In a few cases more than one lesson will be devoted to the teaching of a single concept. Students should never be expected to fill in work sheets until the sheets have been reviewed, even answered, in class, even if the material has been thoroughly taught, because the students will not have a textbook or reference book in which they can look up answers on their own. Since most of the classwork is hands on activities and discussion, it may be useful for the students to do the simple work sheets, or similar written reinforcement as a way to review the day’s concepts and vocabulary.
It is suggested that the students become thoroughly familiar with the key words and terms through the following use of the flash cards:ġ) The teacher or student helper shows one side ģ) and then, the class as a group, reads the second side aloudĤ) Individual students should be called on when they feel that they are ready to recite the opposite side of each term and definition.ĥ) All vocabulary cards should be reviewed at the beginning of each new lesson in this unit.Īlthough this memorizing technique may seem too elementary to some teachers, students enjoy the method and take pride in being able to quickly associate the appropriate vocabulary word with a concept that they have just learned. The students should be able to provide the term when the definition is shown and the definition when the word or term is shown. Each new word or term should be written on one side of a piece of construction paper and the definition should be written on the back. Most lessons will introduce no more than three new words and their associated concepts. Once a lesson is taught, the pertinent vocabulary should be retaught numerous times through the use of flash cards. The instructor must regularly remind the students that large voltages can be shocking and too often fatal. No matter what other references for experiments are used, batteries should be the only energy supply used by middle school, and possibly older and more experienced, students. The only source of electricity that will be used in experiments and demonstrations is a pair of 1.5 volt batteries. Too often a child does understand a concept but cannot demonstrate that he understands because he doesn’t know the correct words to express that the material has indeed been learned. It is believed that all modalities should be used as often as possible in order to enable the students to understand the concepts and to be able to associate the concepts with the appropriate vocabulary. Supplementary materials such as handouts and vocabulary cards will be presented in the unit. The teaching methods will include experimentation, demonstrations, analogies, discussion, work sheets and vocabulary review. This curriculum unit is designed to teach a few basic concepts of electricity to middle school students.