SETON HILL UNIVERSITY

Lesson Plan Template Abridged

(May be adapted based on instructors needs)

Pre-Planning
TOPIC
Name
Subject
Grade Level
Date/Duration
Standards/
anchors/
competencies
PA/Common
Core/Standards
(Plus any others
as may be
required)

DETAILS
Justin Crotti
Science
4th
120 minutes
4.1.4.A
Explain how living things are dependent upon other living and nonliving
things for survival.

Explain what happens to an organism when its food supply, access to

water, shelter or space (niche / habitat) is changed.

Identify similarities and differences between living organisms,

ranging from single-celled to multi-cellular organisms through the
use of microscopes, video, and other media.

3.2.4.B1 Explain how an objects change in motion can be observed and

measured.
3.2.4.B2 Identify types of energy and their ability to be stored and changed
from one form to another.
3.2.4.B3 Understand that objects that emit light often emit heat.
3.2.4.B4
Apply knowledge of basic electrical circuits to the design and construction of
simple direct current circuits.
Compare and contrast series and parallel circuits.
Demonstrate that magnets have poles that repel and attract each other.
3.2.4.B5
Demonstrate how vibrating objects make sound and sound can make things
vibrate.
Demonstrate how light can be reflected, refracted, or absorbed by an object.
3.2.4.B6
ENERGY

CK

Give examples of how energy can be transformed from one form to another.
3.2.4.B7

Formative
AND/OR
Summative
Assessment
Evidence

Objective
A-B-C-D
Bloom's Taxonomy
Webb's Depth of
Knowledge (DOK)

Distinguish between scientific fact and opinion.

Ask questions about objects, organisms, and events.

Understand that all scientific investigations involve asking and

answering questions and comparing the answer with what is already
known.

Plan and conduct a simple investigation and understand that different

questions require different kinds of investigations.

Use simple equipment (tools and other technologies) to gather data

and understand that this allows scientists to collect more information
than relying only on their senses to gather information.

Use data/evidence to construct explanations and understand that

scientists develop explanations based on their evidence and compare
them with their current scientific knowledge.

Communicate procedures and explanations giving priority to evidence

and understanding that scientists make their results public, describe
their investigations so they can be reproduced, and review and ask
questions about the work of other scientists.

Formal Evaluation
Students will complete an online performance
assessment by building and completing a simple circuit
and a parallel circuit successfully. The Web site Make an
Electric Circuit Online at
http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/elect/index.htm provides
instructions.
Informal Evaluation
Throughout the lesson students will be asked to
indicate thumbs up/down based on their understanding.
(Not provided in the state plan.)

Independently, the students will be able to accurately

explain the way to make a circuit with 100% accuracy.
With the necessary materials, students will be able to
correctly construct different circuits with 100%
accuracy.

Blooms
The second objective falls under creating since the
students are constructing a circuit.

The first objective falls under understanding since they

are to explain the circuit.

Step-by-Step Procedures
RATIONALE for the
CK
Learning Plan
DETAILS
Introduction
Activating Prior Knowledge
When the students enter the room, have on the board
the question Where does light come from?
Hook/Lead-In/Anticipatory Set
Students will be introduced to the concept of electricity
by watching a short video with a catchy tune that will
have them looking for similar examples of electricity
right in the classroom. (This is the activity that the plan
provides, but there is no link to the video.)
The teacher will have a radio plugged into the front of
the classroom. He will have it on, and then suddenly
unplug it. The students will notice that it continued to
play. He will ask why and then describe the batteries
and how there are two different types of power, but both
are capable of powering circuits. (This is an alternative
activity in the event the link cannot be found.)
Explicit
Big Idea Statement
Instructions
A technological world requires that humans develop capabilities to solve technological
Big Ideas
challenges and improve products for the way we live.
Each area of technology has a set of characteristics that separates it from others; however,
Essential
many areas overlap in order to meet human needs and wants.
Questions
Technological design is a creative process that anyone can do which may result in new
inventions and innovations.
Essential Questions
How do energy transformations explain that energy is neither created
nor destroyed?
Key Vocabulary
Electric Current: A flow or motions of electrons. Electric currents in
wires are caused by electrons moving along the wire.

Electric Circuit: A continuous pathway for an electric charge or

current to follow. A circuit requires some source of electrical power,
such as a battery or generator; a pathway for the electrons, such as
copper wire; and some appliance that uses electricity, like a light bulb.

Series Circuit: A simple circuit where the flow of electricity has only
one path.

Parallel Circuit: A circuit where the flow of electricity has more than
one path from the same power source.

Resistance: The ability of a material to reduce the flow of electric

current, or when a material opposes the flow of electrons; such as the

filament of a light bulb has enough resistance to cause some electrical

energy to be changed to radiant (light) and thermal (heat) energy.
Lesson Procedure
Must include
adaptations &
accommodations
for students with
special needs

Part 1: What Is Electricity and What Is Meant by Open and Closed

Circuits?

Accommodations,
Modifications

Turn on various electrical devices in the classroom (CD player, light, TV, etc.)
Ask students to give other examples of electricity they see in the classroom or
in their homes and how the devices are able to work. Once students give
energy as the answer, ask them to define it. Energy is defined as the ability
to do work or make a change.

Review what students know about electricity as a form of energy from

previous lessons (i.e., Where do we get it from? Is it kinetic energy? It is
potential, or stored, energy like batteries? How do we use it?).

If time allows, take a walk through the school and write down all the
appliances, devices, machines, etc. that use electricity.
Have students stand in a circle, close enough to pass items from one student to
the next but far enough apart that just their hands touch. Give each student a
ball (e.g., a tennis ball). Explain to students that they have to pass the balls
from one person to the next with each person only holding one ball at a time.
Give students time to complete the task.
Remove one student from the circle and ask students to pass the balls as
before. They should not be able to complete the task due to the open space.
Collect balls and have students remain in the circle.
Ask students to use different words to describe the two different scenarios.
Make a list on the board and be sure that open and closed appear on the
list.
Now tell students they are going to pretend their arms are the wires that carry
electricity. Have them touch palms to complete the circle.
Ask two students next to each other to stop touching each other and ask
students if the current is open or closed. Now have the two students each hold
one end of a metal strip. Now ask if the current is open or closed.
Explain that the metal strip is a conductor and as long as each student is
touching the metal switch, electricity can flow. If the switch is turned off, by
one student letting go of the metal strip, the current will stop or is open so that
electricity cannot continue to flow.
Wrap up the activity by explaining open and closed circuits and emphasizing
two things that are needed: a power source and a complete circuit. Explain to
students that wires in a circuit that connect objects (like switches, light bulbs,
buzzers, etc.) must start and end at the power source before they can work.
Thats why batteries have a top and bottom (+ and ) so they can carry the

charge all the way around.

Part 2: How Do I Light a Bulb?
Before starting this activity, ask students what they would purchase if they
were asked to go to the store and buy a pound of electricity. Ask them to think
for a minute and then share their answer with their partner. Then ask for
volunteers to write their answer on the board. If they answer light bulbs, ask
if that means light bulbs are electricity. Or is it to say that light bulbs work
using electricity? This is a good opportunity to correct misconceptions about
electricity and reinforce the concept that electricity is not matter. You cannot
hold it in your hand because it is a form of energy and does not have mass or
volume like matter.
Break students into pairs and give them a flashlight. Ask if any of them have
ever opened a flashlight before. Ask students to take the flashlights apart and
take the inside parts out (spring, battery, bulb). Caution them about the
breakable parts and to hold the flashlights over their desks in case these parts
fall out. Have students draw and label the parts of the flashlight in their
journals.
Without giving directions, ask students to light the bulb with only the parts that
they removed from the battery casing. To ensure success and lessen frustration,
the teacher can strip the ends of the wire with a wire stripper. Provide
assistance as needed. Ask students why they think removing the plastic coating
from the wire is important to solving the problem of lighting the bulb. Ask
students to experiment and raise their hands once they light the flashlight.
Instruct students to keep secret for the moment how they were able to light the
flashlight. Instead have students draw a picture of what they did in their
science journals while the other students complete the task.
Allow students to visit with other groups and try several ways to get the bulb
to light. Ask students to draw ways that work and ways that do not work. Now
ask students to use both batteries and the wire to light the bulb. It may be
tricky but they will notice the bulb is much brighter now. Have students
reassemble the flashlights and turn them on. Compare the brightness of the
bulb now with the brightness when they lit the bulb outside the flashlight with
the same two batteries. They should find them to be identical. Ask students to
write in their journal what they have discovered, or any rules they established
about getting a bulb to light.
Discuss as a class how to light a bulb and explain why it must be a closed
circuit. Explain when you flip on a light switch, you are actually closing or
completing the circuit. A circuit is the path that electricity flows. When you
flip the light switch off, you are opening the current and the light turns off
because the electrons cannot flow.

Ask students to show their drawings of their completed circuit. Are they alike
or different? To simplify drawing circuits, there are common symbols to
illustrate each part. Show students the symbols for drawing circuits. Hand out
the Electrical Symbols Chart (S-4-5-3_Electrical Symbols Chart.doc) to each
student. Using the symbols for batteries, wire, and a bulb, draw a simple
circuit based on what students just did to light the bulb.
Now pass out switches and bulb holders to each pair of students and have them
light the bulb using the switch. Take a moment and compare these materials to
the ones they used to light the bulb in the flashlight. Now draw the simple
circuit using these two new symbols. Ask a student to draw it on the board or
overhead projector. Have students check their work.
Wrap up the activity for the day by reviewing what is necessary for a light to
work in a house or classroom. Ask students to think about if and how the
simple circuits can handle more than one light at the same time.
Part 3: What is a Simple and a Parallel Circuit?
Review the activity from Part 2. Discuss with students what one must have to
light a bulb and a simple circuit. Ask them how many bulbs they were able to
light in the previous activity. Now challenge them to see how many bulbs they
can get to light using their knowledge of circuits from the previous activity..
Have students draw their setup once they light as many bulbs as they can. Who
could light the most bulbs at one time on the same circuit? After applauding
their efforts, ask them to draw the setup and label the parts using the new
symbols. Ask students how they should label the pathways connecting the
batteries, wires, and bulbs. When they say circuit, write it on the board and
define it as a complete pathway from one end of the battery through the wire
and bulbs to the other end of the battery and through the battery again. This
is that continuous pathway for the tiny charged particles called electrons
that flow through the wire and carry the electric current. Sketch together
the circuit students constructed and label the parts. Students should have the
same in their journals.
Example of a sketch with information:

The battery pushes electrons from the negative terminal (where there are many
electrons), through the switch, the light bulb, and the wire into the positive
terminal (where there are not many electrons). As electrons pass through the
wire and into the light bulb, a special kind of wire inside the bulb, called a
filament, lights the bulb.

The circuit has been broken. The light bulb is not lit. The flow of electrons has
stopped because there is a gap in the circuit, and the electrons no longer have a
closed path.
Discuss as a class how many bulbs were lit on one circuit. What did students
notice about the light bulbs? (The more you add, the less bright they become.)
Why is this? (Each bulb draws on the energy source and they become
dimmer and weaker.) There are two basic ways in which to connect more
than two objects that use electricity: series and parallel.
A series circuit has only one path for electrons to flow. Components are end to
end in a line forming a single path. Ask students if they have put lights on a
tree, and when they plugged in the lights, the lights didnt work. If one bulb
goes out, they all go out. This is one of the disadvantages of series circuits.
A parallel circuit may have multiple light bulbs because it has more than one
continuous path for electrons to flow. Each individual path is called a branch.
All components in parallel circuits connect between the same set of
electronically common parts, or in other words they are connected across each

others loads.
Have students work in pairs and try to build a parallel circuit. How many paths
and bulbs can they wire with one battery? Have students draw their parallel
circuits and demonstrate them to the class. Discuss the results and use the
Series and Parallel Circuits handout (S-4-5-3_ Series and Parallel Circuits.doc)
as a reference.
Series Circuits
A series circuit allows electrons to follow only one path. All of the electricity
follows path #1. The loads in a series circuit must share the available voltage.
In other words, each load in a series circuit will use up some portion of the
voltage, leaving less for the next load in the circuit. This means that the light,
heat, or sound given off by the device will be reduced.

Parallel Circuits
In parallel circuits, the electric current can follow more than one path to return
to the source, so it splits up among all the available paths. In the diagram,
some current follows path #1, while the remainder splits off from #1 and
follows path #2. Across all the paths in a parallel circuit the voltage is the
same, so each device will produce its full output.

Extension:
Have students divide into three groups to debate the advantages and
disadvantages of parallel versus series circuits. Group 1 (series circuits)
and Group 2 (parallel circuits) will take turns arguing their side to a
panel of objective students (Group 3). The third group will decide on a
winner and explain why each group was given first or second place.
Group 3 must relate their decision to the information learned
throughout the lesson.

Materials
(reading,
technology,
equipment,
supplies, etc.)

Adaptations/Accommodations for Students with Special Needs

For students with vision or motor impairments, a larger
gauge of wire, holder, and bulb will be provided.
tennis balls

metal strips

batteries

wire

wire stripper (optional)

light bulbs

light bulb holders

switches

flashlights (12) and 24 C batteries

copies of the Series and Parallel Circuits handout (S-4-5-3_ Series and
Parallel Circuits.doc)

Closure

Other(This area
is to be
determined by
instructor OR
student as
needed)
Supervising
teacher
comments and
signature
Teacher
Self-reflection
What
worked?
What would
you
change?

copies of the Electrical Symbols Chart (S-4-5-3_Electrical Symbols

Chart.doc)

Summary & Review of the Learning

Homework/Assignments
The students are to make a list at home of at least
twenty items that use electricity.