At a glance
Dynamo is a 60 or 75 minute workshop for grades 4, 7, 9 and 10.
By cranking a dynamo, students power a fan, a neon light and a motor. They learn what electricity is, describe how mechanical energy turns into electrical energy and generate current themselves with a generator.
Have you ever seen the video of the Olympic cyclist who powers a toaster just by pedalling? Unbelievable, but true! Can you pull off something similar?
By cranking a dynamo, your electricians have to power a fan, a neon light and a motor!
Turning mechanical energy into electrical energy, in other words producing electrons, will hold no more secrets for them.
Lights, camera, crank!
Learning goals (elementary)
- Understand what electricity is.
- Describe how energy changes from one form to another (for example, hydraulic to electrical energy).
- Generate electric current with a dynamo (generator).
- Recognize the effects of electromagnetism in electricity.
- Run a motor, a fan and a neon light without an outlet.
- Understand how series, parallel, closed and open circuits work and what they are used for.
- Read diagrams that use symbols.
Learning goals (secondary)
- Identify the forms of energy involved in an energy transformation.
- Generate electric current with a dynamo to run a motor, a fan and a neon light.
- Describe the function of the parts of an electrical circuit.
- Describe the two ways to connect circuits (series, parallel).
- Tell alternating current from direct current.
- Explain how current is shared among the components of a circuit.
- Describe the magnetic field produced by a solenoid.
