Electricity Unit Plan

Adapted for Blended Learning

Essential Question
What causes electricity and how does it flow?

Learner Description
Science students in a high school physics curriculum (grades 9-12).

Learning Objectives

Explain how objects become electrically charged

Describe how electric charges exert forces on each other
Distinguish between conductors and insulators
Explain how voltage differences causes current to flow
Evaluate a circuit diagram and apply Ohms law to solve for current, voltage, or resistance
Distinguish between series and parallel circuits
Recognize the importance and function of circuit breakers and fuses
Calculate electrical power and energy

Content Standards

PS-6.6 Explain the relationships among voltage, resistance, and current in Ohms law.
PS-6.7 Use the formula V = IR to solve problems related to electric circuits.
PS-6.8 Represent an electric circuit by drawing a circuit diagram that includes the symbols for a resistor, switch,
and voltage source.
PS-6.9 Compare the functioning of simple series and parallel electrical circuits.

Activities
Day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Learning Activity
Lab: Exploring Conductivity (35 min)
Discussion on Electricity (15 min)
Electric Charge text (pp 190-199)
Interactive Slide Show
BrainPOP Electricity topics
Electric Current text (pp 200-206)
Interactive Slide Show
Electrical Energy Text (pp 207-215)
Interactive Slide Show
Circuits Gizmo (30 min)
Online Quiz Reviews (20 min)
Discovery Education Video
Plato Electricity Lesson
Plato Application
Electricity review/discussion (15 min)

Assessment
Investigation Questions
Informal / discussion notes
Discussion Forum
Section Quiz
Quizzes and Mind Maps
Discussion Forum
Section Quiz
Discussion Forum
Section Quiz
Student Exploration Sheet
Formative discussions
Video Quiz
Lesson Notes
Application results
Unit Test (35 min)

Location
Face-to-face
Face-to-face
Online
Online
Online
Online
Online
Online
Online
Face-to-face
Face-to-face
Online
Online
Online
Face-to-face

Rationale for Blended Learning Selections

Face-to-Face Activities (30% of Instruction)
There are three days of 50 minute face-to-face activities. The first day includes a hands-on lab activity that requires
tactile materials to begin the students engagement with the unit. This component is not possible online. Directly
following the lab, a teacher-lead discussion and lecture is also best face-to-face to address the natural forms of inquiry,
questioning, and misconceptions that follow exploratory investigations. The second day is a guided activity through a
circuits gizmo (simulation) presented on an interactive white board. From years of prior experience, students struggle to
complete this activity independently and need real-time feedback and clarification as they complete this investigation.
The second part of this face-to-face day will be used to address collective deficiencies discovered from the results of the
online quizzes from previous days. The final face-to-face day is used to conclude the unit and administer the summative
unit test. This works best face-to-face by allowing teacher and students to address any final questions or concerns about
the content. Taking the test face-to-face also improves test security and validity.

Online Activities (70% of Instruction)

There are seven days of online activities. Three of these days give students time to read selected portions of an online
textbook and review the corresponding interactive slide shows. They then test their knowledge through self-graded
online quizzes that provide instant feedback for each of the three sections. Student results are also reported to the
teacher who can address problems in the subsequent face-to-face meetings. Four other online days include supporting
and enriching activities available from various paid content providers or services including BrainPOP, Discovery
Education, and Plato. Each of these activities have been developed by education professionals or instructional designers
and include assessments aligned to the instruction they provide. Since they were developed specifically for online
delivery, they make a great selection to provide polished multimedia content to students to help cement their
understanding of the content.