Science Reasoning Center - Circuits

You have reached the Construction Zone. As of April 1, 2023 the redo of our Science Reasoning Center was elevated to our top priority. We should have a large amount of content ready by August 1, 2023. We release content once it is ready, allowing teachers to preview and to test our latest creations for potential adoption into their curriculum and unit planning. You can stop by periodically to view our progress. It will be like watching a skyscraper being built ... only more exciting. You can also keep abreast of our developments by a periodic visit to the
What's New at TPC? page.
The
Legacy version of the Science Reasoning Center can be found
here.
Learn more:
About the Science Reasoning Center.
The following activities are planned for our Grand Opening. Once construction is completed, we will include a link to the activity:
Bulb A versus Bulb B
This activity describes a collection of simple and related experiments involving a comparison of two different types of light bulbs. Diagrams, tables and short descriptions are used to describe the results of investigating the brightness of the bulbs when configured in circuits in various ways, the appearance of their filaments under a microscope, and a comparison of flow rates through the filaments to air flow rates through straws. Questions target a student's ability to understand an experimental design, to make inferences based on experimental results from similar studies, to draw conclusions that are consistent with provided data, to identify models that are supported by two or more data presentations, and to identify an assumption associated with a conclusion.
Wire Gauge and Characteristics
This activity describes the American Wire Gauge system (AWG) for expressing the width of electrical wires. Two tables are used to describe the relationship between wire gauge, wire diameter, cross-sectional area, resistance, and ampacity at specific temperatures. Questions target a student's ability to select data from a table, to identify the manner in which one variable depends upon another, to interpolate and to extrapolate from data within a table, to recognize complex numerical patterns in tables of data, and to combine information from two different tables to draw complex conclusions.
Series and Parallel Circuits
This activity describes three simple experiments in which the characteristics of series and parallel circuits are compared and contrasted. Figures and written descriptions of observations are provided to describe how the arrangement of light bulbs affects the bulb brightness. Questions target a student's ability to understand an experimental design, to draw conclusions that are consistent with provided data, to make appropriate inferences based on observations, to identify simple relationships between variables, and to identify the experimental conditions that would lead to specific results.