This week in Science, Year 4 got to make some simple electrical circuits with the aims of seeing how a switch works to help control the flow of electricity.
Firstly, we recapped our knowledge of what electricity is and looked at some of the simple circuit diagrams that we explored last week. We knew that a simple circuit would consist of a cell/battery, a bulb and wires to connect them together. We then looked into what a switch is and it is something that helps to control the flow of electricity within an electrical circuit. We discussed the types of switches we might already know such as the switch on a television, kettle or a wall plug switch which allows us to control when electricity is flowing around the circuit.
Next we looked at the difference between a complete and uncomplete circuit and explored some diagrams to work out the difference between the two. We came to the conclusion that a ‘complete’ electrical circuit is when all the components are connected together correctly to allow the flow of electricity around and therefore power the bulb.
Our task this week was to build a simple circuit but include a switch which would allow us to control when electricity was flowing. We had to follow a clear instruction pack and work with our learning partners to see if we could achieve this. Lots of us managed to create our circuits with a switch and then had a go at the challenge of seeing if we could add more bulbs, batteries or switches and still manage to have a complete circuit.
Well done Year 4 at having a go at making these circuits, what did you enjoy most about our lesson?
