“Can you light the light bulb?”
That’s the question Cottage Lane Elementary School teachers Jessica Sky and Stephanie Logozo asked their class as they were tasked with building a simple electrical circuit. Fourth graders are currently learning all about energy as part of their current science unit and are exploring energy transfers.
To build a simple circuit, students were split into groups and were given two batteries, three wires and one light bulb. Using the positive side and the negative side of the batteries and the wires, students worked together to figure out how they could conduct electricity.
After getting their light bulbs to shine, they tried out different circuits to see if it would power the bulb and discussed why certain configurations of the wires and the batteries worked and if there are other materials that they can try to use to conduct electricity. As fourth graders continue their energy unit, they will build more complex circuits and explore light and sound waves.