Things you'll need to decide on as you plan: Electrical Working in Loops

Bringing together two sets of constraints

Focusing on the learners:

Distinguishing–eliciting–connecting. How to:

• avoid cluttering up learners with inappropriate ideas
• avoid unhelpful experiences
• avoid drowning in a sea of algebra or arithmetic
• keeping ideas of power, energy, charge and current separate

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:

• avoid using the unhelpful term electrical energy
• introduce the idea of continuing (electrical) working whilst the loop is complete
• distinguish clearly between energy in stores (joule) and power in pathways (watt)
• consistently model series and parallel connections

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.