Electricity

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Summary

Zoe Lowe, a Year 6 teacher in a Worcestershire Middle School, teaches electricity to her Year 6 pupils, introducing circuit symbols for the first time. The lesson begins with pupils matching circui...

Zoe Lowe, a Year 6 teacher in a Worcestershire Middle School, teaches electricity to her Year 6 pupils, introducing circuit symbols for the first time. The lesson begins with pupils matching circuit symbols to pictures and definitions. Zoe sees that many of the class muddle the bulb and buzzer symbols and she uses paired discussion to sort this out. She then uses a role play session with one group to demonstrate to the class how a circuit works. Next, in a whole-class activity with white boards, the children draw circuit symbols for themselves and the teacher uses them as an assessment tool.The class then work in pairs with Worcester circuit boards. The aim is not just to make different circuits but to record what they have created as circuit diagrams in their books.In the plenary session, Zoe asks the children to talk to a partner in response to three questions identifying one thing they think they have learned, one they have found difficult and one they would like to investigate further.

A review of KS2 Science, Electricity and Circuits. Year 6 teacher Zoe Lowe talks to Science Inspector Steve Davies about the methods she used when introducing her class to circuits the first time. They discuss the advantages of using paired discussion to encourage the pupils to analyse their choices and the effectiveness of role play at enabling the pupils to visualise complete and incomplete circuits.Zoe's decision to encourage the children to think about the lesson's objective encouraged group participation and brought the class together as a whole.

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