Physics
Topic 3 Electric circuits
Engaging ICT
Animations
Secondary sources are a very useful tool in helping students to understand the workings of electric
circuits. An animation that shows a current flowing around a circuit enables students to grasp the
concept of energy transfer much more easily than a simple diagram. For example:
www.animatedscience.co.uk/series-and-parallel-circuits
www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/current-and-voltage-in-series-and-parallel-circuits/10672.html
Other recommended ICT activities
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Students could research images / take photos to contribute to a blog listing different
appliances that use electricity. They can collect and share their findings and attempt to draw
circuit diagrams or decide if the appliance uses a series or parallel circuit.

Students could design animations using software (which is readily available to download in
advance from the internet) showing the current flow in both series and parallel circuits. For
example:
http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/circuit-construction-kit-dc

Students could research the internet to find out about the dangers of electricity to the human
body. Their findings could be used to produce a class display or students could work together
in small groups (of two or three) to produce PowerPoint presentations.
Activity 1: Medical uses of electricity webquest
Students carry out structured research using specific websites to answer questions about the use
of electricity in the following medical settings:

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pacemakers
defibrillators
electrical shocks
electrocardiograms.
 Guidance
The Activity 1: Medical uses of electricity webquest presentation in Topic 3 Engaging ICT
gives instructions for students and a link to access the accompanying worksheet. The worksheet
has the website urls and the questions that students need to answer to complete the webquest.
Remind students that their answers must be in their own words and not merely cut and pasted
from the internet.
 Answers
Pacemakers
1 You have a particular type of heart block (a delay in electrical conduction that makes the heart
beat too slowly). / Your heart beats too fast. / You have heart failure, which causes the heart to
beat out of sync.
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Physics • Topic 3 • Electric circuits
2 A pacemaker is a battery powered electric circuit and electrode leads
3 A battery
4 The sinus node
5 The pacemaker cell produces electrical impulses which stimulate the heart muscle to contract
to produce a beat.
Defibrillators
1 Defibrillation is the process in which a machine delivers an electric shock straight to a heart
which is not beating or is beating erratically.
2 An electronic device; ECG paddles with leads attached.
3 Using it on a patient who has a pulse could cause a cardiac arrest or disruption to the normal
heart rhythm causing damage.
4 In case that person receives an electric shock too.
Electric shock treatment
1 It may stop a person’s heart from beating; it may disrupt the normal heart rhythm.
2 The casualty may still be attached to the electrical supply and therefore ‘live’.
3 So that there is no further risk of an electric shock to the casualty or the person helping them.
4 Any other suitable insulator, e.g. plastic mop handle.
Electrocardiogram
1 Pacemaker cells
2 To increase the rate at which the heart beats / to increase the force with which the heart
contracts.
3 P waves; QRS waves; T waves
4 Skipped heart beats (premature minor beats); slow, irregular heart beats.
Activity 2: Looking at circuits – interactive activity
 Guidance
The Activity 2: Looking at circuits presentation in Topic 3 Engaging ICT gives basic
instructions for students and a link to access the accompanying spreadsheet.
Hand out the guidance document, Activity 2: Looking at circuits worksheet.
Students look at a series of circuit diagrams and decide whether statements about them are true
or false. By copying the statements into the spreadsheet and manipulating the spreadsheet
according to the instructions on the guidance sheet, students make boxes turn one colour for ‘true’
and another colour for ‘false’. They need to include a colour key. They should email their
completed spreadsheets to you for assessment.
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Physics • Topic 3 • Electric circuits
Answers
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2
3
4
This is a series circuit
F
The circuit is incomplete
F
The reading on A1 would be 0.5 A
T
The switch is open
T
The bulbs will not light up
T
The cell is connected the wrong way around
F
There are 2 cells
T
All 3 bulbs will be lit with an equal brightness
F
The reading on A2 will be 1.0 A
F
The bulbs will all be dim
F
There is one switch that turns off all the bulbs
F
The reading on A3 will be 0.5 A
F
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