Learning Objectives

• Describe how electricity functions in a variety of electrical devices on which students depend.

• Identify examples in which electrical energy is converted into light or heat energy.

• Construct a simple electric circuit.

• Explain how electricity can produce magnetic energy.

• Explain electricity in terms of the theory of charged particles.

• Identify electrons as having negative electrical charge and protons as having positive electrical charge.

• Demonstrate how an object responds to electrical charges.

• Explain why electricity flows easily through a conductor but does not flow easily through an insulator.

• Describe an electric circuit.

• Describe how a cell produces a continuous electric current.

• Explain how a chemical cell produces electricity.

• Compare a wet cell with a dry cell.

• Explain how the current in a dry cell or a wet cell can be increased.

• Demonstrate what happens when a magnet moves through a wire coil and when a wire coil moves through a magnetic field.

• Compare alternating current with direct current.

• Describe how generators produce alternating current.

• Identify several sources of electrical energy.

• Describe how a solar cell converts light energy into electrical energy.

• Construct a thermocouple and explain how it produces electricity from heat energy.

• Explain the piezoelectric effect and how it is used to produce electricity.

• Draw simple circuit diagrams using conventional symbols.

• Identify several factors that affect the electrical conductivity of a wire.

• Explain what happens when a wire resists the flow of current.

•  Identify several practical applications of resistance.

• Identify two different types of circuits: series and parallel

• Compare the amount of current in series and parallel circuits.

• Construct and diagram simple parallel and series circuits.

• Explain the effect of increasing the number of cells connected in series.

• Identify a variety of mechanisms that are used to control the flow of electric current.

• Explain how various kinds of switches and dimmers operate.

• Describe several different kinds of switches.

• Construct an electromagnet, identify its circuit components, and trace its current.

• Explain how the strength of an electromagnet can be increased.

• Explain how electromagnets function in a variety of devices.

• Describe the flow of electricity in a circuit in terms of current, voltage, and charge.

• Explain how wattage expresses the relationship between current and voltage.

• Demonstrate a mathematical understanding of amperes, volts, and coulombs.

• Determine the effects of various quantities of applied current on the human body.

• Recognize the number and variety of sounds in our environment.

• Describe how sounds affect humans.

• Recognize the differences between various sounds.

• Classify sounds by their pitch, loudness, duration, and quality.

• Identify or infer what is vibrating to produce various sounds.

• Understand that sound is a form of energy.

• Identify what makes a sound loud or soft and high or low.

• Describe how different animals make sounds.

• Distinguish between the frequency and amplitude of a vibrating object.

• Identify the relationships among the length of a pendulum, the frequency of vibrations, and the amplitude of vibration.

• Define vibration.

• Explain how sound waves travel.

• Describe how sound travels from a sound source to the ear.

• Describe the relationship among wavelength, frequency, and the speed of sound waves.

• Compare how sound waves are transmitted through different media.

• Calculate the speed of sound, given the distance a sound wave travels and the time it takes to travel that distance.

• Compare the speed of sound with the speed of light.

• Describe how bats and dolphins use echolocation to detect objects.

• Identify and label the structures of the human ear.

• Describe the path that sound vibrations take when traveling from the outer ear to the brain, where they are interpreted as specific sounds.

• Examine definitions of sound.

• Describe how changes in the tension, length, and thickness of vibrating strings affect the pitch of the sounds they produce.

• Explain how an octave is produced.

• Identify several ways of making sounds louder.

• Recognize the relationship between the loudness of a sound and its decibel level.

• Describe the effects of noise pollution on human health.

• Describe how an oscilloscope gives a visual shape to a sound and how it represents pitch, loudness, and quality.

• Describe how the vibration patterns of strings and columns of air can vary and how these patterns affect the sound produced.

Standards  

Illinois Learning Standards (Middle School)  As a result of their schooling students will be able to:

12C. Know and apply concepts that describe properties of matter and energy and the interactions between them

• 12.C.3a Explain interactions of energy with matter including changes of state and conservation of mass and energy.

11A. Know and apply the concepts, principles and processes of scientific inquiry:

• 11.A.3a Formulate hypotheses that can be tested by collecting data.

• 11.A.3b Conduct scientific experiments that control all but one variable.

• 11.A.3c Collect and record data accurately using consistent measuring and recording techniques and media.

• 11.A.3d Explain the existence of unexpected results in a data set.

• 11.A.3e Use data manipulation tools and quantitative (e.g., mean, mode, simple equations) and representational methods (e.g., simulations, image processing) to analyze measurements.

• 11.A.3f Interpret and represent results of analysis to produce findings.

•  11.A.3g Report and display the process and results of a scientific investigation.

Illinois Science Assessment Framework For the 7^th grade ISAT, students are expected to be able to:

12.7.54  Understand  that energy is anything that can change the condition of matter, such as heat, light, sound, mechanical motion, and electricity. 

12.7.57  Identify electrical conductors and insulators; define and give examples of each. Understand that electricity can be converted into heat and light by forcing an electrical current through a conductor. Understand that this is what happens in a toaster and in a light bulb. 

National Science Education Standards: Physical Science As a result of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop an understanding of transfer of energy

• Energy is a property of many substances and is associated with heat, light, electricity, mechanical motion, sound, nuclei, and the nature of a chemical. Energy is transferred in many ways. 

• Electrical circuits provide a means of transferring electrical energy when heat, light, sound, and chemical changes are produced.

• In most chemical and nuclear reactions, energy is transferred into or out of a system. Heat, light, mechanical motion, or electricity might all be involved in such transfers.

• The sun is a major source of energy for changes on the earth's surface. The sun loses energy by emitting light. A tiny fraction of that light reaches the earth, transferring energy from the sun to the earth. The sun's energy arrives as light with a range of wavelengths, consisting of visible light, infrared, and ultraviolet radiation.

Benchmarks for Science Literacy  By the end of 8^th grade, students should know that

• Electric currents and magnets can exert a force on each other.
• Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only changed from one form into another.
• Most of what goes on in the universe—from exploding stars and biological growth to the operation of machines and the motion of people—involves some form of energy being transformed into another. Energy in the form of heat is almost always one of the products of an energy transformation.
• Something can be "seen" when light waves emitted or reflected by it enter the eye—just as something can be "heard" when sound waves from it enter the ear.
• Vibrations in materials set up wavelike disturbances that spread away from the source. Sound and earthquake waves are examples. These and other waves move at different speeds in different materials.

Champaign Community Unit School District #4 * Mellon Administrative Center
703 South New Street * Champaign, IL 61820 * 217.351.3800