TEAM Lesson Plan Template



|Lesson Plan Template |

|Teacher: |Karen Cragwall |

|Grade/Subject: |6-8 Library |

|Course Unit: |No unit |

|Lesson Title: |Introduction to Squishy Circuits |

|LESSON OVERVIEW |Summary of the task, challenge, investigation, career-related scenario, problem, or community link |

Students will view an “in a nutshell” presentation from the invention of the lightbulb until the U.S. began building the electrical grid whose basic principles are still used today.

They will study a graphic from PBS that describes how both positive and negative charges are needed to create a successful electrical current.

As a problem-solving/hands-on activity students will work in small groups using Squishy Circuits that are included in the school’s Makerspace and homemade play dough to create sculptures that can be lit with multicolored LED bulbs.

|STANDARDS |Identify what you want to teach. Reference State, Common Core, ACT College Readiness Standards and/or State |

| |Competencies. |

GLE 0707.Inq.3 Synthesize information to determine cause and effect relationships between evidence and explanations.

GLE 0707.Inq.5 Communicate scientific understanding using descriptions, explanations, and models.

90707 Inq.1 Design and conduct an open-ended scientific investigation to answer a question that includes a control and appropriate variables.

|OBJECTIVE |Clear, Specific, and Measurable – NOT ACTIVITIES |

| |Student-friendly |

Students will gain basic knowledge about how the electrical grid in the United States evolved from the invention of the lightbulb to the modern electricity delivery system. By focusing in on exactly how electrical currents work they will create a current using Squishy Circuits and homemade play dough that have conductive materials and insulators to light up a soft sculpture they have designed.

|INTRODUCTION |Should Include: Any prior knowledge that the students need to complete the lesson, approximately how long |

| |the lesson is predicted to take (Ex. 1 Day or 2 Days), and a short summary of the entire lesson plan. |

Students will need to be able to read and interpret printed instructions, manipulate playdough and understand how to use a battery.

The lesson will take 70 minutes to complete.

After watching two short videos on Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla students will participate in an ActivBoard/PowerPoint presentation about how those 2 men along with George Westinghouse helped to create the system of electricity delivery we use in the United States today.

Following this activity students will study a graphic of how an electric current needs both positive and negative charges to be successful. All students will have access to a Squishy Circuits Kit and will be given a demonstration of how the kit, along with a battery, can be used to light LED bulbs.

After this demonstration students will use different colors of homemade playdough created with both positive and negative conductors to construct soft sculptures that can be lit with different colors of LED bulbs using the Squishy Circuits.

|MATERIALS LIST |A bullet list of materials. |

| |The materials need to be specific and include quantities |

Squishy Circuit kits (enough for several small groups)

9 volt batteries for each kit

Teacher computer

1 LCD projector

Interactive Board

Conductive dough

Insulating dough

Plastic knives to use for cutting/shaping dough

|RESOURCES |Should Include: A bullet list of any links to videos, names of worksheets, names of projects, names of |

| |PowerPoints, links to online articles, links to interactive websites, names of reading materials, etc (All |

| |worksheets, PowerPoints, projects, and reading materials should be attached to the back of the lesson plan).|

| | |

| |Specify whether they will be used before, during, or after the lesson. |

1. Video about Edison:



2. Video about Tesla:



3. Recipes for Conductive/Insulating dough



4. Making squishy circuits with play-dough



All these resources are needed for this lesson. All other citations I used to construct the lesson are in the Citations sections.

|ACTIVATING STRATEGY |Motivator / Hook |

| |An Essential Question encourages students to put forth more effort when faced with complex, open-ended, |

| |challenging, meaningful and authentic questions. |

The first hook will be when students are told by their classroom teacher they will be coming to the library to work with resources in the Makerspace. The Essential Question for this lesson will be: “How do we get electricity?” As with many things students all the time they have no idea where they originate. (One of my students was actually surprised to learn bacon was made from a pig.) What sounds like a simplistic question will probably be something none of the students has ever really asked.

|INSTRUCTION |Step-By-Step Procedures – Sequence |

| |Discover / Explain – Direct Instruction |

| |Modeling Expectations – “I Do” |

| |Questioning / Encourages Higher Order Thinking |

| |Grouping Strategies |

| |Differentiated Instructional Strategies to Provide Intervention & Extension |

When students enter the Library I will direct them to tables in front of the Interactive Board. After giving them a very brief summary of my experience with the RET program I attended at UT during Summer, 2016, I will highlight our Essential Question: “How do we get electricity?” After students are given the opportunity to express any prior knowledge they may have, the will be introduced to 2 of the men who are were integral in the creation of our electrical delivery system; Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. Students will view 2 video clips from the History Channel which give brief introductions about who these men were and how they influenced our current electrical grid and delivery system. (links to these resources are listed in Resources and Citations)

The next activity will be to view a PowerPoint presentation that further explains how Edison and Tesla along with George Westinghouse worked with competing systems to create the U. S. electrical grid. After this presentation we will have a question/discussion time that relates back to our essential question.

To introduce our activity with the Squishy Circuits students will view a graphic from PBS that explains how both positive and negative charges are needed to make a successful circuit. To make that happen the electrical charge must also have conductive material to flow through and insulative material to keep the charge from going where it isn’t needed. Here I will show students the different colors of homemade play dough and explain that some colors are conductors and some insulators. I will have the different bags labeled for students to make the process go smoother. I will take this opportunity to tell students that their creations need to be simple because of time constraints, but make sure I mention these resources are available to use on individual/small group basis in the Makerspace.

Students will be put in small groups by the collaborating teacher and put at tables with all materials needed to complete the activity. They will also have directions that come with the Squishy Circuit kits to help with hooking up wires.

As students progress through the activity the Librarian and collaborating teacher will be circulating through the groups to assess how each group is able to work through the process of interpreting directions, creating their sculptures, and use the conductive and insulative doughs to make the circuit connection.

As the class begins coming to an end we will have groups share out their creations and show us they were able to make a successful circuit. We will have students put dough back in bags and replace all wires before leaving.

|GUIDED & INDEPENDENT PRACTICE |“We Do” – “ You Do” |

| |Encourage Higher Order Thinking & Problem Solving |

| |Relevance |

| |Differentiated Strategies for Practice to Provide Intervention & Extension |

As the facilitators of this class the Librarian and collaborating teacher will lead the students to a basic understanding of the U.S. electrical grid’s history, introducing its genesis and then giving them the opportunity to take electricity and manipulate it themselves.

While we will give students directions, printed and verbal, they will need to work together to come up with a project that is creative and works. Skills will include working cooperatively, giving group members specific tasks, and bringing everyone’s work together to complete the activity successfully.

As groups are working both the Librarian and collaborating teacher will be circulating though the groups to encourage those who are having immediate success, those who need some initial help and any groups that are overly challenged with the activity. This situation also works well with keeping behavioral issues to a minimum.

Extension activities for the Library will be to hopefully bring the collaborating teacher back in to use the Makerspace resources again and engage those students who are interested in exploring, creating, designing opportunities the Makerspace affords during students’ free time or after school.

|CLOSURE |Reflection / Wrap-Up |

| |Summarizing, Reminding, Reflecting, Restating, Connecting |

As students clean-up we will, once again, revisit our original question of “How do we get electricity?.” This questioning is intended to show that when thinking about electricity there is a big picture, the electrical grid, but show students they have the ability to use this resource on a smaller scale to learn more about electrical properties.

I also think this will be a good opportunity to question groups about how working together helped/hindered in getting the activity completed.

|CROSS-CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS |

This lesson works well with an art class, introducing them to think about different ways artists use resources besides paint, paper, etc. to create.

Learning about the history and delivery of electricity can be used in Science, Math, Health and Social Studies.

|ASSESSMENT / |Students show evidence of proficiency through a variety of assessments. Aligned with the Lesson Objective |

|EVALUATION |Formative / Summative |

| |Performance-Based / Rubric |

| |Formal / Informal |

All assessments in the Library will be informal and formative. As we ask our essential question at the beginning of the lesson the lack of knowledge will be easily assessed. After the videos and PowerPoint presentation ends, the questioning will ascertain how much the proficiency level has grown.

90707.Inq.1 Design and conduct an open-ended scientific investigation to answer a question that includes a control and appropriate variables. This standard accurately describes exactly what the Squishy Circuits activity does.

With the final restating of the essential question, assessment can be done again to see if students understand that science is both understood on an intellectual level while delving further into individual interests by doing hands-on projects to prove or disprove theories.

|CITATIONS |Any websites/books that were used to gather information. |











Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World. New York: Random House, 2003. Print.



Fontichiaro, Kristin, and AnnMarie P. Thomas. Squishy Circuits. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.





Honey, Margaret, and David Kanter. Design, Make, Play: Growing the next Generation of STEM Innovators. New York, NY: Routledge, 2013. Print.













|NOTES: |Tips & Tricks that may help |

A separate document accompanies this lesson plan with all notes including costs, where to purchase, tip, tricks, etc.

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