Making Use of Electricity

Unit Overview

This Unit guides students to learn the basic concepts of electric circuits, draw and analyse simple circuit diagrams, and understand the relationship between current, voltage and resistance. Students will recognise common circuit symbols such as battery, light bulbs, switches, ammeters, voltmeters, and variable resistors. Students will conduct various experiments, such as measure current and voltage in series and parallel circuits, conduct control experiments to explore the relationship between the resistance of a wire and the length and thickness of the wire. During the experiments, teachers can guide students to come up with the best explanation based on the observation, and try to use tables or images to record and analyse the experimental data, thereby cultivating evidence-based scientific reasoning abilities. In addition, students will conduct experiments to understand the principles of electromagnets as well as how factors, such as the number of coils turns and iron core material, affect the magnetic strength. Students will explore daily life examples of the use of magnets, as well as proposing other creative ideas related to the use of magnets in daily contexts, thereby stimulating creative thinking. This Unit also explores household electricity, including the concepts of power and efficiency in electrical appliances. Students will use formulae to calculate the energy consumption of appliances, investigate the dangers of circuit overloading, and understand the importance of using electricity safely. Teachers can arrange interdisciplinary project learning by providing data on the light output and energy consumption of different light bulbs, facilitating students to evaluate energy efficiency by comparing the data and discuss the relationship between energy conservation and environmental sustainability. Teachers can also design other appropriate learning and teaching activities to enable students to develop and master the following skills: a) making inference to the best possible explanation to the observed phenomenon b) selecting appropriate apparatus for conducting experiment c) reading scales of different apparatuses d) formulating a hypothesis based on observed phenomenon e) identifying independent variables, dependent variables and control variables f) commenting accuracy and precision in a scientific measurement g) setting up a control experiment to avoid confounding factors and identify causation h) using tables and graphs for data analysis i) using scientific formula for scientific inference j) identifying outliers and handling data from repeated measurements to assess the uncertainty incurred