Fourth graders at Laburnum Elementary have been learning about electrical circuits (SOL4.3b), so today, students in Ms. Waltz’s class created animated circuit diagrams using ABCYa! Animate. First, we reviewed the parts of a simple electrical circuit and how the parts work–batteries, switches, and objects that turn on. We discussed a variety of electrical objects so everyone didn’t draw the same one (lights, radios, toys, televisions, computers, washing machines, ovens, robots, etc.). If your students need some extra help with circuits before doing this activity they can practice building their own here, here, here, or here. Next, we went to ABCYa! Animate, and I explained the process of creating the animation: (1) draw the complete circuit with an open switch in the first frame, (2) slowly close the switch in the next few frames, (3) show the flow of electricity however you like, (4) turn on your object in an interesting way. Finally we saved our animations as .gif files and shared them on Schoology. You can see them all here.
