1. Electricity: Designing Circuits for 6 th Grade

2. Activity Guide Challenge: Discuss (5-10 minutes) Generate Ideas and Multiple Perspectives ( instructor choice ) Research and Revise (and Test Your Mettle) – Activity 1: Review Simple Circuits (5 minutes) – Activity 2: Introduce Schematics (5-10 minutes) – Activity 3: Build and Test Series and Parallel Circuits (15-20 minutes) – Activity 4: Test your mettle (10 minutes) Go Public – Revisit Challenge (5-10 minutes)

3. Teacher Tips This activity has many components/options. – You may not get to all of them during the allotted time. – Feel free to do the activities that you wish to do. Please return the materials to the drawers as you found them. It is VERY helpful to bundle the jumper cables in groups of 7. The most common reasons that buzzers and lights bulbs not working: – The clips on the jumper cables are not connected fully. – The red and black wires on the buzzer are connected opposite the way they need to be. – The bulb is not screwed in all the way.

4. Teacher Prep Assemble materials from following page. Set up 6 bins of materials at each of the tables for 3-4 students per table/station. Each bin will contain: – 2 D-cell batteries – 2 D-cell battery holders – 2 light bulb holders – 2 light bulbs – 1 buzzer – 3 knife switches – 7 jumper cables – 4 Pens or pencils – 4 copies of Electric Schematic Symbols – stored in the lower left filing drawer in the mechanical room

5. Materials for Circuits Materials : 12 D-cell batteries 12 D-cell battery holders 12 light bulbs 12 light bulb holders 18 knife switches 6 buzzers 42 jumper cables (wires with alligator clips on each end) Pens/pencils or marker 6 copies Schematics for Electric Circuits

6. Location of all materials Drawer 3a1: 10 buzzers 28 mechanical pencils 30 light bulb holders 40 light bulbs Drawer 3a3: 36 D cell batteries 20 D cell battery holders 42 jumper cables 20 knife switches

7. Worksheet

8. Challenge Design and build a doorbell with two switches. The doorbell will buzz if one switch is closed. It will make a bulb light up when the other switch is closed. – This is for a family with a hearing impaired grandparent and a sight-impaired daughter. You can use ONLY the following materials to design your doorbell. – 7 jumper cables – 2 D-cell batteries – 2 D-cell battery holders – 1 light bulb – 1 light bulb holder – 1 buzzer Draw your schematic first, then build the circuit. Label this schematic Doorbell.

9. Guiding Question How can we design electric circuits and draw them with schematics? – What is a parallel circuit? – What is a series circuit? – What is a schematic? What is electricity? – What is a closed circuit? – What is an open circuit?

10. Activity 1 – Review Simple Circuits (5 minutes)

11. Simple Circuit 1 – step 1 Insert 1 battery into 1 battery holder Make sure – ends are together and + ends are together.

12. Simple Circuit 1 – step 2 Insert 1 light bulb into 1 light bulb holder Make sure that metal base plate of light bulb holder touches the end of the light bulb. Do not force the light bulb in-it is fragile!

13. Simple Circuit 1 – step 3a Clip one jumper cable onto one end of battery holder on the metal tab.

14. Simple Circuit 1 – step 3b Clip other end of same jumper cable onto light bulb holder at the round clip.

15. Clip second jumper cable onto other end of battery holder on the metal tab. Simple Circuit 1 – step 4

16. Simple Circuit 1 – step 5 Create a closed circuit by clipping remaining end of 2 nd jumper cable onto light bulb holder Does your light bulb light? If it does, disconnect everything.

17. Trouble shoot (if light bulb does not light) Is battery charged? Is light bulb in place (touching base plate of light bulb holder)? Is light bulb burnt out? Are jumper cables attached to metal parts of light bulb holder and battery holder? Are jumper cables working correctly? Is your circuit closed?

18. Activity 2: Electrical Schematic Symbols ( 5-10 minutes)

19. Symbol for a light bulb

20. Symbol for battery

21. Symbol for switch - closed

22. Symbol for switch - open

23. Symbol for a buzzer The red wire gets connected to positive battery terminal; black wire to negative battery terminal. red black

24. Symbol for wire

25. Activity 3 – Series and Parallel Circuits (15-20 minutes) Series and parallel circuits – Series circuit – open and closed – Parallel circuit – open and closed Series circuit with a switch Series circuit with a buzzer Series circuit with a buzzer and light bulb

26. Following this schematic, create a series circuit

27. This is the circuit – 1 switch open

28. This is the circuit – closed

29. Following this schematic, create a parallel circuit

30. What happens when you open one switch?

31. Use the schematic below to create a series circuit with a switch

32. This is what it looks like when the circuit is closed

33. This is what it looks like when the circuit is open

34. Build this circuit with a buzzer Make sure the red wire is connected to positive and the black wire is connected to the negative battery terminal.

35. This is what it should look like

36. Draw a schematic for this circuit with a buzzer and lightbulb. Label it Schematic 1 on your worksheet

37. This is the schematic:

38. Activity 4 – Test your mettle (10 minutes) Schematics – Will the bulb light or not? Schematic of a parallel circuit – Three switches in this circuit – Trace circuits to determine if light bulb is lit with alternate switches open

39. Will the light bulb light? Why or why not?

40. Look at this schematic-trace the circuits

41. Predict what would happen when you open switch 1 - which light(s) are lit?

42. Predict what would happen when you open switch 2 - which light(s) are lit?

43. Predict what would happen when you open switch 3 - which light(s) are lit?

44. Build the circuit and test your predictions. If time permits.

45. Go Public – Revisit Challenge (5-10 minutes) Design and build a doorbell with two switches. The doorbell will buzz if one switch is closed. It will make a bulb light up when the other switch is closed. – This is for a family with a hearing impaired grandparent and a sight-impaired daughter. You can use ONLY the following materials to design your doorbell. – 7 jumper cables – 2 D-cell batteries – 2 D-cell battery holders – 1 light bulb – 1 light bulb holder – 1 buzzer Draw your schematic first, then build the circuit. Label this schematic Doorbell.

46. Possible Schematic for Solution

47. One possible solution for challenge + _

48. Vocabulary Electricity – the flow of electrons Electron – negatively charged particles in an atom. Circuit – a path along which electricity can pass. Usually includes a battery or some source of power and wire to transmit the electricity. Closed circuit – a circuit that allows the flow of electricity Open circuit – a circuit that does NOT allow the flow of electricity Schematic – a drawing of an electric circuit or circuits that uses symbols to represent components of the circuit. Symbol – simple drawing of an electrical component. Battery – a device that produces electricity from a chemical reaction