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This lesson was a challenge for me.  Electricity and Magnetism is my weakest field in physics, but I still had a familiarity for the material that was better than most.  It was difficult to not call out the answers, but at the same time, being a physics teacher, I was aware that I was supposed to be an  ‘expert’ and was nervous about calling out a wrong answer, even in the inquiry part where there weren’t many (if any) wrong answers.  The discussion about energy was well rounded and pointed to and hinted at a lot of untapped areas for further discussion.

I like that this lesson can be used for lots of different age groups at lots of different levels.  The questions and actions at the beginning were really good for launching a ton of different discussions. 

The alliterative tools were good;

positive=push;

closed=circle=circuit=conduit=continuous

The hands-on fun with the battery was great.  I liked the cut outs on the wall for showing how the circuit worked.  I’d go a step further and have four of them up there, setting them up for showing the four different circuits.  (I am thinking about how I could do that on individual smaller whiteboards so that each pair could do it at their desk, not limiting it to those ‘brave’ enough to go to the board.

The introduction of the ‘secret’ symbol language for circuit boards was a nice touch.