Sharing our Electrical Games!

Today we had a great time sharing the electrical games that we created during our How the World Works unit.  All of our fourth grade students were successful in creating an orginal game that used more than one electrical concept.  We all wrote detailed instructions on how to play our games and taught explained it to other fourth graders.  Today other fourth graders had a lot of fun learning how to play our games!

Field Trip to Datteln Power Plant

Yesterday we had a fun visit to Datteln Power Plant.  We learned some new things about how power is produced by burning coal and we got a tour of the building site where E.ON is building its 4th power station in Datteln. 

Take a look at the photos of our trip:

Performance Task

This week we began our Performance Task for our How the World Works unit.  The students must use what they have learned during our unit to design a game for another fourth grader to play that is worked by electricity.  They are allowed to adapt an existing idea, but they must change something to make it their own.

4.2's games must:

• Use more than one basic electrical concept.
• Include detailed and easy to understand instructions.
• Include a labeled diagram that is relevant and easy to understand.
• Show an effort to make it look nice.
• Prove an understanding of electrical concepts.

We've had a lot of fun planning our games and beginning to make them!

Electricity Field Trip!

Fourth Grade will be visiting the Datteln Power Plant on Monday, February 28, 2011.  We will be taking a  bus to get to and from the site, departing when we arrive at school in the morning and returning before dismissal.  The children will need a packed lunch for our visit. 

Making a Switch

This week we investigated into how to make a switch for our series circuits.  We used clay, drawing pins, and a paperclip to make our switch work.  Now we can open and close our circuit without disconnecting a wire or removing a lightbulb! 

Why doesn't the lightbulb light when the switch is off?

Current Electricity!

We've begun investigating into a different form of electricity: current electricity.  Now when looking at our inquiry point, 'Different forms of electricity,' we have an understanding of both static and current electricity. 

We have constructed simple series circuits and seen the flow of electrons move from the negative terminal of the power source (a battery) through the wires, to the load (the light bulb), giving it power.  The electrons then flow through the wires and back to the opposite side of the power source.  When the circuit is closed, the electrons can flow and the bulb lights up.  If the circuit is broken, or open, the electrons will stop moving and we'll no longer have a current. 

We've also been investigating what objects or materials are good conductors or insulators.  Conductors are materials that allow electrons to move through them easily.  Insulators are materials that electrons have a hard time flowing through...kind of the opposite of conductors.

We've been writing lab reports for our experiments!

Static Electricity!

We've been doing a lot of experimenting with static electricity!  We've had a chance to find out if a balloon with a charge can pick up various pieces of paper, and what will happen if a negatively charged balloon is held close to a thin stream of water. 

This experiment showed us what happens when two negatiely charged balloons are next to each other.  Take a look at some of our videos and hear our hypotheses and results.

How The World Works

We've begun our new unit: How the World Works.  Our central idea this unit is: Electricity is a natural phenonemon that can be harnessed.  We've been hard at work unpacking this central idea and rewriting it in kid friendly language and our mother tongue!

Yesterday we began looking into static electricity and found that it is a single, sudden transfer of electrons from on place to another.  Lightning is a form of static electricity!  And when we get shocks from doorknobs or the metal screws on the slide of the playground! 

We did our first lab experiment.  We built up an electric charge by rubbing balloons on our hair or on the carpet.  The rubbing makes the balloons pick up electons from our hair or the carpet, giving it an electric charge.  We then tried to see if different bits and pieces of paper would attract to the balloon.

Take a look:

What kind of charge does the balloon have after we've rubbed it against our hair?

What charge do you think the paper had that stuck to the balloon?

Why?