Teacher of the Lesson: Kelly Pelak
Grade Level: 5
Estimated Time: 60 minutes

OBJECTIVES:

• Students will investigate with batteries, bulbs, and wires in order to develop a deeper understanding of how current electricity works in a simple circuit.
• Given balloons and a wool cloth, students will investigate static electricity and the properties of positive and negative electrons.

MATERIALS:

• batteries (size D)-make sure to test ahead of time
• small flashlight bulbs-make sure to test ahead of time
• wire
• plastic zip lock bags
• chalk
• chalkboard
• worksheets
• pencils
• balloons
• square pieces of wool cloth
• string

PROCEDURES:

Introduction

1. Set up two centers in the room before the students arrive. The center for static electricity should be equipped with worksheets, balloons, square pieces of wool cloth, and string. The center for current electricity should be equipped with zip-lock bags (each bag should include batteries, bulbs, and wires), and worksheets.
2. When the children arrive in the room, have them sit at their desks and briefly review the lesson from the previous day on current and static electricity. Define each of the terms again to refresh their memory. Static electricity is a type of electricity produced when objects gain or lose negative charges. Current electricity is the type of electricity produced when there is a flow of negative charges or electrons. Write these and other descriptions of each type of electricity on the board. Have the students volunteer 3 or 4 examples for each. Explain that todayÕs lesson will continue what they did yesterday and provide them with the opportunity to experiment and investigate both current and static electricity on their own.
3. Explain that students are to work in pairs for this assignment and they must choose someone that they have not worked with in the past week. Before breaking up the group to work on this assignment, model the activities at each center for the entire group. Discuss the expectations for working in a group and remind them of their responsibilities to the whole class. They must remember to keep their voices down, respect others, use put-me-ups not put-me-downs, follow directions, and stay on task. They will be given 20 minutes to complete each center. The teacher will let the students know when it is time to switch centers. It doesn't matter which center they start with, but they must complete both by the end of the 40 minute period. (If there are no time constraints, this amount of time can be adjusted.)
4. Allow pairs to match up and choose a center. Make sure that the centers are somewhat balanced so there are enough materials for everyone.

Sequence of Instruction

1. The groups at the Static Center will be working with their partners to develop a better understanding of positive and negative electrons and how they react to one another in different situations. First the groups will pick up a worksheet and follow the directions step by step. The first task is to read a brief introduction about static electricity and the structure of an atom. Then the students will predict what will happen when they rub a balloon with a wool cloth. What do you think will happen when you hold the cloth near the balloon you rubbed? What do you think they will do?
   Then, students at this center will proceed with the experiment and record the results. They will also be responsible for answering the discussion questions for each of the tasks. The second task involves charging both balloons with the cloth, tying them to a piece of string, and noting how the two charged balloons react to one another.
   At the end of the investigation, students will be responsible for searching for the scientific phenomenon for the results that they obtained from these experiments. (Students will be allowed to refer to any resources in the room such as books, textbooks, and trade books to explain the phenomenon that they witnessed.) They will be strongly encouraged to develop a scientific explanation for their results.
2. Call time at 20 minutes and encourage students to finish their work and move to the next center.
3. At the Current Center, students will spend some time "playing" with the materials in their zip-lock bags without any instruction or guidance on the part of the teacher. They will be encouraged to come up with as many ways possible to make the materials they have light the bulb. Once they have found at least two different ways to light the bulbs, students will draw diagrams of the circuits that worked and draw conclusions from the ones that did not. What did you learn about circuits? What has to happen in order for your circuit to work?
   Once they have answered these questions, they will take what they learned and make predictions about several diagrams of simple circuits. They will predict which ones will work and which will not. Once they have done this, they will test their predictions and construct each of the circuits to see if they work. When they have finished, they will answer more questions and develop a final conclusion for their work on circuits modifying their previous conclusions if needed.

Closure

1. At the end of 40 minutes, call time and ask students to clean up their workspace and turn in their written work.
2. Due to time constraints, a discussion of their findings will probably be postponed until the next day. When the discussion occurs, present terms such as atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, currents, repel, attract, circuits (open and closed). Reflect and summarize what the children discovered at the centers and use their experiences to define each of the terms. Guide students towards the scientific explanation for each phenomena.

EVIDENCE OF STUDENTS ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES:

1. Were students able to develop meaningful conclusions about the parameters of a working simple circuit through their experiments with bulbs, batteries, and wires? Was their understanding evident in their discussion question answers and written conclusions about circuits? Also, the teacher will be able to check that the work was done by looking at their prediction sheets. Did they go back and test their predictions?
2. Were students able to use the results from their experiments to develop a better understanding of the scientific explanation of for static electricity? Could they use a variety of resources in the classroom to develop the scientific explanation for static electricity?

ADAPTATIONS:

1. For those students who may struggle with the current electricity experiments, give them an example of a working simple circuit first to get them started.
2. Reward the groups who come up with more than two ways to create a simple circuit on their own. Encourage teamwork.

REFLECTIONS:

1. How did I do?
2. Was the activity fruitful?
3. Did the students develop a better understanding for the scientific explanation of each?
4. How did the students work in pairs? Were they efficient workers?