An Alarming Idea: Designing Alarm Circuits
Science Topic: Electricity
Engineering Field: Electrical Engineering
Country: Australia
Storybook: A Reminder for Emily
This unit helps students to apply their knowledge of electricity, circuits, conductors, and insulators as they design and construct their own alarm circuits. The science concepts of electricity/energy transfer, conductors and insulators, and complete and incomplete circuits are reinforced and students are also introduced to schematic diagrams, a symbol "language" that electrical engineers use to plan and design circuits.
Through lessons and the unit's storybook, which takes place on a station (or ranch) in the Australian outback, students embark on an electricity scavenger hunt, practice drawing schematic diagrams from circuits, and finally design, create, and improve their own alarm circuits and switches to remind them when it is time to do an important chore.
FOSS Connection: Magnetism and Electricity
STC Connection: Electric Circuits, Magnets and Motors
GEMS Connection: Electric Circuits
Insights Connection: Circuits and Pathways
