Electric Current And Ohm's Law

Topic: Electric Current and Ohm's Law

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will be able to understand the relationship between electric current, resistance, and voltage.

Materials

• Multimeter (optional but recommended)
• Circuit board with electrical resistors, bulbs, and wires
• Graph paper
• Pencils

Warm-up

• Ask students if they have ever seen or used electricity in their daily lives.
• Ask them to give examples of appliances or devices that use electricity.
• Ask them to describe how they think the electricity is transmitted and delivered to the appliances or devices.

Direct Instruction

• Introduce the concept of electric current and explain that it is the flow of electric charge through a material.
• Explain that the magnitude of electric current is measured in amperes (amps), and is determined by the amount of charge moving through a given area over a given time.
• Explain that Ohm's Law states that the current flowing through a conductor is directly proportional to the potential difference (voltage) across the conductor, and inversely proportional to the resistance of the conductor.
• Use examples to illustrate how Ohm's Law can be used to calculate current, voltage, and resistance in a circuit.

Guided Practice

• Divide the class into small groups and give each group a set of simple circuit diagrams.
• Have the groups use the circuit diagrams and the formulas from the direct instruction to calculate the current, voltage, and resistance of each circuit.
• Have the groups present their calculations to the class and discuss any misconceptions or challenges they encountered.

Independent Practice

• Give each student a set of simple circuit diagrams and have them calculate the current, voltage, and resistance of each circuit on their own.
• Have the students share their results with the class and discuss any misconceptions or challenges they encountered.

Closure:

• Review the main points of the lesson and have the students share something they learned about electric current and Ohm's Law.
• Ask the students to share any challenges or successes they had with the circuit-solving activity.

Assessment:

• Observe the students as they work on the circuit-solving activity and take note of their skills and understanding of Ohm's Law.
• Collect the students' circuit diagrams and evaluate them based on their use of appropriate circuit elements and connections, their use of Ohm's Law to calculate circuit conductances and voltages, and their use of correct terminology when describing the circuits.