Science Reasoning Center - Circuits

Here is our current listing of Science Reasoning activities for Electric Circuits. All activities can be used as a Guest without Task Tracker or as a logged-in student with Task Tracker. Learn more about Task Tracker for Science Reasoning activities.

Light Bulb Resistance

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.



 

Voltage, Current, and Resistance

This activity describes two experiments performed by a class in order to determine the mathematical equation relating the voltage, current, and resistance for a simple circuit. Data tables for a specific lab group, graphs with linear regression statistics, and class data are provided. Questions target a student's ability to understand the design of the experiment including the rationale behind the graphing and linear regression. Questions also target a student's ability to draw conclusions about the relationship between the three quantities and the evidence that supports such conclusions. Finally, questions target a student's ability to use the model to make predictions of teh results for subsequent trials.



 

 

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.