CODERS Bulbs, Batteries, and Wires Module

The CODERS team has designed several lessons on bulbs, batteries, and wires. By teaching students how to design and operate working electrical circuits, these lessons help teachers introduce students to circuitry. Students who participate in these lessons learn about the flow of electricity necessary for simple and complex electronics. This shows students the level of complexity necessary for the most basic electronics. It also teaches them one way that electronics can process information. 

Activity 1: Batteries and Bulbs Presentation

  • Explains the terminology used when referring to an electric circuit, batteries, and wires/bulbs via a water analogy.
  • Covers how electricity moves through a circuit and how it can be measured.
  • Details how to draw a shorthand circuit and instructions for students to create their own circuit.

To connect the lesson to coding, students can use Scratch and create commands to make the lightbulb light up.

Activity 2: Bulbs, Batteries & Wires Lesson Plan 1

  • Explains the components of a circuit i.e. the battery, wires, bulb, and the electricity/chargers.
  • Students will create a circuit and share how electricity is moving within the circuit.

Activity 3: Bulbs, Batteries & Wires Lesson Guide for Teachers Part 1

  • Explains the concepts for Lesson Plan 1.
  • Provides a suggested guide to navigating the discussion.

Activity 4: Bulbs, Batteries & Wires Lesson Plan 2

  • Discusses the flow of electric charges and introduces the diagram symbols used to draw a circuit.
  • Uses a circuit diagram to explain the similarities and differences in series and parallel connections.
  • Students construct the circuits themselves and write observations about varying lightbulb’s brightness and the connections those bulbs have.

Activity 5: Bulbs, Batteries & Wires Lesson Guide for Teachers Part 2

  • Discusses the different types of connections, series and parallel, that can be made in circuits and how that can aid our understanding of what is going on inside.

Activity 6: Bulbs, Batteries & Wires Lesson Plan 3

  • Students use the circuit design created in Lesson 2 to calculate the current flowing through the circuit and the resistance of the lightbulb before predicting the bulb brightness in both series and parallel circuits using their understanding of Ohm’s Law.

Activity 7: Water Analogy and Circuit Observations Worksheets