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Teaching Electricity and Circuits Through Inquiry (elementary)
In this course, participants will gain a better understanding of electricity and circuits, including conducting and insulating materials, open and closed circuits, and series and parallel circuits.
Overview
In this course, participants will gain a better understanding of electricity and circuits, including conducting and insulating materials, open and closed circuits, and series and parallel circuits. Participants will learn numerous inquiry-based teaching strategies throughout the course. They will consider inquiry-based methods to introduce the content to students, and they will enhance their questioning techniques to help students make predictions about the content. Participants will also learn strategies for managing inquiry-based lessons in the classroom and tools for assessing students’ understanding of the content. Through completion of a final project, participants will demonstrate much of what they learned about the content and teaching methods described above.
Goals and Products
This course will enable participants to:
- Gain the skills, knowledge, and confidence they need to create an engaging classroom that encourages students to learn the fundamentals of electricity through inquiry
- Develop a greater understanding of inquiry-based teaching strategies and how they differ from standard hands-on activities
- Learn classroom management and safety strategies associated with teaching electricity to elementary students
- Become acquainted with assessment strategies and tools for evaluating students’ gains in inquiry-based lessons
Format and Requirements
This course is divided into six one-week sessions that include readings, an activity, and an online discussion among course participants. Each session is designed to take approximately two to four hours to complete.
The outline for the course is as follows:
| Session 1 | Fundamentals of Electricity, Circuits and Inquiry in the Elementary Science Classroom |
| Session 2 | Introducing Students to Electricity and Circuits |
| Session 3 | The Cost of Failure |
| Session 4 | Making Predictions and Asking Questions about Electricity |
| Session 5 | Designing and Building Circuits through Inquiry |
| Session 6 | Assessing Inquiry-based Lessons |
Prerequisites
This course is for teachers, technology specialists, curriculum specialists, professional development specialists, or other school personnel. Participants are expected to have regular access to computers. In addition, participants should be proficient with using email, browsing the Internet, and navigating to computer files.
Content and Technology Standards
- Develop an understanding that electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound, and magnetic effects
- Develop an understanding that electrical circuits require a complete loop through which an electrical current can pass
- Develop abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
In grades K-4 all students should:
- Develop an understanding that energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical
- Develop an understanding that electrical circuits provide a means for transferring electrical energy when heat, light, sound, and chemical changes are produced
In grades 5-8 all students should:
