Electric Circuits
Lesson 7
Conductors and Insulators
Students test various materials to determine if they act as conductors or insulators.
3. Lesson Set-up and Management
4-5 PS3A Energy has many forms, such as heat, light, sound, motion, and electricity.
4-5 PS3B Energy can be transferred from one place to another.
4-5 PS3E Electrical energy in circuits can be changed to other forms of energy, including light, heat, sound, and motion. Electric circuits require a complete loop through conducting materials in which an electric current can pass.
- Students learn that metals act as conductors, materials that allow electric energy to pass through.
- Students learn that some materials act as insulators, materials that do not allow electric energy to transfer through.
3. Lesson Set-Up and Management
Materials:
- It is helpful to package the materials into small bags for quick handout and pickup. Have students inventory these to make sure they have all materials before returning.
- If using the student record sheet, “Conductors & Insulators,” make
copies..
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| Testing the straw. | Bag of items for testing conductors and insulators. |
Student Management:
- For Procedure steps 3 and 4, you can have students create a chart in their notebook or use the student record sheet: Conductors & Insulators.
- Have students keep their materials in the bag until after they have made predictions; this assists in getting predictions down before testing.
- On Procedure step 2, use a penny instead of a paper clip and a piece of paper rather than a piece of chalk, as those items will be tested by students.
- It is helpful to put the actual items next to the names of the materials under the document camera or overhead projector. Leave this displayed as a reference.
- On Procedure step 6, keep one set of materials out for discussion when students share results.
- Students often get contradictory results for the pencil, wire screen, and pipe cleaner. Have students share how they got their results; students will discover that they must touch the graphite in the pencil, the same wire on the screen, and the metal (not fuzzy part) on the pipe cleaner to get the bulb to light.
Writing Support:
- Focus Question: What is inside a wire? Why? What is covering the wire? Why?
- This can be used as a reflection question at the end of the lesson.
- Add conductors and insulators to the vocabulary chart.
- When developing a definition for conductors and insulators, have each student develop his or her definition first, followed by a line of learning, and then the class-developed definition.
Reading Support:
- The Electricity Kids Discover magazine has a section that includes information on conductors and insulators.
- Amazing Science: Electricity: Bulbs, Batteries, and Sparks has a section on conductors as well.
- Students can compare their results to the items listed in this section; they can make further connections, such as type of metal. Students can also test some of the additional materials listed, such as aluminum foil, a spoon, jewelry, etc
Math Support:
- You can have students create a chart or some other method of collecting data in order to record the results of their tests on the various materials.
- Link to Conductors and Insulators Worksheet - This sheet helps students organize results after testing the various materials. It also has a section for students to predict results.
Last updated 6/17/2009