Cycle 2

In the previous cycle, students discovered that static electricity creates a non-contact force that can manipulate objects using attraction between opposite charges and repulsion between like charges.

In this cycle, students will discover the answer to the question, “What affects the strength of an electric current?” To do this, students will first learn the fundamentals of a circuit by creating their own. They will then complete an investigation that alters variables including voltage, wire material, wire diameter, and wire length to determine if that affects the current inside the wires. Students then obtain information to define current and the variables that affect it. Finally, students are challenged to create their own circuits using copper wire and conductive ink.

This cycle defines electric current and variables that affect the strength of the electric current in a circuit. This mirrors the conversation that was had Cycle 1 about the variables that affect static electricity and the conversation that will be had in Concept 3 about the variables that affect the strength of a magnet.