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4th grade · Science · Unit 3 of 8

Circuits at Work

What a circuit needs, and how electricity becomes light, sound, heat and motion.

What your child practices

Practices the parts a working electrical circuit needs (an energy source, wires, a load and a closed path), open and closed circuits, switches, conductors and insulators, and how electrical energy is changed into motion, light, sound or thermal energy.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 4.P4U1.2 · how electric currents move energy from place to place

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Every working circuit needs an energy source, a path (wires) and a load (like a bulb).
  2. Electricity flows only through a closed circuit. A gap makes it open.
  3. Wires are coated in plastic, an insulator, to keep you safe.
  4. A load changes electricity into light, sound, heat or motion.

Example: A wire is not touching the battery. Will the bulb light? There is a gap in the path, so the circuit is open. Electricity can't flow through an open circuit. Answer: no, the circuit is open

Circuits at Work in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 3 of 8 in 4th grade Science, after Waves & Codes and before Magnet Inventions.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A small motor in a circuit makes…

    • motion
    • sound only
    • chemical energy
    • light only

  2. Question 2

    A circuit with a gap in it is an…

    • open circuit
    • insulator
    • series of magnets
    • closed circuit

  3. Question 3

    When a switch is turned off, the circuit is…

    • magnetic
    • open
    • stronger
    • closed

  4. Question 4

    Electricity can flow only through a…

    • closed circuit
    • broken wire
    • open circuit
    • rubber band

  5. Question 5

    An electric fan changes electrical energy into…

    • sound only
    • light only
    • chemical energy
    • motion

  6. Question 6

    In a series circuit, if one bulb goes out, the others…

    • get brighter
    • turn into motors
    • go out too
    • keep shining

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