Conductors & Insulators

Date: 13th Oct 2017 @ 5:00pm

This week we moved our learning about electricity on to find out about conductors and insulators.   We learnt that conductors allow electrical energy to pass easily through them, whereas insulators do not.

The children set up a simple circuit and chose 10 materials that they wanted to test to see if electricity could pass through it and make the bulb light.  I was impressed with their creativity: some tried leaves, others tried stones, some tested their shoes and even my shirt was connected to a circuit at one point!  They made a prediction for each material.

Finally, the children asked if they could test whether or not water is a conductor.  Some groups were initially a bit weary of trying this as we've previously learnt that water and elecricity don't mix: we had to discuss how to keep the investigation safe.  

They soon discovered that their circuits did not work with just water, but when we added some salt to the water, the bulb did light up.  This led to us talking about the danger of lightning when swimming, especially in the sea.  Some children said that their tears taste salty so this must mean that there's salt water in our bodies, which means that we would conduct electricity too.

They all worked really hard this afternoon and were so inquisitive!  Well done Rubies.