Lesson Summary In this lesson, students discover another way to create the magnetism they have been investigating in Lessons 2 through 6 – through electricity.  They build an electric circuit, which lights a bulb and causes a compass needle to move.  The teacher has an opportunity to find out what they think about electricity.  Please be sure to make students aware of safety rules for working with electricity.  See the Safety Reminder on pg. 44 of the Teacher’s Guide. Teacher Background People have long suspected that magnetism and electricity are related.  The fact that static electricity produces an attractive and repulsive force like magnetism suggested a link between the two.  In 1819, a connection was made with current electricity and the electric battery. Hans Christian Oersted, a Danish science teacher, noticed an electric current from a battery had an effect on a compass needle nearby.  He did not expect this; it happened while he was attempting to demonstrate to his class that the electric current would not affect the compass.  Shortly thereafter, electromagnets, motors, generators, and many other devices were produced. Set-up/Management Tips In this and future lessons, students may discover that wires get warm if a circuit is connected for more than several seconds.  They may also discover that it is possible to generate higher temperatures by using a thin wire or more batteries.  If students do extended experiments with heat generation, the lifetime of the batteries will be quite short. The batteries and circuits that students will investigate in this lesson are not potentially lethal.  The voltage provided by even as many as 20 batteries (30 volts) can produce enough current to produce very hot wires, but not life-threatening shocks.  Household electricity is potentially lethal, however, and students should be instructed explicitly not to experiment with it.  The Student Activity Book (pg. 22) notes to students that they should:  1) never experiment with electricity from wall plugs because it is dangerous and potentially lethal; 2) never work with appliances or lights that are plugged into the wall. Prepare materials for distribution.  Student Activity Book (pgs. 23 – 24) includes instructions with pictures for the activity in this lesson. Prepare newsprint/paper for brainstorming.  Save this list to see how students’ ideas change. Literacy Support Students can reflect on this lesson in their notebooks. Scientific Vocabulary The following words are key vocabulary words that will be introduced in this lesson and reinforced throughout the unit: *electric circuit *short circuit