A Hands-on Approach to Teaching Electricity and Conductivity in 8th

Grade Science

Olivia Ritter 8th Grade Science

CURENT RETJuly 18, 2013

Knoxville, Tennessee

Unit Goals

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• Address 8th grade science standards related to

electricity and conductivity

• Increase students’ awareness and

understanding of renewable energy and the

electric grid

• Provide hands-on activities to enhance

knowledge of electricity and conductivity and

encourage interest in engineering

8th Grade Science Standards

• T/E.1 I can identify the tools and procedures needed to test the

design features of a prototype.

• T/E.2 I can use the engineering design process that incorporates

design constraints, model building, testing, evaluating, modifying,

and retesting

• Inq.2 I can use appropriate tools and techniques to gather,

organize, analyze, and interpret data.

• 12.1 I can explain the relationship between magnetism and

electricity.

• 9.1 I can identify atoms as the fundamental particle making up all of

matter.

• 9.9 I can describe the properties of the main groups of elements,

including conductivity.

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Student Misconceptions/Difficulties

• Organizing and analyzing data• Identifying steps of engineering design process

in actual situations or scenarios• How electricity is related to magnetism• What electricity is and how it is transmitted• Connection between atoms and electricity• What determines materials’ conductivity

www.schoolphysics.co.uk

Pre-assessment and Survey

• Determine what students already know

about electricity, conductivity, and solar

energy

• Identify misconceptions

• Survey to evaluate students’

understanding, confidence, attitude, and

interest in engineering

Unit Outline

• Electricity What is electricity? How is electricity transmitted?

• Conductivity Insulators, conductors, and semiconductors What determines materials’ conductivity? Parts of a circuit and how it works

• Solar energy (PV cells) How do solar panels work? What materials are solar cells made of? Make connections between atoms, electrons, electricity, conductivity, and

PV cells

• How do these concepts relate to engineering (specifically electrical engineering)?

Lectures/Discussions

Hands-on Activities

“Charge it!” Activity

• Students explore static electricity of various materials.

• Balloon and “bending water”

• Discuss what is happening at the atomic level (electrons).

• http://www.raftbayarea.org/readpdf?isid=32

Exploring Conductivity and Circuits

• Students experiment with circuits in groups using energy balls. Turn energy balls into a “conductivity meter” to test

various items

• More advanced activity from sciencelearn.org Test conductivity of a range of materials, including

liquids

“Squishy Circuits”

• 2 types of dough (conductive and insulating) http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/apthomas/Squ

ishyCircuits/ Does one type of dough conduct electricity

better than the other? Why? (give students list of ingredients in each dough)

Build an Electrical Quiz Game

• Practice with circuits and vocabulary related to electricity and conductivity

• Create quizzes and put concepts into students’ own words

• Identify materials used to make the game as insulators or conductors

Touchscreen Simulation

• More practice with circuits and engineering

• Use insulators and conductors to build a device that mimics a touchscreen

Activity from American Society for Engineering Education

Other Hands-on Activities

• Make a Solar Cell

• Solar Cars

• Solar Jitterbug (next slide)

• Wind Turbine Activity Groups investigate

different variables related to blade design

Solar Jitterbug

QuickTime™ and aH.264 decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

• Give students an assortment of materials to use.• Challenge: ask students to investigate ways to make their jitterbug

move in certain ways/directions.

• Give students an assortment of materials to use.• Challenge: ask students to investigate ways to make their jitterbug

move in certain ways/directions.

End of Unit Assessment and Survey

• Determine student growth by comparing student performance on pre- and post-assessment for this unit

• Compare pre- and post-surveys to observe changes in student understanding, confidence, attitude, and interest in engineering and science-related concepts Pre-survey at beginning of school year Post-survey at end of school year

Differentiating Learning

• Greater assortment of materials to choose from (including unnecessary or incompatible materials) and less guidance for advanced students

• More detailed, step-by-step instructions for less advanced students

• Additional practice exercises and learning materials for students having difficulty with concepts

Acknowledgements

A special thank you to Dr. Chen and Mr. Erin Wills of CURENT for all of their help during this RET program.

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Thank you for your attention.

Questions or comments?

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