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5th grade · Science · Unit 11 of 15

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 5.8(B) · electrical energy in complete circuits changing into motion, light, sound or thermal energy, and what a circuit needs to work

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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 11 of 15 in 5th grade Science, after Adaptations & Habitats and before Protecting Resources.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    Wires are covered in plastic because plastic is an…

    • insulator
    • energy source
    • magnet
    • conductor

  2. Question 2

    A toaster changes electrical energy into…

    • sound only
    • motion only
    • chemical energy
    • thermal energy

  3. Question 3

    Electricity can flow only through a…

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

  4. Question 4

    When a switch is turned off, the circuit is…

    • stronger
    • open
    • closed
    • magnetic

  5. Question 5

    Which material is a good conductor of electricity?

    • Wood
    • Plastic
    • Copper
    • Rubber

  6. Question 6

    A paper clip completes a circuit, but a rubber band does not. The paper clip is a…

    • switch
    • conductor
    • battery
    • insulator

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