Dr Phil Scott, Professor of Science Education at the University of Leeds, believes it is important to find out about what children know about an electric circuit before any effective teaching can take place. He outlines some basic misconceptions and sets children a challenge to test what they know. One of his favourites is The Big Circuit, an experiment using a simple battery and a bulb set up with much longer wires than usual. Brian Crosby, Headteacher at Manor School, uses The Big Circuit with his KS3 pupils and they like it. He also uses a simple and interactive Rope experiment to show the continuous nature of electrical energy. The Toy Garage is another device used to demonstrate where energy is in the circuit. Andrea Mapplebeck, Professional Development Leader at the National Science Learning Centre, highlights the usefulness of the demonstrations and explains how pupils can work in groups to show their understanding of electrical circuits
Notes
Title from resource description page (viewed Mar. 5, 2012)
