Things you'll need to decide on as you plan: Adding Elements to Circuits
Teaching Guidance for 11-14
Bringing together two sets of constraints
Focusing on the learners:
Distinguishing–eliciting–connecting. How to:
- relate your model of flow to actions in adding elements to a loop
- relate your model of flow to actions in adding loops
- connect toolkits for thinking with physical experiences with circuits
- not conflate analogies with toolkits that can make predictions
Teacher Tip: These are all related to findings about children's ideas from research. The teaching activities will provide some suggestions. So will colleagues, near and far.
Focusing on the physics:
Representing–noticing–recording. How to:
- keep emphasising that the charged particles are only set in motion by the battery
- separate charge flow and energy shifting
- exploit your chosen toolkit to make predictions about the effects of changes to circuits
- keep the focus on whole loops
- link the ideas of something being used up to the flattening of the battery
Teacher Tip: Connecting what is experienced with what is written and drawn is essential to making sense of the connections between the theoretical world of physics and the lived-in world of the children. Don't forget to exemplify this action.