Ohio Standards Connections:
Physical Sciences

Grade five

Nature of Energy

3. Describe that electrical current in a circuit can produce thermal energy, light, sound and/or magnetic forces.

Lesson Summary:

Students will discover how an assigned electrical appliance works and identify the kinds of energy the electricity produces.

Estimated Duration:

One and a half weeks.

Commentary:

Pre-Assessment:

Pre-test that asks students to match electrical appliances with four types of energy potentially produced. Students will circle appropriate types of energy produced by each appliance pictures.

Scoring Guidelines:

Teacher judgment to assess which appliances students should investigate. Students will investigate an appliance that they incorrectly identified type of energy produced.

Post-Assessment:

Students produce a poster size schematic of an electrical appliance with text captions to describe type of energy produced.

Students give an oral presentation of their appliance schematic explaining how the electrical circuit generates the specified type of energy.

Students complete a graphic organizer listing the appliances and types of energy as they are presented by other students.

Pre-assessment activity is repeated as a posttest.

Scoring Guidelines:

Part One (15 points): Student identified all of the kinds of energy produced by the assigned appliance

Part Two (35 points): the diagram has labels (10 pts) the diagram has step-by-step written explanations (10 pts) the diagram has accurate information with definitions (10 pts.) the diagram is neat and organized (5 pts)

Part Three (10 Points) Oral Presentation given in clear speech and with eye contact

Instructional Procedures:

Pretest in classroom.

Introduce assignment, assign partners and appliance.

Allow students Internet access, assist as needed.

Web searches to locate schematic of assigned appliance (assignments made based on pre-assessment) http://www.howstuffworks.com

Class time for students to construct posters and prepare presentations

Oral presentations

Post-assessment

Differentiated Instructional Support

Appliance assignments are made on the basis of simplicity of devise and ability of student

Extension

Students who are interested will continue to browse the How Stuff Works Web page

Homework Options and Home Connections

None

Interdisciplinary Connections

Oral presentation skills and writing piece connect to Language Arts.

Materials and Resources:

For teachers	List of appliances
For students	Pre-test, rubric, Internet access, David Macauley’s How Things Work and other like resources, Poster board

Technology Connections

Web searches, word processing.

Research Connections

Identifying keywords.

Using indexes or search engines

General Tips

Some of the information on the How Stuff Works web page is easy to understand, some is more difficult. Screen appliance assignments carefully.

Attachments:

Pretest:

Student handout:

Electrical Energy Project

When an electrical circuit is closed, electrical energy is often converted into some other type of energy.

Using the web page www.howstuffworks.com find out how your assigned appliance works

Identify all the kinds of energy produced by the appliance.

On a poster board, make a diagram that explains how it works. Use labels, and step-by-step written explanations. Your poster needs to be self-explanatory. That is, any one who reads your poster should be able to learn how the appliance works.

You and your partner(s) must be prepared to present you poster, along with an oral explanation of how your appliance works.

Appliances:

Toaster

Coffee maker

Hair dryer

Electric motor

Microwave oven

Doorbell (buzzer)

Doorbell (bell)

Electric Screwdriver

Photocopy machine

Underground pet fence

Incandescent light bulb

Fluorescent light bulb

Tape recorder

Restaurant pager

Clothes dryer

Humidifier