This activity introduces students to electrical circuits and how to use a circuit to create a light switch. Students construct electrical circuits consisting of four fundamental components—power source, load, conductor, and switch. With these circuits, students create party lights that are manually controlled or set to music they choose. Students then replace the DIY switch with a microcontroller. Go to aka.ms/HackingSTEM and choose Making party lights using circuits and switches

Print everything or keep in digital, it's up to you. Everything that you need is in the link above. It will provide you a lesson plan and the student guide.

Student activities

* Research the primary components of an electrical circuit.

* Draw a technical diagram of a basic circuit using industry standard symbols.

* Build a circuit and construct a switch that allows for manual control of an LED light.

* Connect a basic circuit to a microcontroller and Excel workbook to program light sequences. * Present light sequences using Flipgrid.

Learning objectives

* Research the primary components of an electrical circuit.

* Draw a technical diagram of a basic circuit using industry standard symbols.

* Build a circuit and construct a switch that allows for manual control of an LED light.

* Connect a basic circuit to a microcontroller and Excel workbook to program light sequences.

Disciplines

* Physical Science

* Computer Science

21st Century Technical Skills

* Electrical Engineering

* Mechanical Engineering

Standards

NGSS Practices 4-PS3-Energy

Performance Expectations 4-PS3-3 Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide. 4-PS3-4 Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

Science and Engineering Practices 4-PS3-3 Ask questions that can be investigated and predict reasonable outcomes based on patterns such as cause and effect relationships.

Disciplinary Core Ideas PS3.A: Definitions of Energy 4-PS3-1 The faster a given object is moving, the more energy it possesses. 4-PS3-2, 4-PS3-3 Energy can be moved from place to place by moving objects or through sound, light, or electric currents.

Crosscutting Concepts 4-PS3-4 Engineers improve existing technologies or develop new ones.