Unit 08 · Electricity & Magnetism
The year closes with the invisible forces that power the modern world. This unit builds simple circuits — a battery, a wire, a switch, a bulb — and asks what current and voltage actually are, and why a bulb only lights when the loop is complete. From there it links electricity to magnetism: magnets and their fields, and the electromagnet you make by running current through a coil of wire. This is the unit that carries the story of Michael Faraday, the bookbinder’s apprentice who discovered how a moving magnet makes electricity. Mastery means you can build a working circuit and explain the electricity flowing through it.
| Criterion | Not yet | Approaching | Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current & voltage | Cannot say what current or voltage is. | Names them but swaps their meanings. | Describes current as charge flowing and voltage as the push that drives it, in plain terms. |
| Complete circuits | Thinks a bulb lights from a single wire. | Builds a loop but cannot say why it is needed. | Builds a complete loop and explains that current only flows when the circuit is unbroken. |
| “Used-up current” misconception | Believes the bulb uses up the current. | Knows charge flows in a loop but says some is lost in the bulb. | Shows the same current flows all the way around the loop and that the bulb transfers energy, not charge. |
| Magnets & electromagnets | Cannot describe what a magnet does. | Knows magnets attract but cannot make an electromagnet. | Describes a magnet’s poles and field and builds an electromagnet by running current through a coil. |
| Lab technique (circuits & electromagnets) | Cannot get a circuit to work. | Lights a bulb but cannot troubleshoot a break. | Builds and fixes simple circuits and an electromagnet, tracing the current through each. |
| Integration (cross-domain) | Treats the science as isolated facts; makes no cross-domain connection. | Names a link to history, reading, or writing but cannot defend why it matters. | Connects the unit to its anchor across History · Reading · Writing (plus chosen electives) and defends why the connection matters. |
“The bulb only lit when I closed the switch and completed the loop — break it anywhere and it goes dark. The current isn’t used up in the bulb; the same charge flows all the way around, and the bulb just turns some of that energy into light. Wrap the wire around a nail and the current turns it into a magnet.”
“The bulb uses up the electricity, so there’s less coming back to the battery. A magnet and a battery aren’t really connected, are they?”
You demonstrate this unit by building working circuits and an electromagnet, tracing the current and explaining the complete loop aloud — not a multiple-choice test. A criterion counts as mastered only when your circuit works and you can explain why the current flows the way it does. Mastery is demonstrated, not awarded.
A 5-page clipboard packet — unit overview, key terms, the mastery rubric, anchor examples, and a score sheet you can print and grade against.