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Our Unit 3 Force, Motion, & Energy section is separated with a new divider. This is the only unit for this section. There are 4 TEKS we are focusing on in this unit:
(6) Force, motion, and energy. The student knows that energy exists in many forms and can be observed in cycles, patterns, and systems. The student is expected to:
(A) differentiate among forms of energy, including mechanical, sound, electrical, light, and thermal;
(B) differentiate between conductors and insulators of thermal and electrical energy;
(C) demonstrate that electricity travels in a closed path, creating an electrical circuit; and
(D) design a descriptive investigation to explore the effect of force on an object such as a push or a pull, gravity, friction, or magnetism.
Our first lesson is on energy sources. We are looking at 5 main sources of energy. Sound, light, and thermal (previously discussed as heat in K-2) are all sources of energy that have been taught for multiple years. Mechanical energy was introduced last year in 3rd grade. Electrical energy is a "new to 4th grade" term (just meaning it's new for students this year, not the grade level). Chemical energy is being introduced, but we are not diving into it much this year.
Notes were taken on each form of energy after watching BrainPOP videos, Discovery Education videos & explorations, and class discussions. Not pictured was a classwork assignment on sorting sources of energy into an open sort in notebooks. This was completed on the next page.
Our next lesson dealt with circuits. This is also a new to 4th grade area. We looked at circuit boards during investigation time, and tried to figure out how circuits worked. Using a cell, wires, and a bulb, we looked at way we could get the bulb to light up with different configurations.
Conductors and insulators were discussed as we investigated what objects would and would not let electrical energy pass through. We were able to test different materials, and sort those materials into categories of conductors and insulators, based on their ability to allow electrical energy pass through them.
Advanced circuits allowed us to look at series circuits, and parallel circuits. Using a strand of Halloween lights, we were able to see how a series circuit works as lights are removed from the strand. Students also completed different circuit challenges with their groups (not pictured due to me not being in a group). An important part of this lesson was looking at a schematic, and being able to recreate it after building circuits in groups.
The only other page not pictured here is the circuit design that students completed individual for a grade before gluing it into their notebooks on the page after the one above.
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