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Circuits

Science · Year 4–Year 6

Drag the parts into the loop and see whether the lamp lights.

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About the circuits

A series circuit the class builds. There are eight places on the loop and a tray of components above it: drag a cell, a lamp, a switch, a buzzer or a length of wire into any of them. Tap a component in the tray instead and it drops into the first empty place.

Drag one back to the tray and it leaves a gap. The lamp goes out and the board says the circuit has a gap in it, which is the Year 4 question and the one a diagram cannot ask. Drag a length of wire across the gap to close it again.

Dropping a component onto another swaps the two, so nothing is ever lost by accident and a lamp slid along the wire leaves the loop working.

Add a cell and the lamp gets brighter. Add a lamp and they both go dim. That comparison is the Year 6 objective, and it needs the cells shared between the lamps rather than any volts.

When nothing happens the board says why: no cell, a gap, the switch open, or nothing in the loop for the current to work. "Nothing happens" on its own is where a class gets stuck, and the reason is the more useful half of the answer.

The symbols are the recognised ones, because using them is itself on the Year 6 curriculum. A drawing of a torch battery would be friendlier and would teach the wrong thing. Names is on by default for Year 4, where identifying and naming the parts is the objective, and can be turned off once they know them.

How to use it on your whiteboard

  1. 1Drag a component from the tray onto the loop. Let go anywhere near a place on it and it lands there.
  2. 2A switch arrives open, so the lamp goes out until someone taps it shut.
  3. 3Drag one back to the tray, or let go in the middle of the loop, to take it out. What it leaves is a gap.
  4. 4Tap a switch on the board to open and close it.
  5. 5Empty takes every part out, for building one from nothing.
  6. 6Names hides the labels once the class can name the parts.
  7. 7Tap Fullscreen so the circuit fills the board.

Questions

How do I show a circuit that is not complete?
Drag any component off the loop and let go on the tray, or in the middle of the loop. The break stays where it was, drawn as a dashed ring, and the board says there is a gap in the circuit. Dragging a length of wire back into it closes the loop.
Does it matter where I put things?
No, and that is on purpose. This is a series circuit, so the order round the loop makes no difference to what happens, and a tool that insisted the cell went at the bottom would be teaching a rule that is not one.
Why does the switch come out of the tray open?
Two reasons. Drawn closed, its lever lies flat between its contacts and the symbol is a length of wire with two dots on it, which is not something a child can pick out of a tray. And a switch that arrives open does what a switch is for the moment it lands: the lamp goes out, the board says the switch is open, and one tap puts it right.
Why does the lamp not blow with three cells?
A real lamp might, and it is worth saying out loud. Drawing a blown lamp would teach that three cells is a mistake, when the thing being taught is that more cells is brighter. The tool shows brighter and leaves the rest to you.
Can I make a parallel circuit?
No, this is a series circuit only. Parallel circuits are not on the primary curriculum, and a branch would need a second loop and a way to draw a junction, neither of which earns its place here.
Does the buzzer make a sound?
It shows that it is sounding rather than sounding. A classroom board with sound is not something to rely on, and a buzzer that only worked when the volume happened to be up would be worse than one that clearly shows what it is doing.