Year 6 get to grips with electrical circuits

Our current topic is Electricity and this week the children have been presenting their research into various Scientists to create a timeline in Electricity. We have also been ‘Working with Switches’ and when presented with a tray of equipment, the children planned and set up a simple circuit with 1 switch and 3 lamps, predicting the glow of the lamps and the effect of the switch. Then with 3 switches and 3 lamps, the children tried to design a circuit which gave them individual control of the lamps - as would be seen in household lighting, with different rooms around a house. This was much more complicated and involved many more connecting wires - but we were eventually successful in setting up a ‘parallel’ circuit. Next we will be looking into 2 way switches and the relationship between voltage and current.
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