How Electric Current Produces Energy – Grade Five
(note: now Grade 4)
Ohio Standards
Connection:
Physical Sciences
Benchmark E
Trace how electrical
energy flows through a
simple electric circuit and
describe how the electrical
energy can produce
thermal energy, light,
sound and magnetic forces.
Indicator 3
Describe that electrical
current in a circuit can
produce thermal energy,
light, sound and/or
magnetic forces.
Indicator 4
Trace how electrical
current travels by creating
a simple electric circuit
that will light a bulb.
Lesson Summary:
In this lesson, the student will learn how electric current in
a circuit can produce thermal energy, light, sound and
magnetic forces. To accomplish this, students will make a
game board and test it with a complete circuit using a light
bulb and a buzzer. They will observe and discuss the types
of energy changes taking place in a hotplate, hair dryer,
toaster and a doorbell. Students will also make an
electromagnet to learn how electric current produces
forces. Throughout the lesson students will be making
connections with examples from their daily lives. Students
will demonstrate their learning with products, journal
writings, illustrations and explanations.
Estimated Duration: Three hours and 20 minutes
Commentary:
In their daily lives, students have many experiences with
light, sound, heat and electricity. It is important to build on
personal experiences to help students develop an
understanding of how electric current can change into light,
thermal, sound energy and magnetic force. Students will be
presented many opportunities to explore and test various
types of circuits. In order to describe how electricity can
produce different types of energy, students must understand
how energy flows through a simple electric circuit. It is
important to review safety precautions with electricity at the
beginning of each day’s lesson.
Pre-Assessment:
Ask students what a doorbell, a light bulb, and electric
stove have in common? (electricity)
If many students do not give electricity as the answer,
guide the class discussion to help students make this
connection.
Write the following questions on the overhead/chart
paper/ board.
1. How does electricity make a doorbell work?
2. How does electricity make a light bulb light up?
3. How does an electric stove produce heat?
4. How does electricity create magnetic force?
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How Electric Current Produces Energy – Grade Five
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Have students discuss these questions in their groups and share their responses with the
class.
sk them to write about the questions in their science journals. It is important to see
what students understand about light, heat, electricity and sound. Based on their
experiences, students will have a variety of responses.
Scoring Guidelines:
Use the following scoring guide to assess students’ prior knowledge about electricity as
evident in their journal writing.
Heat
(Y or N)
Light
(Y or N)
Sound
(Y or N)
Magnetic Force
(Y or N)
Student recognizes that
electricity produces:
Student can describe
how electricity
produces:
Post-Assessment:
Instructional Tip: Choose one of the two post- assessments to administer.
Post-Assessment Number One:
1. Have students illustrate a physical system or systems (toy, game, electronic device,
appliance, etc.) showing flow of electrical energy through a simple electrical circuit.
Require them to label the illustration/illustrations with appropriate forms of energy.
Illustrations must show thermal, light, sound energy, and magnetic force.
2. Have students explain in writing how electrical energy is flowing through the system.
Explain how this electrical energy can produce thermal energy, light energy, sound
energy and magnetic force.
Scoring Guidelines:
See Attachment A, Game Board Instructions for post-assessment scoring rubric.
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Post-Assessment Number Two:
Instruct students to perform two of the following tasks to show their understanding about
how electric current in a circuit can produce light, thermal, sound and magnetic forces.
1. Give each student a game board constructed by other classmates. Ask students to
construct and use a complete circuit to match questions with correct answers. Have
students explain why the light bulb lights up when a correct question and answer are
chosen. They will also explain what type of energy change took place in the light bulb
and how it happened.
2. Have students construct a complete circuit to make a doorbell or buzzer ring. Have them
identify the type of energy change taking place in the doorbell. Have them explain what
caused the doorbell to ring.
Scoring Guidelines:
See Attachment B, Post-Assessment Scoring Rubric.
Instructional Procedures:
Day One
1. Introduce lesson by discussing safety precautions for an electricity lab.
a. Make sure your hands are dry.
b. Do not touch bare wires in a complete circuit because they might be hot.
c. Use precautions while using batteries with high voltage. They can give you an electric
shock.
d. Do not remove the plugs by pulling on the cord.
e. Do not leave your circuit closed for a long time because wire and batteries will get
hot.
2. Review prior learning students may have about electric circuits. Suggested discussion
questions:
a. What is a complete (closed) circuit?
b. What is an incomplete (open) circuit?
c. How do you know that electricity is flowing through a complete circuit?
d. How do you know that electricity is not flowing through an incomplete circuit?
3. Demonstrate a complete circuit to the class. Trace the circuit with students or have
students trace it.
4. Ask students to identify the source of the electric current (energy) in the circuit. Have
some students trace the path of electric current in the circuit. Ask students to identify the
receiver of electric energy.
5. Demonstrate a sample game board using a complete circuit (with light bulb and a
buzzer). See Attachment A, Game Board Instructions, for directions. Ask students, why a
bulb lights up when connected only to certain points and what type of energy change is
taking place. (Circuit is completed, electric energy is changing to light and thermal
energy in the light bulb and to sound energy in the buzzer.)
6. Assign students to construct their own quiz game boards using questions and answers
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How Electric Current Produces Energy – Grade Five
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from the electricity unit in science or using vocabulary words with definitions.
7. Have students make a complete circuit to test their game boards. Provide each student
with three pieces of insulated wire stripped on each end, a D cell with a holder and a light
bulb with a holder or a buzzer.
8. After everyone is finished constructing the game boards bring the class together for a
discussion. Have groups or individuals share their game boards and explain how they
work. Suggested Discussion Questions:
a. Why does the bulb light up when the right answer and question are connected?
Circuit is completed
b. What kind of energy change is taking place when the light bulb lights up?
Electric to light energy
c. What causes the electric energy to change to light energy in the light bulb?
Electric energy through the circuit [wires] is transferred to light bulb filament. The
filament resists electric flow, gets very hot [thermal energy], starts glowing and
produces light energy.
d. Why does the buzzer ring when the questions are connected with the right answers?
Electric energy changes to sound energy inside the buzzer.
e. What causes the electric energy to change to sound energy in the buzzer?
When the circuit is complete the coil inside the buzzer becomes electromagnetic and
the clapper is pulled by the magnet and hits the ringer.
f. What problems, if any, have you had?
Answers will vary.
g. How is your game board like some games and other things at home?
Answers will vary.
9. Ask students to find the examples of light energy and sound energy in the school or at
home (for example, fluorescent and incandescent lights in the rooms, hot plate in the
science classroom, electric stove in the school cafeteria, doorbell or buzzer in the school
building).
10. Make sure students understand that incandescent lights produce thermal energy when the
filament gets hot and light energy when the bulb glows.
11. Bring a hot plate, toaster, hair dryer and doorbell to class.
Day Two
12. Review with students what they discovered about electrical circuits in the previous day’s
activity. Have them share the list of the examples of energy changes at home.
13. Show students a hot plate, hairdryer and a toaster. Turn on each appliance briefly for
students to observe. Ask students what types of energy change occurs in the hot plate and
the toaster (electrical to thermal to light). Inquire about what causes the hot plate and the
toaster to get hot. (Hot plate and toaster coils are poor conductors. They have high
resistance. Electric current has to push through, this causes friction and coils to get hot
and start glowing.)
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How Electric Current Produces Energy – Grade Five
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14. Ask students to name other appliances where electric energy changes to thermal energy
(oven, clothes dryer, electric heater, electric furnace, hot water heaters, iron, curling
iron).
15. Give each group a small electric bell with a detailed and labeled diagram. Have students
open the electric bell to see how it works. If enough doorbells are not available for each
group, demonstrate with one and have the students discover how it works. (Inside the
doorbell, there is a permanent magnet, a coiled wire spool, a clapper, and chimes.) Point
out to the students that when the doorbell button is pressed the electricity flows through
the closed circuit and the coiled wire spool turns into an electric magnet causing the
clapper to move toward the magnet and hit the chimes.
16. Ask students to list examples of other devices found in school or at home where electric
current changes to sound energy (telephone, stereos, television, CD players, and tape
players, fire alarms, etc.).
17. Give students the following prompt to respond to in their journals: Give examples of
devices where electric current produces thermal energy, light energy and sound energy.
Explain how each change occurs. Allow them to draw pictures along with their writing.
Day Three
18. Build an electromagnet and demonstrate to the class.
a. Wrap about 76 cm of insulated wire (stripped on each end) around a nail leaving
enough on each end to make a complete circuit.
b. Connect the wire on each end of the nail to the terminals of a D cell battery.
c. Alligator clips may also be used to connect the wire on each end of the nail to a D
cell’s terminals.
19. First, try to pick up paper clips with the circuit open and then with the circuit closed. Ask
students what caused the nail to turn into a magnet? (Electricity/ electric current)
20. Brainstorm what variables possibly come into play with this electromagnet. Have
students discuss in their groups and share responses with the class. Record their responses
on a chart paper.
21. Instruct each group to choose one variable to conduct a controlled experiment (make sure
that each group tests a different variable). It is very important that students control every
variable except the variable they are testing.
22. Have students make an electromagnet. Instruct the students to control every variable
except the variable they are testing. Suggested controlled experiments to test variables:
a. Number of wraps- 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, wraps
b. Battery power- one D cell, two D cells, three D cells
c. Neatness of wraps- sloppy wraps, neat wraps
d. Size of the nail- Different diameter nails or different length nails
e. Diameter of the wire- wires of three different diameters
23. Allow students to explore and experiment with their variable. Each group will test the
strength of its electromagnet by the number of paper clips it picks up. Have students
record and graph their data and write their conclusion.
24. Allow each group to share its electromagnet and its results with the whole class.
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How Electric Current Produces Energy – Grade Five
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Encourage students to ask each group questions and make positive comments. Suggested
discussion questions:
a. What caused the nail to turn into a magnet?
b. Why is the nail not able to pick up paper clips when the circuit is open?
c. What problems did you have with your experiment?
d. How would you do it differently?
e. What common devices use an electromagnet(s) in everyday life? (Doorbells, alarms,
electric motors, electric generators, fast trains, cranes in junkyards, telephones,
computers, televisions, etc.)
f. Where are electromagnets used in the health industry? (CAT scans, MRI, etc.)
Day Four
26. Ask students what they have learned about how electricity can change into thermal
energy, sound energy, light energy and magnetic force. Allow students time to discuss
their thinking.
27. Display the following setup for students to look at:
a. a complete circuit with a light bulb
b. a complete circuit with an electric bell
c. an electromagnet
28. Give students the following prompts to respond to in their journals.
a. How is electricity used to produce light, sound, thermal energy and magnetic force?
b. Give examples of all four energy changes from your daily life.
29. Have students share their writings with the class.
Differentiated Instructional Support:
Instruction is differentiated according to learner’s needs, to help all learners either meet the
intent of the specified indicator(s) or, if the indicator is already met, to advance beyond the
specified indicator(s).
Allow students to work with a partner or in a group throughout the unit.
Allow students to make models and draw pictures and diagrams. Students can use
computers to draw their systems.
Permit students to give their explanations orally instead of writing.
Challenge students who have a solid understanding of simple electrical circuits to analyze
simple household appliances.
Extensions:
 At the end of the lesson show students a small electric motor. Take the motor apart and
show them the wire coils and permanent magnets inside the motor. Ask them how this
electric motor is similar to the motor made in class. Make sure they understand that
electric current in a complete circuit creates magnetic field around the coiled wire
changing it into an electromagnet. This electromagnet interacts with the fixed magnets
causing the motor to spin. Any appliance with spinning parts has a motor in it (e.g.
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How Electric Current Produces Energy – Grade Five
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exhaust fans, blenders, food processors, electric drills, chain saws and cars).
Schedule speakers to talk about electricity and its uses (e.g. electrician, electrical
engineer, power plant operator, local public electricity provider).
Schedule a field trip to a power plant.
Have students research how incandescent bulbs and fluorescent bulbs were discovered
and how they are different.
Ask students to research the contribution of Edison, Latimore and other scientists.
Build an electric motor. See Attachment C, Instructions to Build an Electric Motor for
step-by-step procedures.
Homework Options and Home Connections:
Have students take home the quiz boards they built and play games with their parents or
siblings. Have them explain to parents how the quiz boards work and what type of energy
change is taking place.
Have students ask their parents to help them look at the doorbell at home to see how it
works. They may write about what they discovered. (When the doorbell button is pressed
the electricity flows through the circuit and the two coiled-wire spools inside the box turn
into electromagnets causing the doorbell to ring.)
Ask students to look for examples of light, sound, thermal energy and electromagnet
force at home. They may choose to share the list they made with the class.
Ask students to make a list of examples of thermal, light, and sound energy at home.
Materials and Resources:
The inclusion of a specific resource in any lesson formulated by the Ohio Department of
Education should not be interpreted as an endorsement of that particular resource, or any of
its contents, by the Ohio Department of Education. The Ohio Department of Education does
not endorse any particular resource. The Web addresses listed are for a given site’s main
page, therefore, it may be necessary to search within that site to find the specific information
required for a given lesson. Please note that information published on the Internet changes
over time, therefore the links provided may no longer contain the specific information related
to a given lesson. Teachers are advised to preview all sites before using them with students.
For the teacher: Demonstration: battery with a holder, light bulb with a holder and two
pieces of wire with ends stripped or two alligator clips hot plate, toaster,
hair dryer, one doorbell for each group, diagram of a doorbell.
For the students:
pieces of cardboard or manila folder, 12 to15 aluminum foil strips
or 10 23-cm long wires with ends stripped, paper clips or paper
fasteners, masking tape, light bulb or a buzzer, D-cell battery with
holder, four pieces of wire or four alligator clips to construct the
circuit, hot plate, toaster, hair dryer, one doorbell for each group,
diagram of a doorbell, for each pair: large nails (varied lengths and
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diameters), 76 cm of insulated wire (various diameters) stripped on
each end, D-cells with holders, a box of small paper clips.
Vocabulary:
electric current
thermal energy
sound energy
light energy
magnetic force
magnetic field
electromagnet
permanent magnet
filament
electric circuit
resistance
Technology Connections:
Ask students to research how electromagnets are used in electronic devices like sound
systems, computers, telephones, televisions, high-speed trains and construction industry.
Have students research the use of electromagnets in the health industry (cat scans, MRI,
etc.).
Document variables using spreadsheet then create graph to help students understand the
various degrees of effects of the variables.
Research Connections:
Marzano, Robert J., Pickering, Debra J., Pollock, Jane E., Classroom instruction that works
Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria: ASCD, 2001.
Students are given opportunities to organize, elaborate and apply their learned
knowledge in various situations. Instructional strategies also make use of research-based
effective strategies such as nonlinguistic representations (making physical models,
drawing pictures), cooperative learning (small/large group, individual and group
accountability), activating prior knowledge and higher-level questioning, and stretches
thinking.
General Tips:
 Christmas light strings can supply both lights and individual strands of wire.
 Have all materials prepared ahead of time; wires cut and stripped, bulbs in holder, file
folders punched for Day One.
 It is very important that students can see inside of a motor and a doorbell. This will help
them make real-life connections and understand the concept.
 If a motor is not available, one from a small toy can be used.
 Throughout this unit it is very important that electric safety procedures are followed.
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Attachments:
Attachment A, Game Board Instructions
Attachment B, Post-Assessment Scoring Rubric
Attachment C, Instructions to Build an Electric Motor
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How Electric Current Produces Energy – Grade Five
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Attachment A
Game Board Instructions
1. Make a list of questions and answers or a list of vocabulary words and definitions.
2. Divide a sheet of paper into two columns. Write questions or vocabulary words in one
column. Write definitions or answers in the other column.
3. Glue this paper on the front of a manila folder or a piece of cardboard.
4. Punch holes on each side of cardboard next to questions and answers.
5. Insert paper fasteners into each hole. (Paper clips can be substituted for paper fasteners).
Possible breaking point for Day One, to be continued on Day Two.
6. Use pieces of insulated wire stripped on both ends or strips of aluminum foil about one
cm. wide to connect questions with answers on back of the cardboard. (Three alligator
clips may be substituted for three wires.)
7. Cover each connection with masking tape. If strips of aluminum foil are used, cover
strips with masking tape.
8. Cover the back of cardboard or folder with another paper.
9. To test their game boards, students will need to make complete circuits. Each student will
need three pieces of insulated wire stripped on each end, a D cell battery with a holder
and a light bulb with a holder or a buzzer.
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How Electric Current Produces Energy – Grade Five
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Attachment B
Post-Assessment Scoring Rubrics
Post-Assessment Number One:
4
3
2
1
Illustration(s)
Illustration
clearly and
accurately
drawn.
Illustration is
accurately drawn.
Illustration(s)
includes
examples of all
four energy
changes.
Illustration
includes examples
of at least three
energy changes.
Illustration is
drawn.
Illustration is not
clear.
Energy Changes
Oral
Presentation
Illustration may
include at least
two examples of
energy.
Illustration may
include at least one
example of energy
transformation.
Oral
Oral presentation Oral Presentation Oral presentation
presentation is
is organized.
has some
lacks focus and
focused and
organization.
organization.
organized.
Explanations are
clear and
accurate.
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Attachment B
Post-Assessment Scoring Rubrics
Continued
Post-Assessment Number Two:
4
3
2
1
Construction of
Systems
Two systems are Two systems are One system is
constructed
constructed
constructed
clearly and
correctly.
correctly.
correctly.
System is not
constructed
correctly.
Energy Changes
Identified
Correctly
identifies at least
3 energy
changes.
Correctly
One system is
identifies at least constructed
2 energy
correctly.
changes.
Unable to
correctly
identify energy
changes.
Conceptual
Understanding
Demonstrates
complete
understanding of
the concept.
Demonstrates
almost complete
understanding of
the concept.
No
understanding
of the concept.
Demonstrates
partial
understanding
of concept.
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Attachment C
Instructions to Build an Electric Motor
Materials for the Construction of Electric Motor: insulated wire, empty film canisters,
paper clips, large rubber bands, electrical tape, D cell batteries, magnets, modeling clay.
1. Make the wire coil by wrapping enameled wire about 18 to 20 times around the film
canister or the dowel rod. Leave about 2 ½ inches of wire on each side of the coil. Wrap
the remaining wires twice on each side of the coil and secure them by passing through the
coiled wires firmly. These two wires should be in the middle of the wire loop on each
side. Straighten two wires on each side and sand off the enamel.
2. Bend two large paper clips to form the shape shown:
3. With a large rubber band, attach the paper clips to each side of the D-cell battery or use
pieces of electrical tape to secure paper clips on each side.
4. Place the magnet on the top of the battery. For stability, set the battery in a clay base.
5. Place the two straight ends of coil in open loops of the paper clips.
6. Push the coil to start spinning. The coil should spin for some time.
7. Making the coil move can be very difficult. Shape and size of the coil and the balance of
the setup are important things to consider. Make a few wire coils ahead of time to give to
groups who are having trouble with their motors. Potential coil trouble-shooting areas
include:
 Make sure the coil is balanced on the paper clips.
 Paper clip drops are same height.
 Straight ends of the coil resting on the paper clips are completely sanded.
 Make sure the coil is not touching the magnet.
8. If the coil and magnet are left on the battery too long, the coil can get very hot.
9. When finished, each group will demonstrate its motor to the class and explain how it
works. Follow this with a class discussion. Suggested discussion questions:
a. What causes the coil to spin?
b. Did the strength of the magnet affect the speed of the coil spin?
c. Did the coil spin faster when battery strength was increased?
d. What other ways could you use to increase the speed of your motor?
e. What type of energy change is taking place in your motor? (Electric to magnetic force
to motion and thermal (makes wires get hot).
f. What devices at home and at school use electric motors? (Electric fans, blender, food
processor, washing machine, clothes dryer, dishwasher).
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