My lesson plan on circuits: Part I. Best Laid Plans.

My lesson plan has changed dramatically since my cooperating teacher gave me 2 these two things to work with:

a little kit of circuits

a basic, boring explanation of how they work with a "3b" question

My cooperating teacher told me I could do something involving electricity and I initially thought I would be doing something about static electricity since it is very observable. Then she gave me this kit and when I started experimenting with the circuits in the kit, I was inspired to write my lesson including the pulse game (where students join hands and wait to feel their neighbor squeeze their hand as a signal to squeeze the hand of their other neighbor) as an introduction to the concept of a circuit.  

I was concerned when I looked on the NSDL Science Literacy Maps for electricity and magnetism, and found that appropriate content for K-2 is basic magnets and forces. However, I also found at Dr. Kruse's suggestion, that I could connect my electricity content to the idea of cycles and patterns...  

People can keep track of some things, seeing where they come from and where they go.      Found in the Forms of Energy map. (The National science digital library, 2007)

I wanted to consult the NSDL resources because they were a good way for me to connect my lesson to concepts that were appropriate for my students.  This draws on the developmental learning theory that states that students' developmental level/age affects their understandings of abstract concepts (Kruse, 2009). So I used the decontextualized approach of the game outlined below to introduce the concept that we can keep track of things and observe where they originate and where they go...

The pulse game: Ask students to stand in a circle and join hands.  Explain that I will squeeze the hand of one of the two people standing on my side.  If someone feels  a squeeze, they need to squeeze the hand of the person on the opposite side.   This is called a pulse.  Do this a few times until students get the hang of it.  As the pulse goes around, I will encourage students to observe and vocalize their observations.

Tell students that when the pulse reaches me, I am going to make a “beep”, but I’ll be the only one who beeps. Continue until  the pulse goes around the circle a few times.  

Then we will stop for a moment to talk.

I added the beep to introduce build a bridge that could lead us to the circuit.  That when the pulse travels, it is the cause of the beep.

Next, I focused my lesson on connecting the pulse game through strategic questioning that would allow students to think about the observable origin of the pulse and its effects on the circle of students.  When students are thinking and answering questions about what happened in the game, they are actively engaged, a component of the constructivist learning theory. 

What happened after I squeezed(name of the person next to me) hand?  
What do you think would happen to the pulse if we dropped hands?
Why do you think that?
What might happen if we stood in a line?

Based on the last question, what would happen if we dropped hands/stood in a line, the next step was to try this and compare our results.  This presented an opportunity to explore an idea that gets at some Nature of Science content such as the ideas that science is creative,  that scientists  come up with ideas and design tests.  Also that science is observational and experimental.

So we will try dropping hands followed by more questioning:

What was different about sending the pulse around the circle than in a line?
How did you know it was your turn to squeeze your neighbor’s hand?  
Why did or didn’t the pulse/squeeze stop?
What happened when we changed from a circle to a line?

What makes a circle different than a straight line?
Do other things in our world move around in circles?

Then I will explain how our pulse game and circuits are connected. 

Many things move in circles.  Electricity moves through wires in a shape like our circle.  We call that a circuit. A circuit is basically the same shape as our circle. It works in a similar way to when we sent the pulse around.   When electricity moves through the wires in a circuit, something happens.

I will introduce two objects from the kit. 

Hold up piece with battery pack and other circuit piece with light bulb. Hold them up in such a way as they are obvious half circles.

Ask students, what are these things?

I want you to think for a moment about how our pulse traveled, and what happened. How might these things behave like our circle?

Instead of telling the students what the things are, I want to gauge what their previous knowledge might be about each object.  This will let me know what I need to explain, if anything.

Next was the question that I hope will tie up the entire lesson in a bow.  I hope that everything leading up to this point would lead students to make a connection to the pulse game and these objects.  

How does this thing work?  

 And if students were not able to arrive at the answer on their own... 

What do you think will happen  when the wires touch the batteries?

I decided that I would be the one to try connecting the devices to make the light bulb work since there was only one battery pack.  From a classroom management perspective, I didn't want the students to lose focus on the task at hand and instead be concerned with who was going to get to experiment with the really cool science stuff.  I wanted to afford students with hands on time because then they can have the concrete experience of seeing the circuit work to build a more strong understanding.  However, since this is a Montessori classroom (and this could work in any other classroom if the teacher planned time for student to share and experiment with the device in a center or during free time) I had a hunch that the teacher would set the circuit out as  "work" that they would be able to handle during their open work time.  

Resources: 

The National science digital library. (2007). Nsdl science literacy maps. Retrieved from http://strandmaps.nsdl.org/ 

Kruse, J. (2009). Learning theories: Pillars of teacher decision-making. Iowa Science Teachers Journal, 36(2), 01-07. 

Kruse, J. (2012). Spring 2012-125 & 225 student created class notes. [Google Document]. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eQJcPelt81LVsC66_NeCNxMytX7sMEMzlcczo9scVTM/edit.