PROJECT GUIDE

Exploring Electricity
and Engineering 1
Project and Lab
EDUCATOR GUIDE

ADDRESS: 1890 Bryant Street, Suite 411 San Francisco, CA 94110

WEB: www.lectrify.it EMAIL: info@lectify.it SOCIAL: @lectrify.it
OVERVIEW AND PROJECT SEQUENCE
This document describes a series of progressive lessons that teach core engineering, scientific process and
electricity concepts through student direct exploration and making.

The document is intended to be used as a framework to be modified by the instructor to match the pace,
experience and maturity of the target students.

The proposed curriculum sequence of each module is built on two hands-on exercises as follows:

• Project – Open-ended craft project to allow students to discover the core concepts through making
o Review and discuss observations and core concepts
• Lab – More structured lab project focused on scientific process and data collection.
o Review data and discuss core concepts

Duration: 2-3 hours

KEY CONCEPTS AND STANDARDS ADDRESSED

• Electricity Basics • Scientific Process
• Conductivity • Data Analysis
• Resistance • Measuring Change

Next Generation Science Standards that align with this project include:

2-PS1-1 Plan and conduct an investigation to describe and classify different kinds of materials by their
observable properties.
2-PS1-2 Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the
properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
4-PS3-2 Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by
sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
4-PS3-4 Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to
another.
3-5-ETS1-2 Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is
likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
3-5-ETS1-3 Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered
to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

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CONCEPT REVIEW
What is a circuit? A circuit is a closed path through
which electric current flows. The simplest circuit
we can work with is a battery connected to a light.
The light turns on when electricity flows from the
battery, through the light and back to the battery.
A common way of drawing circuits is called a circuit
diagram. In a circuit diagram, a battery is shown as
two parallel lines and an LED as a triangle and line with
arrows representing the light.

In this circuit, the light is always on until the battery runs out of energy. When we add a switch to the circuit,
we can control when the light is on or off.

LED – LED stands for Light Emitting Diode and is a semiconductor diode that emits light when a current is
applied to it. LEDs convert electricity directly into light through a process called electroluminescence, which
makes them much more energy efficient than incandescent bulbs, which loose energy to heat.

Direction - LEDs are diodes and conduct electricity in only one direction (forward) while blocking electricity in
the other direction (reverse). This direction is indicated by the direction of the triangle in the circuit diagram
and is from positive to negative.

Conventional current/flow vs. electron flow – When electricity was first discovered, it was believed that the
electrical current flowed from positive to negative and this became the convention for circuit diagrams and is
often described as conventional flow or conventional current. However, it is now known that electrons flow
from negative to positive and that is described as electron flow. Many norms (like the direction of the diode
arrow) were designed using conventional flow.

Conductive materials allow the flow of electricity. Most circuits are made with copper wire but many metals
are conductors including iron, paper clips, copper tape, and aluminum foil. Liquids can be conductive when
there are ionic molecules present in them. The more conductive a liquid, the higher the ionic concentration. In
environmental science, this is described as Total Dissolved Solids described as PPM (parts per million).

Resistance is the reciprocal of conductivity and is the measure of how difficult it is for electrical current to flow
through a material. Higher resistance means less current will flow through a circuit, and low resistance means
more current will flow. Resistance is most commonly measured in Ohms (Ω).

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MATERIALS
This curriculum uses standard components that can be sourced from any electronics vendor. Visit
http://www.lectrify.it/tpt for low cost, pre-packaged bundles that map to this curriculum. If using your own
components, please be careful to match the correct battery voltage to the LED. Also, be careful to avoid
shorts (crossing the positive and negative of the battery with no load (LED, resistor, etc.).

Battery: The battery will power your circuit. It stores

electricity that makes your circuit light up. Lectrify
battery packs have an on/off switch to help you
control when your circuit is powered on. The packs
are also color coded with red representing positive
and white representing negative. The battery pack
uses a standard 2032 battery.

LED stands for Light Emitting Diode and they turn electricity into
light. These components allow you to light up your projects.
Lectrify LEDs are color coded with a positive (red) and negative
+ - (white) side. Stand alone LEDs usually have two leads with the
longer one being the positive lead.

Other Materials:
The craft project requires paper clips, brass brads, pipe cleaners and optional materials such as aluminum foil,
copper tape and LEGO.

Bra ss Bra d s Le g o Bric ks

Pip e
Cle a n e rs
Alu m in u m Fo il Co p p e r Ta p e
Pa p e r Clip s
Re m o ve fu zz
to e xp o se w ir e s

The lab project requires copper tape, straws, alligator clips and material required to perform the specific lab
(i.e. cups and liquids, pots of soil, etc.)

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PROJECT – CIRCUIT CRAFTS
The first student project consists of building of a simple circuit with paper clips. The project will build student
confidence and understanding of how a circuit works. Once students build their first circuit, they can move on
to a more complex craft project that further enables them to explore how electricity is transmitted and which
materials are conductive or not.

Discussion
Start by reviewing each of the components – battery, LED, paper clips.
• Describe a battery.
• Where have they used a battery before?
• What does a battery do?
• Describe an LED.
• Where have they used or seen an LED before?

Review the basics of a circuit.

• What do you need to make a complete circuit?
• How does the electricity flow?
• What do the red and white sides of the battery/LED indicate?

Basic Circuits with Paper Clips

In this first project, students create a paper clip circuit using a battery pack, LED and paper clips.
• Start by linking a few paper clips into two chains.
• Hook one paper clip chain to the metal red corner of the battery and LED. Then hook the other paper
clip chain to the white side of the battery and LED.
• Use the on/off switch to turn the LED on.

Open-ended Questions
• Did the circuits work?
• Discuss why the circuit may not have turned on for some. What was the issue? Ask students with
working circuits to help troubleshoot those with non-working circuits.
• What do students notice about their circuit?
• Is the LED always on? Does it flicker? Why?
• How can they control if it’s on or off?
• Can they think of another way of controlling if it’s on?

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Explore
Students can explore what else is conductive around the classroom. Before they
begin to test, discuss which materials they think will be conductive and why?
They can use their paper clip circuit as a probe to test their theories. To make the
probe, unlink two of the paper clips. Now hold the two paper clip ends against
any material to test conductivity.

Circuit Crafts – extension & exploration of additional materials

Once the students have explored conductivity and simple circuits, they can begin to create their own circuit
crafts using pipe cleaners, paper clips, conductive tape, and LEGO…

The craft project they design can be seasonal or based on a theme that maps to a current classroom lesson.
Sample basic projects ideas include:
- Light up ornaments
- Decorations for locker/backpack
- Hair or sneaker accessories
- Dioramas or art pieces with light
- “Spy” communicators where the light can be used to signal others silently

More complex projects with simple logic (require more time)

- Rube Goldberg machine that lights up when activated
- Pinball machine with lights that light up when certain areas are triggered.
- Interactive game (i.e. Operation).

Plan
Before students make their circuit project, ask them to make a sketch of their plan and how it will go together.
Make sure they label the components they’ll use.

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Teachable Moments:
Engineering Design is the process of coming up with a solution to a problem. The steps include brainstorming,
prototyping and testing your ideas. Students engage in this as they create their projects.

What is a switch? In a circuit diagram, a switch is shown as a “door” that opens and closes the circuit. There
are many different types of switches, from the light switch. Switches come in many forms and are in almost
every device with electricity.

Once you understand how a switch works, you will be surprised to find how easy it is to make switch out of any
conductive materials you find: Paper clip, aluminum, copper tape, etc.

In this circuit, the paper clip functions

as the switch closing the circuit when
Prompt: Ask students to look touching both pieces of copper tape.
around the room and count
how many switches can be
seen from their seats. This paperclip bracelet
does not look like it has a
ON
switch but the air gap
between the clips when it is ON

loose can be thought of as a

switch. Tight= On, Loose=Off
Troubleshooting tips
Troubleshooting simple circuits is relatively straight forward because there are only three potential issues with
the circuit.
A. Break in the Circuit – Is the circuit complete? Is there an air gap anywhere in the circuit that is not
allowing electricity to flow through it? Look carefully at the circuit and push down on all the connection
points to ensure good connections.
B. Polarities reversed – Remember that LEDs are like all diodes and do not allow electricity to flow through
them in the wrong
direction. Is the positive
(red) of the battery
connected to the
positive (red) of the
LED?
C. Short Circuit – This is
not always easy to spot, + - + - + -
but look carefully at
your circuit and make ON ON
ON

sure that the electricity

does not have a direct
path from one side of A. Break in Circuit B. Polarities Reversed C. Short Circuit
the battery to the other.

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LAB: DATA GATHERING WITH CONDUCTIVITY PROBE
Now that the students have had an opportunity to explore conductivity through circuit crafts, they are ready
for a more structured lab project to reinforce and provide structure to their observations and hypothesis.

This lab allows students to further appreciate the scientific process and data collection through the creation of
their own measurement tool: a conductivity probe. This same probe can be used in subsequent labs with more
sensitive measuring tools.

Making the Probe

What is a conductivity probe? A conductivity probe is used to measure whether something is conductive and
when connected to the proper measurement tools, how conductive it is. This probe is a very basic probe that
measures whether an object is sufficiently conductive for electricity to get through it to turn on the LED.

The LED will light up

when the probe is
ON
immersed in a substance
with enough ions to
transmit electricity.

NOTE: One option is to ask the students to design their own measurement tool by discussing with them the
objectives and design criteria. Some design criteria to consider include:
• Robustness – Can the tool be re-used multiple times across multiple experiments?
• Reproducibility – Can the tool produce consistent, reproducible results?
• Effectiveness – Does the tool effectively measure what you are trying to measure?

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 Make a C onduc tivity Probe
1Cut Conductive Tape into two 3” pieces and place one each on opposite ends
of the straw.

2 F old straw in half 3 C onnec t

alligator clips to
keeping copper tape
either side of the
ON

from touching. Keep

straw folded with a probe and then to
piece of tape. your circuit.

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Conductivity Probe Lab
With the conductivity probe built, students can now perform a lab to explore conductivity in more depth. It is
suggested that the lab be designed around a theme. Suggested themes include:

Comparing food: Use the conductivity probe to explore how

conductive different common liquids are. Prepare a glass
of different beverages (juices, soda, sugar free soda, low calorie
beverages, sport drinks, tap water, filtered water)
Which beverages make the LED light up? Which ones do not. What
conclusions can they draw based on their data?

Food Science: Explore how different titrations

influence the conductivity of a liquid. Prepare
samples with different levels of concentration of
basic cooking materials (sugar, salt, flour, baking
soda…) Using the probe, how does the conductivity
change based on the material used?
What do we think that means about the relative
conductivity of the food objects?

Environmental Engineering – Lets understand the differences in the water around us: Is tap water conductive,
is pond water conductive, is bay water conductive? A
common test for water quality is dissolved solids which
Relative conductivity of liquids
measures conductivity. Dissolved solids are measured
in Parts Per Million (ppm) How accurate is this probe Reverse Osmosis Water 25-50 ppm
Domestic water 250-400 ppm
for measuring dissolved solids? Potable water (max) 528 ppm
Sea water 28,000 ppm

Soil analysis Is different soil more conductive

than others? Prepare numerous pots with
different types of soil (topsoil, playground sand,
beach sand, mulch). Are they conductive when
dry? What happens when water is added? How
much water is needed to make the soil
conductive? What does that say about the
differences in the soils?

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It is important to emphasize the importance of documenting the students’ hypothesis as well as their data
gathered through experimentation. Data can be gathered in a simple table as follows:

Conductive? Conductive?
Name Description
Hypothesis (Y/N) Experiment (Y/N)

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