Teacher guide Researching & planning ≈ 360 min

Lesson 3 · Weeks 4-6

Components, symbols and circuits

Open this lesson's deck What students see Speaker-notes view

Learning intention

Read and draw a circuit in several representations, and predict its behaviour before building it.

Success criteria

I can calculate what a circuit should do, build it, measure it, and explain any difference.

Before class

Check every multimeter has a working battery and probes. A flat meter teaches students that measurement is unreliable.

Materials

Breadboards, resistor kits, LEDs, jumper wires, multimeters, one board per student.

Activities in this lesson

PRP 1

Voltage divider — calculate, build, measure

Students will: Predict a circuit's behaviour with a calculation, then verify it by measurement.

Build it up — 11 steps

Building the divider · plays 11 steps Open · Download .fz

Student activity

Common errors & fixes

A mismatch is assumed to be a mistake. Tolerance means an exact match would be the surprise.

PRP 2

Current limiting — why the LED needs a resistor

Students will: Use a datasheet to choose a component value, rather than copying one.

Build it up — 8 steps

Wiring the LED and its resistor · plays 8 steps Open · Download .fz

Student activity

Common errors & fixes

That any resistor will do. It will light — and quietly run outside its rating.

Common misconceptions & fixes

Students measure current in parallel and blow the meter fuse. Teach it as a rule with a reason: an ammeter is nearly a short circuit.

Evidence to collect

PRP 1 and PRP 2 sheets with calculated, built and measured values for each.

Support path

Provide the divider equation rearranged, and a worked example with different numbers.

Extension path

Design a divider that gives 3.3V from 5V using only resistors in the kit, and explain your choice of values.

Exit reflection

Where did your calculation and your measurement disagree, and what explains the gap?

Syllabus outcomes hit by this lesson: VCE-SE-U1-O1 VCE-SE-U1-O2