Forums

Many of the students could not wait to utilize the material to create a circuit were electricity flowed to create light. To help maximize time and allow them to focus on mostly the hypothesis and the experiment it's self, I helped pose the question and provided sentence frames for the hypothesis. Once the students were given the opportunity to write the hypothesis we reviewed the materials and procedure. The students were excited to start the experiment. Before they were allowed to start the experiment, I shared with the students the expectation of what the students needed to record for the data. I wanted them to record the materials they used, a diagram with labels, what didn't work and what did they need to adjust in order for it to work.

Amy, my middle school students were fascinated as well. I love Arlene’s idea of doing a motor. The challenge I put before my students was to figure out a way to put a lot of batteries, (anywhere from 10 to 60), in either series or parallel , without holders, to make a small string of 6 to 20 Christmas lights work. It was fun to watch them problem solve how to get the batteries to stay in place and then find a way to hook the lights together so they will light up. They love using a digital voltage meter to determine the amount of energy flowing through their “creation.” It’s always a puzzling conversation when they calculate the number of batteries and the fact all batteries used are 1.5 volts and then match the number with the voltage meter reading and find out the numbers do not match. All of a sudden energy and energy loss becomes a whole new area of interest to them.