EdTPA Indirect Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Building Electrical Circuits

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Central Focus/Big Idea: Electricity
Building circuits to understand how electricity works
Subject of the lesson: Circuits are pathways of wires that connect a device to a power source to make the
device work.
Grade Level: 4
NC Essential Standard(s):
4.P.1.2 Explain how electrically charged objects push or pull on other electrically charged objects and
produce motion.
Next Generation Science Standard(s):
4-PS3-2.

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

21st Century Skills: Using the 21st Century Skills Map-Science available on Moodle, choose the two or
three skills that apply to your lesson. Explain why you chose these.
Collaboration: SW work in pairs to share their designs and ideas about building a circuit (See Explore
and Elaborate).
Creativity: SW show their creativity during the process of designing circuits (See Explore and
Elaborate)
Academic Language Demand

Language Function: In the table below highlight the one most important language function for
your lesson. Explain why you chose this.
SW explain their reasoning when building a circuit and describe how a circuit works in their
Science Journals.

Analyze
Interpret

Argue
Predict

Categorize
Question

Compare/contrast
Retell

Describe
Summarize

Explain

Scientific Vocabulary: What are the key scientific terms that your students will learn through this
lesson?

Circuit, Electrons, Device, Power Source, Electricity

Instructional Objective: Students will learn about electricity and how circuits work by building a circuit
and drawing and labeling their own circuit diagram in their Science Journals.

Prior Knowledge (student): Students should have some background knowledge about the word
electricity, this can be found as well as some facts and ideas developed from the Bill Nye: the Science
Guy video.
Content Knowledge (teacher): The teacher should be knowledgeable about how a circuit works. This
means that she should know that electrons need to travel in a circle to get from the power source to the
device that is going to start working, and back through the power source. The teacher should know that
when a circuit is broken, the device is no longer working because there are no longer any electrons
flowing to it.
Accommodations for special needs (individual and/or small group):
The student who has special needs will be working with another pair that will guide the student through
the experiment. The student will then be working with a specialist to draw and label the circuit diagram.
The specialist will also help the student during the Evaluate.
Materials and Technology requirements:
There will be 12 pairs total. Therefore:
1. Class Circuit Kit (the teacher provides all the materials needed for the making of the circuit)
a) Lightbulbs (at least 18 total, 1 to 2 per pair)
b) Large Batteries (at least 30 total, 2 to 3 per pair)
c) Small Batteries (at least 12 total, 1 per pair)
d) Wires (at least 48 total, 2 to 4 per pair)
2. Science Journals (each student has one)
3. Smart Board
Total Estimated Time: 55 minutes
Source of lesson: Clinical Teacher: Ms. McAuliffe,
Other sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js7Q-r7G9ug (Electrical Circuits YouTube video)
http://discoverykids.com/articles/how-do-electric-circuits-work/
Safety considerations: It is important to go over safety rules with the students before starting this lesson
because the wires can be poked in a students eye, a battery could be thrown as flying projectile, or a
lightbulb can be stepped on or dropped, creating glass shards. Remind students that scientists do not
participate in any horseplay.

Content and Strategies (Procedure)

Engage:
TW point to the ceiling at the lights and ask, What do you think is making the lights work and why?

TW turn half of the lights off and ask, What did I just do? What do you think is making the lights turn
off and why? What ideas from the Bill Nye: the Science Guy video do you think connect to this and
why?

Explore:
SW be working in pairs. Each pair will receive a basket with circuit materials.
TW ask students, What materials do you see in the basket? TW go through all the materials in the
basket.
TW ask, Why are these materials in one basket? What do you think you could make with these
materials?
TW ask the students to investigate with the materials in the basket to make the light bulb turn on.
TW observe the students as they are working and ask, How do you plan to make the light bulb turn on?
What do you think is the source of the light bulb turning on? Do you think you can make the light bulb
shine brighter and how? Why do you think we need wires to connect the battery to the light bulb? Does it
matter what sides of the battery are connected by the wires?
TW ask pairs who have completed building their circuit to help pairs who are struggling.

Explanation:
You have just built an electrical circuit. A circuit is like a pathway made out of wires that electrons can
flow through. How many pathways (or wires) did we need to make the circuit and why? A battery or other
power source gives enough force to make the electrons move through the wires. When the electrons get to
a device, such as a lightbulb (or computer, television, microwave, etc.) they give the power to make the
device work. When you were building the circuit, I noticed that some of you started with one battery and
then added a second one. Why did you do that? Did anybody try using the small battery? What happened?
Was the fainter or was it the same? Why do you think that was the case? The word circuit sounds a lot
like a circle, and it needs to be circular in order to work. The wires have to go from the power source
(which is the battery in our case), to the device (which is the lightbulb), and back again so the electrons
can go out and come back.
TW show the Electrical Circuits video on the Smart Board (if technology fails, this video will not be
shown because it is an additional yet helpful review of the concept).
Elaborate:
Do you think you can design a circuit that would light up two or three light bulbs? How do you think the
lightbulbs in the classroom light up separately? How does turning the switch make the lights turn on?
SW design more complex circuits with their partners.
TW ask, What is the goal for the circuit you are building? What will you change in your new design to
make the two light bulbs work? How do you think the electrons are traveling in your new circuit?

SW draw a circuit diagram in their science notebooks and label the different parts. They can draw the
simple or complex circuit that they have made.

Evaluate:
Formal Assessment:
SW respond in their Science Journals using sentence frames:

How did you create a circuit? I created a circuit by ____________,

Where did the electricity run from? Where did the electricity run to? The electricity ran from
____________ to the ____________.
What did the electricity cause? The electricity caused ______________.

To be complete after the lesson is taught as appropriate

Assessment Results of all objectives/skills: Students did really well on the assessment. Their diagrams
represented their own unique circuits and most students were able to finish labeling and explaining the
process in their circuit. The questions I used to check for their under
Reflection on lesson: I think the lesson went really well. The students grasped the concept during the
Explore portion of the lesson and got the chance to experiment with many different ways of building their
own unique circuits. The only thing I would have done differently is repeat my expectations for them in
the Explain part of the lesson because they were having trouble listening to the material while working on
their own circuits. See full Reflection.
CT signature/confirmation: _________________________________ Date: ____11/3/15_______