The content area in which I conducted my research on is the flow of electricity through a circuit. I enjoy teaching this unit because it is one of the few times I have my students conduct an open inquiry activity. The open inquiry activity has the students discover the elements of a working circuit. I would still have my students complete the inquiry activity first because it will set the stage to teach them the science behind their circuits.
The websites that I believe are powerful learning tools are:
1. NASA: The students can use this website as a reference page. This one page website defines parallel and series circuits. http://scifiles.larc.nasa.gov/text/kids/Problem_Board/problems/electricity/circuits2.html
2. Woodland Junior School: This is an incredible website. I cannot wait to use it with my students. This website provides about fourteen different games to explore. My favorite interactive game is called, Silicon Spies. This is a comic like story of an evil doctor. Dr Volt has an evil plan of destroying all the power in Silicon City. The city sends a group of spies to foil his plans. The student becomes one of the spies.
These two websites will prepare my students to be 21st-century scientifically literate citizens by providing them the knowledge and practice in understanding the basic of circuits. The only challenge that I can see is providing my students an opportunity to practice building circuits independently or in partners because of the lack of computers available.
