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Static Electricity:

Grade 6

Natalie Stewart and Jeff Burton

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Table of Contents

1. Rationale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..Page 3

2. Lesson Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 4-6

3. Rubrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 7

4. Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 8

5. Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8-9

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Rationale: The purpose of this unit plan is to educate students on static electricity and its various

implications, including technological, personal, and societal relationships with static electricity.

This unit will focus on the four goals of the Saskatchewan Science curriculum; understanding the

nature of science, technology, environment and society, constructing scientific knowledge,

developing scientific and technological skills, and developing attitudes that support scientific

habits of mind. Students will understand the nature of science by exploring static electricity

through scientific inquiry and problem based learning. Students will also learn the nature of

technology by exploring how static electricity is used in technology, the environment and

society, and by association how it affects them in their daily lives. Students will construct

scientific knowledge and skills by learning the scientific process behind problem based learning,

and also the scientific language used to explain their solutions and findings of their experiments.

Through their exploration of static electricity, students will also develop attitudes that support

scientific habits of mind by understanding how static electricity affects them in their daily lives.

This unit will also use the Cross-curricular competencies and broad areas of learning to

develop students’ understanding of Science by developing thinking, literacies, and lifelong

learners. Since students are exploring science through inquiry, they will be thinking scientifically

and building their scientific knowledge base. Since students will be investigating the properties

of static electricity, they will develop scientific inquiry that will lead to lifelong learners.

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Subject / Course: Science TC Name: Jeff Burton and Natalie Stewart

Grade Level: 6 Date: March 29th, 2011

Topic: Static Electricity Time of Class:

Room # / Location:

1. Broad Areas of Learning and Cross Curricular Competenciesa) Outcomes: (approx. 1-3 outcomes from the Saskatchewan Curriculum that could be assessed)

Outcome EL6.2Investigate the characteristics and applications of static electric charges, conductors, insulators, switches, and electromagnetism. [SI]

a. Conduct investigations to determine the attraction and repulsion of electrostatically charged materials and represent the results of those investigations using drawings, sketches, tables, charts, and/or other representations.

b. Describe how results of similar and repeated investigations into the characteristics of static electric charges (e.g., the rubbing together of different substances) may vary and suggest possible explanations for identified variations.

c. Identify natural and man-made applications of static electric charge and discharge (e.g., lightning, photocopiers, laser printers, air filters, and electrostatic paint sprayers).

i. Describe the operation of common technologies based on properties of static electricity, current electricity, or electromagnetism.

b) Cross Curricular Competencies: (approx. 2+ other learning expectations not assessed, eg. learning that happens as a result of the lesson, organization, group work, listening, co-operation, reading, writing skills etc.)

- develop thinking- develop literacies- developing life long learners

2. Required Resources

(list ALL resources required to conduct this lesson with detailed specifics such as textbook titles, chapters, page numbers, author/publishers, website URLs, resources like paper, pencils, protractors, chalk, rulers, paint, specimens, books, maps, videos, posters, lab materials, handouts – include name of handout and number of copies, etc.)

All About Electricity by Melvin Berger.

Unit Plan

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Two inflated balloons String

For each student:

A comb Tissue paper

Various other supplies as requested by students

3. Content and Teaching Strategies of Lesson a) Overview/Agenda/ReviewIn this unit, students will learn the knowledge around static electricity, how and why it happens and what is all associated with it. Students will watch a demonstration on attraction and repulsion. Then they will demonstrate, on their own, the build up and release of static electricity.

This unit will use an activity called working definitions. A working definition is a definition determined by students. While it may or may not be completely correct; it should be used and corrected by the students as they gain more experience with and understanding of the concept. The strength of a working definition is that it is an indicator of student understanding and can be used by the teacher to guide further experiences.

b) Lesson 1

1. Read and discuss the book All About Electricity. 2. Have the students create their own list or working definitions, revolving around the key

concepts the class has discussed from the book.3. Using the string, hang the two inflated balloons from the ceiling approximately 1 foot apart. 4. Rub one of the balloons on a student's head. 5. Ask students to predict what will happen when you release the balloon. 6. Release the balloon and the two balloons should come together. 7. Ask the students why this happens. [Rubbing the balloon has created a charge. Because the

balloon is now electrically unstable, it is attracted to the other balloon.] 8. Now rub the other balloon on someone's head. 9. Ask the students to predict what will happen when you release the balloon. 10. Observe what happens when you stand back. The two balloons should move apart. 11. Discuss the reason the balloons are no longer attracted. (The charges are now alike and like

charges repel.)

c) Lesson 2

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1. Review what was learned in the previous class and the students working definitions.2. Hand out a comb and tissue to each student3. Instruct the students to use their comb and tissue to show the build up and release of static

electricity. 4. Tell them to run the comb through their hair several times. 5. Ask them why they think they're doing this. 6. Ask them to predict what will happen when they hold the comb over the tissue paper. 7. Have them hold the comb above the tissue. 8. Tell the students to record what happens and explain why it happened.

c) Lesson 3

1. Discuss and review what has happened in the last two classes as well as the classes working definitions, note any changes that need to be made to these definitions.

2. Ask the students (either individually or in student groups) to design an additional demonstration of static electricity.

3. Instruct them to write down the steps to their proposed demonstrations as well as an explanation of what they think will happen when they perform their demonstration.

4. Look at their written proposals and help them clarify their proposed demonstration. 5. Have them make a list of all the materials they will need for their demonstrations and

let them begin to gather what they can in the classroom/science room at the school.

d) Lesson 4 (may need to be more than one day depending on time frame for demonstrations)

1. Have the students set up their materials for their demonstrations. If need be, help

students implement their plan.

2. Once they are done with their demonstration, they should record their results and write an explanation why things happened the way they did.

3. Have each student or student group share the results of their demonstration.

4. Discuss the demonstrations as a class. Review the concepts of static electricity learned throughout the unit, and any final revisions to their working definitions can be made now.

4. Assessment and Evaluation

1 – participation in class discussions through out the lessons can be monitored and can reveal the level that they are understanding the material

2 – the working definitions are a great way to gain insight to how the students are understanding the material. Note how much these do or do not change as more is learned, this will provide

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insight and evaluation of their learning.

3 – the written proposals for the demonstrations can be evaluated based on the attached rubric sheet

4 – the demonstrations themselves are a valuable piece of assessment. They can be used as the summative evaluation of the total level of understanding gathered through the unit. Rubric for demonstrations is below. Students are asked to anonymously assess demonstrations and hand in the sheets to the teacher.

Science Writing Rubric

Name: _______________________________

  Excellent Fair Needs Improvement

Science Content Accurate; Connected to big ideas in science

Mostly accurate; Connections to big ideas are not clear

Inaccurate; Not connected to big ideas in science

Use of Science Language Consistent use of appropriate science language and terminology

Partial use of appropriate science language and terminology

Inaccurate use of science language and terminology

Group member names:

3 2 1

Scientific ExplanationLanguage used to explain the demonstration is scientific and based on the definitions learned in class.

Some language used to explain the experiment is scientific.

Language used to explain demonstration is not scientific or explanation does not make sense.

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Experiment Experiment demonstrates static electricity

Experiment is complete but does not demonstrate static electricity

Experiment is not complete

PresentationAll group members participate in some part of the demonstration, explanation, and preparation

Most group members participate in some part of the presentation.

Students either did not present demonstration or were not involved in any way.

Bibliography: Berger, Melvin (1995). All about Science: Scholastic.

Bochinski, Julianne Blair. (2005). The Complete Workbok for Science Fair Projects. Hoboken. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Phillips, Greg, and Lorraine Hoffman. (2006). Science Fair Projects, Volume I. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Milestone, an imprint of Frank Schaffer Publications.

Tomeck, Steve. (2007). Teaching Science: Yes, You Can! Scholastic.http://www.sciencebuddies.org

Reflections:

During the lessons, we found that students responded well to the initial lessons where

they constructed their own working definition and used materials that they found around the

home to demonstrate the principles of static electricity. We used Melvin Berger’s book to

introduce the idea of static electricity, even though it is below their grade level. We thought that

introducing the topic in this way was a means of them to make a simple understanding of static

electricity and to get them thinking about it scientifically and how it relates to them. It was easy

for students to follow along and they remained interested when doing the balloon demonstration

and the comb experiment. For the comb experiment, we recommend that each student has their

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own comb because there may be health concerns related with sharing (ex. lice). We also

recommend that the teacher has something to disinfect the combs with afterwards.

We thought it was best to group students in mixed ability groups as it provides all the

students with the greatest opportunity for participation in learning, so the instructor may want to

have a planned seating arrangement in the lab or pre-arranged groups. Some problems could

arise in the planning of demonstrations, and therefore it is critical that the instructor is available

to help student groups or suggest ideas for experiments, as some students may find it hard to

think about ways to create static electricity. It is also critical that the teacher goes over the

expectations for the demonstration before it is started so the students understand what exactly

they are being graded on and what is expected from them. Also critical is going over the peer-

evaluation rubric to discuss any questions the students may have, or to add/remove something

that the teacher and students decide may or may not be appropriate in the evaluation of

demonstrations. Building rubrics as a class is a useful tool, however we decided that this

demonstration wasn’t going to be as formal as others (ex. science fair) and therefore building

rubrics together was not vital to the success of the students. Using peer evaluation as an

assessment tool here also provides insight into whether students are capable of effectively

evaluating their peers.