Building a Circuit

Our unit of study on electricity is off to a great start. Mr. Townsend, an electrician for Puget Sound Electric, has already visited our classroom for the second hour long session. We will have four sessions this month with Mr. Townsend. The first session focused on thinking about electricity and its properties, what electricity can do, and safety. In our second session with Mr. Townsend the students built their own circuits. They learned how to use a battery holder, a light bulb socket, and a Fahnestock clip. Students also learned a troubleshooting technique to check their circuits. This technique gives students practice in isolating the elements of a circuit and figuring out, by a process of elimination, which part is malfunctioning. Once students had gained some understanding of circuits and how they work, we discovered that conductors are materials that allow electricity to pass through them. We also learned that insulators are materials through which electricity does not flow---at least not in detectable amounts. To determine if a material (paper clip, golf tee, brass screw, chalk, marble, aluminum nail, pipe cleaner, wire nail) is a conductor or an insulator, students placed each material between the two wires of the circuit tester. Science is Super!