An Introduction to Electricity and Magnetism
Fifth grade Physics lesson
Liaison:
Date:
Group Members: Alexander Mastroianni and Joseph Negron
School: Harrington
Teacher: Ms. Jill Abbey
Materials:
Grouping the students into five groups of three each group possesses:
1 battery and battery holder
1 bulb and bulb socket
1 slide switch
3 pieces of #22 coated hook-up wire (20cm)
1 piece of #22 coated hook-up wire (80cm)
1 magnetic compass
Procedure:
In this experiment, students will be able to express their ideas about electricity, observe several characteristics of an electric current by experimenting with one, and learn by experimentation that an electric current causes magnetism. In essence, the students complete four tasks: 1) Building a circuit that will light a bulb 2) Incorporating a switch into their circuit to control the electricity that lights the bulb 3) Building a "short circuit" by replacing the bulb with a wire and investigating the effect on a magnetic compass of electricity flowing through the wire 4) Using the magnetic compass to detect whether current is flowing through the other wires of the circuit. If time permits, we will either continue our lesson from last week on constructing a magnetic compass or challenge the students to create their own various circuit arrangements. At the end of class, we will introduce next week's activity, the construction of electromagnets.
Evaluation:
While the students are experimenting with the circuits, we will be encouraging them to find out things for themselves and to think about what they are doing and how they think electricity and magnetism work. In addition, we will ask them questions such as "Is electricity flowing through the current when the switch is off?" and "What happens to the compass needle when the switch is turned on?"
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