Room12rocks: Science - simple electrical circuits

Welcome to the Electrical Circuits page.

Here you can find out about what we got up to in the second part of our science inquiry.

Now that we had learned about the difference between a science demonstration and a science experiment, and we had the knowledge and skills to follow the scientific process and carry out a fair test, it was time to apply this to electrical circuits.

We combined inquiry and literacy time so that we read about electricity and making electrical circuits, then went over to the science room and put this knowledge into practice.

For our first 'hands on' session we were given some items needed to make an electrical circuit and a guide card.

Here we are in action, budding electrical engineers.

We learned about what is needed to make a complete circuit. You need a battery (or cell), wires and a bulb ( or a lamp). We learned that electricity is a form of energy and that this electrical energy is stored in the battery.
Electrical energy travels from a negative to a positive, so we had to be careful how we attached our wires. In order for the electrical energy to flow around the circuit, it had to be a complete circuit (or closed circuit). We learned that you can use a switch to make the circuit open or closed.

We experimented with different types and number of batteries. We soon realised that you can only use so many batteries before you blow up a bulb. That is how we learned about voltage. The bulbs we used were rated at 3.5v. Each battery was rated at 1.5v so it was ok to use 2-3 batteries in our circuit. However, being inquisitive we decided to see how bright we could make the bulb glow. So we added more batteries. The most that we could connect to our circuit was 4, then the bulb blew.

In fact the girls managed to blow 6 bulbs; the boys only 2.
A win to the girls.

Some pics

Parallel and series circuits

Information to be added

Insulators and conductors

Information to be added

Celebration of Learning

On the Last Thursday of school we had our celebration of learning. Students from room 5 and 21 came to our room so that we could share our learning. We spoke about what we had learned in our science inquiry as well as demonstrating EVERYTHING we had done.

After that we visited room 5 and then room 21 to see what they had been learning.

In the afternoon we threw open the doors to the school community. We invited them to come as share our learning. Everyone had a job to do and it was great to see so many parents and caregivers visit room 12.

We even managed to successfully demonstrate the exploding lunch bag a few times... until we ran out of baking soda.

We were having such fun that we actually forgot to take photos. Never mind, there a few below that were taken when room 5 and 21 visited. We hope you enjoy them.