Series and Parallel Circuits Lesson Plan: Circuit Construction Kit DC

Submitted by: Elyse Zimmer, KIPP Houston Public Schools

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

In this lesson plan, adaptable for grades 6-12, students use an interactive simulation called Circuit Construction Kit: DC to construct series and parallel circuits and qualitatively explore their characteristics.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Grade: 04

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.1

Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Grade: 04

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3

Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

Grade: 04

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.9

Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Grade: 11-12

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.1

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts, attending to important distinctions the author makes and to any gaps or inconsistencies in the account.

Grade: 11-12

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.5

Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.

Grade: 08

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.8.5

Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest.

Grade: 04

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

Grade: 04

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.7

Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.

Grade: 04

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.8

Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; take notes and categorize information, and provide a list of sources.

Grade: K, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12

CCSS.Math.Practice.MP2

Mathematically proficient students make sense of quantities and their relationships in problem situations. They bring two complementary abilities to bear on problems involving quantitative relationships: the ability to decontextualize—to abstract a given situation and represent it symbolically and manipulate the representing symbols as if they have a life of their own, without necessarily attending to their referents—and the ability to contextualize, to pause as needed during the manipulation process in order to probe into the referents for the symbols involved. Quantitative reasoning entails habits of creating a coherent representation of the problem at hand; considering the units involved; attending to the meaning of quantities, not just how to compute them; and knowing and flexibly using different properties of operations and objects.

Lesson Plan Next Generation Science Standards Alignments

3-5-ETS1-1

Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.

3-5-ETS1-2

Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

3-5-ETS1-3

Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

3-PS2-2

Make observations and/or measurements of an object's motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

4-PS3-2

Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.

HS-PS3-5

Develop and use a model of two objects interacting through electric or magnetic fields to illustrate the forces between objects and the changes in energy of the objects due to the interaction.

MS-ETS1-1

Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.

MS-PS3-2

Develop a model to describe that when the arrangement of objects interacting at a distance changes, different amounts of potential energy are stored in the system.

Students will:

Construct series and parallel circuits using an online simulation.
Explore the characteristics of series and parallel circuits.

Materials:

Computers or other devices with internet access

Vocabulary:

light bulb, parallel, resistance, series

Preparation:

This lesson plan features an interactive simulation titled Circuit Construction Kit: DC, developed by our award-winning partner PhET through the University of Colorado Boulder. The simulation invites students to build circuits with batteries, light bulbs, resistors, and switches and explore the relationship between voltage, current, and resistance. Students will also experiment with conductors and insulators, and take measurements with laboratory equipment.

Review the Circuit Construction Kit: DC Simulation Overview to learn about the sim controls, model simplifications, and insights into student thinking.

Preview and play with the Circuit Construction Kit: DC sim to plan how you will adapt it to your students’ needs.

Build background knowledge or reinforce topics with these BrainPOP movies: Electric Circuits, Electricity, Current Electricity, and Batteries.

Lesson Procedure:

Play the BrainPOP movie Electric Circuits on a whiteboard or other display. Tell students that today they will use a simulation to build and explore series and parallel circuits.
Have students draw a diagram of a series and parallel circuit using a a table like this one:
Instruct students to open the Circuit Construction Kit: DC sim and familiarize themselves with the controls and features.
Now have students construct a simple circuit with a batteries, light bulb, and voltage sources. Have them draw their circuits in their notebooks.
Ask students what flows through the wires when there is a closed circuit. Have them identify what on the screen represents this?
Distribute the Series Circuit Table to students. Using the sim, have students construct simple series circuits, each with the number of light bulbs identified in the table. Remind them that in a series circuit, there is only one path for electricity to flow. Tell them to keep the battery source the same. Then have them draw the diagrams in their table and rank the relative brightness.
After students complete their tables, ask what conclusions they can draw about the brightness of the bulbs as more are added in the series. Ask why they think this happens.
Now distribute the Parallel Circuit Table to students and invite them to construct two parallel circuits --one with two light bulbs and another with three light bulbs. Remind them that in a parallel circuit, there are multiple pathways for electricity to flow. Again, they should keep the battery source the same. Have them draw the diagrams in their table and rank the relative brightness.
Ask students what they can conclude about the brightness of the bulbs as they add more bulbs in a parallel circuit. Why do they think this happens?
Conclude the lesson by asking the following questions:
- How does the parallel circuit compare to the series circuit?
- What happens when you break a parallel circuit (try it out in the sim if you need to)? Note: If you have access to the SnapThought tool, have students take a snapshot of the moment and describe it. How would this property be useful when designing circuits?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of series and parallel circuits?

Filed as: 3-5, 3-5-ETS1-1, 3-5-ETS1-2, 3-5-ETS1-3, 3-PS2-2, 4-PS3-2, 6-8, 9-12, BrainPOP, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.1