Students’ ideas about current electricity Students of all ages deal with electricity every day.

They will therefore have a number of ideas of how electrical devices work. Students are also
familiar with some of the science terms used in electricity: terms such as ‘power’,
‘electricity’, ‘voltage’, and so on. It is important to probe the students’ ideas about electricity
and the following activities are designed to do so.
ACTIVITY 1
Key idea: Electricity makes a lot of devices work.
What things do we have in our homes that use electricity? Make a list on the board of the
items. The list can be made under the headings: kitchen, bathroom, laundry, bedroom,
garage, other. Who uses the items? Where do most of the items get the electricity from to
make them work?
ACTIVITY 2
Key ideas: Electricity makes a lot of devices work. Electrical cords have at least two wires to
carry current into and out of the device. Household electricity is dangerous.
Investigate what uses electricity in the classroom, how does the electricity get from the
power point to the item? Identify the parts that would carry the electricity. Discuss safety.
What uses electricity in the home? How would you be affected in your daily life if there was
no longer any electricity?
Where does electricity come from? How is electricity made? What is the difference between
electricity from power points and batteries? How does a switch work? How fast does
electricity travel?
Explanatory note: Household electricity requires a conducting path that forms a loop. The
loop contains the generator, wires and electrical devices.
ACTIVITY 3
GLOBE LIGHTING CHALLENGE
Teaching note: The key idea to this activity is that a complete conducting path loop is
required for the globe to light up.
A good follow-up activity would be to break open a globe to show the students that there is
a continuous conducting path from the base of the globe, up through the filament, and then
to the side of the globe (a normal household light globe will be best for this activity, but be
careful when breaking the glass). The other material at the base of the globe is insulating
material that acts to separate the base wire from the side wire.
Another good activity is to have students draw what they think the inside of a torch looks
like. Dismantle an old torch to show the students how a complete conducting path is
obtained when the switch is closed.
In the globe-lighting challenge, students will often assume that, as long as they have a wire
connecting the battery to the globe, it will light. This presumption reflects a view that the
battery is a source of energy, the globe is a receiver, and connecting them is all that matters.
This view, which ignores the role of electric current, is sometimes called the ‘source–
receiver’ model, and it is easy to see where it comes from. Household circuitry involves what
seems to be a simple lead from the plug are two wires, (three, if there is an earth
connection): one to supply current and one as a return path. The switch completes a circuit.
Another common incorrect idea is that the current is used up in the globe and is less in the
return wire. In fact, the globe uses the energy carried by the current, but the current is the
same all the way around the circuit (and that’s not an easy distinction to argue). One way of
challenging this idea is to wire up two globes in series. Each is of equal brightness (if they are
identical), because the same current passes through both.
The other common incorrect model is known as the ‘clashing currents’ model, whereby
current is thought to come out of both ends of the battery and meet at the globe. The clash
causes the globe to light. It is not so easy to refute this with direct evidence.
It is important to separate the ideas of energy and current when explaining how a complete
conducting loop is required. The battery supplies chemical energy which is transformed at
the globe as heat and light energy. The energy is transferred from the battery to the globe
through the movement of electrons. The electrons don’t come out of the battery; they are
already in the wire. The battery can be considered to have the role of pushing the electrons
in the wire. The moving electrons represent the current; they move in a direction away from
the negative terminal of the battery toward the positive terminal of the battery. to an
appliance, and one can think of flicking the switch as simply allowing the energy to pass into
the appliance. In fact, within those leads
Key idea: An electric circuit is a complete (unbroken) pathway that forms a loop.
You will need: • student prediction worksheets • a globe holder • a globe • electrical wire •
a battery • an elastic band.
Make a globe light up using only one globe in a holder, a battery and a single piece of
electrical wire. Complete the prediction sheet (see the figure below) before you begin.
Discuss your predictions and underlying reasons. Test your predictions.
ACTIVITY 4
Using two wires
Key idea: An electric circuit is a complete (unbroken) pathway that forms a loop. A switch
breaks the current pathway in an electric circuit.
You will need: • a battery • connecting wire • a globe • a cork • paperclips • drawing pins.
Using two wires, a globe and a battery, construct a simple circuit. Once you have a simple
circuit operating, try to make a switch to turn the light off and on by using the cork,
paperclips and drawing pins. Does it matter where you put the switch?

ACTIVITY 5
Short circuit
Key idea: A short circuit is a parallel circuit that contains one looped path with only a battery
and wire.
You will need: • a battery • connecting wire • a globe.
While the globe is glowing, create a ‘short circuit’ by connecting another wire across the
battery terminals.
Explanatory note: By adding a wire across the terminals, you create a parallel circuit. The
resistance in the wire-only loop is much less than the resistance of the loop with a globe.
This will create a large current through the wire loop and significantly decrease the current
through the loop with the globe. The globe will no longer glow.

The electrons flowing in the wire-only loop lose their energy to the atoms in the wire. This
results in the wire heating up quite quickly. The large currents created by the short circuit
make the battery use energy quickly and become flatter more quickly.
ACTIVITY 6
Two batteries
Key ideas: Batteries provide the push to move the electrons. The battery voltage is a
measure of the push.
You will need: • two batteries • connecting wire • a globe.
Use two batteries in the three different arrangements below, to light one globe.

Explanatory note: The battery provides the push to move the electrons in a circuit. The
electrons move in a direction away from the negative terminal and towards the positive
terminal. In arrangement 2, one battery will tend to push electrons in one direction, whereas
the other battery will tend to push the electrons in the opposite direction. If the two
batteries have the same voltage, the electrons don’t move. There will be no current and the
globe will not glow.
Arrangement 1 doubles the voltage compared to a single-battery circuit. The double push on
the electrons doubles the current. This leads to more collisions with the filament atoms,
which make the globe glow brighter (more light and thermal energy).
Arrangement 3 is equivalent to having one battery in the circuit. The globe will glow but not
as brightly as in arrangement 1. In this arrangement the left-hand battery will tend to push
electrons down through the globe as well as push electrons down through the right-hand
battery.
Similarly, the right-hand battery will tend to push electrons down through the globe and the
left battery. The mutual pushing of electrons through the batteries lessens the effect each
battery has on the globe. This is why one doesn’t get a double push on the electrons through
the globe as seen in arrangement 1.
ACTIVITY 7
Lighting control centre
Key idea: Series circuits have a single loop. Parallel circuits have multiple loops.
You will need: • three globes • connecting wire • three switches • two batteries.
Here are some tasks for you to try. There are no right answers, but each task can be solved in
a number of ways. Make circuits in which:
1) all three globes are equally very bright
2) all three globes are equally very dull
3) one globe is very bright and two are dull
4) all three globes are turned on and off by the one switch
5) each globe is controlled by its own switch
6) one switch controls one globe, a second switch controls the other two globes, and the
third switch controls all three globes
7) two globes are on, but a switch turns one light off when it is pressed ‘on’.
Explanatory note: The tasks contained in this activity are intended to tease out the operation
of switches, and the distinction between parallel and series circuits. In a parallel circuit, the
current splits down parallel paths, and the battery voltage is directly across each
component. This is the wiring design for a house.
In a series circuit, the current passes through each component in turn. Each component
therefore has the same current, and the battery voltage is divided amongst the components.
One switch will operate all the appliances. This would not be helpful in a household supply.
The solutions to the challenges are shown in the figure below. Standard scientific symbols, as
shown in the figure below, have been used to represent the batteries, globes, connecting
wires and switches.