Design your own Circuits

Subject: Design & Technologies

Year Level: 5 to 6

Strand: Design & Technologies Knowledge and Understandings

Investigate how forces or electrical energy can control movement, sound or light in a designed product or system (ACTDEK020)

       
The images above demonstrate that it caters for a range of different learning abilities ranging from simple to the more advanced

Link:
To the Exploriments website, where there are other apps to investigate, that cover forces, fluids, motion, optics etc http://www.exploriments.com/ipad/SimElectrical_ParallelCombination.html

or is available directly through the iTunes app store

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/exploriments-electricity-simple/id490164401?mt=8

General Capabilities
Literacy
Numeracy
ICT Capability
Critical & Creative Thinking (CCT)
Personal and Social Capability

Cross Curricular Priorities
Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia

Link to other Learning Areas
Science

How to Use in the Classroom

This App, purchased through iTunes for $1.99 allows students to experiment with circuits by either using pre-designed learning circuits where students can begin expanding, adding devices, switches, connecting circuits the way they want to. As students click, drag, add and remove they are receiving instant feedback as to the success of the design. The App also has a built in support page which is full of ideas, tips and tricks for students. It allows the students to experiment with and combine  knowledge, gradually building on that existing knowledge as they experiment  through trial and error.

This App also allows students to design their own circuits using wires, switches, bulbs, fan and a host of electrical toys. You can select between three circuit arrangements – Series, Parallel 1 (3 branches), Parallel 2 (2 x 3 branches). The selected circuit arrangement combined with the ability to choose between a range of devices gives you almost unlimited variations leading to hours of endless exploration and learning. From here they can adjust, correct and improve their designs, seeing the results of any work immediately.

This is just one app, but exploring with the Exploriments gives countless apps that allow students to experiment with a range of concepts.

Create a graph


Subject:
Digital Technologies

Strand: Digital Technologies Processes and Production Skills

Years: 3 & 4
Collect, access and present different types of data using simple software to create information and solve problems (ACTDIP009)

Years 5 & 6
Acquire, store and validate different types of data and use a range of commonly available software to interpret and visualise data in context to create information (ACTDIP016)

Link to resource
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx?ID=c194cdc8c87849d99278f870e0d016a0

General Capabilities:

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • ICT
  • CCT

Cross Curricular Links:

  • Science
  • History (interpreting data)
  • Geography (Recording Data)

How to use in a classroom
This website is brilliant for examining different types of graphs, representing data, recording and input of data. It gives children the opportunity to input the data and display it in a number of different ways, recognising how to best represent the data and examine errors often associated with primary school children and graphing. It explores the key components of graphing .

As a teaching tool, teachers can input data through the computer, displaying the data on the IWB as it is entered; discussing with students the information this data tells them and questioning at the same time the types of visual representations they would expect.

It is very simple to use and can be used by children of all ages if supported by the teacher.