Electrical Circuit
Electricity and Magnetism

Powered by electricity?

Classroom Activity for 5-11 Supporting Physics Teaching

What the Activity is for

In this activity children can come to see the pervasiveness of electrical circuits everywhere in their lived in world.

we suggest that children are encouraged to notice both battery powered devices and mains powered devices.

What to Prepare

  • A suitable frame for recording the devices

What Happens During this Activity

Introduce a few devices by means of examples, preferably having to hand and suggesting an approximate set of criteria by which you might decide whether they are or are not powered by electricity.

Children might then be asked simply to look in their own home or around the school for more devices and might also apply number of different categories to decide on the function of the device.

Alternatively you might settle collectively on a number of devices and then find instances of their use(perhaps also recording the duration of and frequency of their use during a week).

There are a number of different strategies that you could adopt to suggest how much we've come to rely on the existence of the electrical loop.

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