Year 9 Physics: Building Circuit Boards

Year 9 Physics: Building Circuit Boards

Foundational physics lessons focus on electrical currents and voltage…


In Year 9 Physics, students are investigating how to build electrical circuits, observing how currents and voltage behave in both series and parallel circuits. Students also learned how to measure currents and voltage, which will serve as the foundation for the learning unit’s final objective: to crack a safe (by determining the resistance of wires and identifying which one to cut). Through building their own circuit boards, students were challenged to develop an understanding of the rules for electrical circuits, subsequently leading to an investigation into Ohm’s Law. Ohm’s Law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the voltage across two points – this is the constant of proportionality.

Year 9 students drew circuit diagrams with the appropriate circuit symbols, then followed their own diagrams to build the correct electrical circuit boards. By understanding the basics of electricity first, students are able to then build on their knowledge throughout this term’s Learning Unit to achieve the final objective. This process encourages students to reflect and recall what they have learned in previous lessons, integrating that knowledge into more and more complex challenges.

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