THAT BULB TO LIGHT UP,
238,857 MILES AWAY.
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Creating a Real Electrical Circuit
As a group use what you have learned so far and the materials given to
create an electrical circuit that turns on a single lightbulb!

Directions and Questions:

1. Connect the battery to the lightbulb using the wires and small metal
pegs on the board. You can see how the parts connect to the metal
posts in the picture below.
2. Make observations as you connect the lightbulb, wires, and battery.
3. Does the lightbulb light up? Where does the electricity ow?

4. In what order did you connect the parts? Does it matter what order
you connect the parts?

FAST FACT IT TAKES 6 BILLION, BILLION ELECTRONS TO LIGHT A 100-WATT LIGHT BULB
FOR JUST 1 SECOND. THAT'S 6,000,000,000,000,000,000!
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5. What happens if one part of the circuit is disconnected? Why?

6. Draw a picture of a circuit that keeps a lightbulb turned on. It

should include and have labels for a battery, light, and wires. In
addition, label the positive and negative ends of the battery. Also,
label the direction that the electrons are owing through the
circuit.

FAST FACT IF YOU TRAVELED AS FAST AS ELECTRICITY, (ABOUT 300,000 KILOMETERS

= 186,411.358 MILES PER SECOND (THE SPEED OF LIGHT), YOU COULD GO AROUND
THE WORLD 8 TIMES IN THE TIME IT TAKES TO TURN ON A LIGHT SWITCH.