The ingenious and compelling activities in the new GEMS Electric Circuits unit provide students with an engaging introduction to electric circuits. They learn about basic concepts of electric circuits, energy flow, parallel and series circuits, energy storage in batteries, short circuits, schematic diagrams, and much more. Student groups devise, assemble, diagram, and display their own electrical inventions! Accessible information for students on famous inventors is interspersed. This unit makes strong "connections" to the National Science Education Standards.
John Erickson is Coordinator of Upper Elementary and Secondary Programs for the Lawrence Hall of Science, the public science center at the University of California, Berkeley.