Light Up with Technology: LED Circuit Application: Middle School Lesson Plan

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Unit Description:

FLATE, the Florida Advanced Technological Education Center for Manufacturing, has developed a series of “Made in Florida” lesson plans to prepare students for careers in manufacturing. These Lesson Plans are intended to enrich science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classes and provide your students with real world scenarios relevant to manufacturers throughout Florida.

Each model lesson includes materials needed to “engage students with authentic and sometimes unresolved challenges faced by manufacturing companies today.”

Lesson Description:

This lesson from FLATE focuses the theories and applications behind basic electronics with the manufacture of a light-emitting diode (LED) simple circuit. In considering this topic, students will: 1) Understand and apply concepts of electrical circuits, current electricity, battery, conductivity, switch, circuit symbols, and LED light, 2) Be able to understand and apply engineering design processes, 3) Develop manufacturing skills, and 4) Understand that technology is linked to creativity and innovation.

The completion of the lesson in full takes three to four 55-minute class periods. Resources available as part of this lesson include a Teacher Lesson Plan, a Teacher Lesson Presentation, a Student Worksheet, a Teacher Grading Rubric, and a Teacher Reference Sheet.

For orientation purposes, viewers should begin with Teacher Lesson Plan.pdf document, which offers a description of the lesson as well as an overview of topics covered and the intended audience.

Lesson Contents:

The Lesson Plan document includes learning objectives, targeted subject areas and manufacturing levels, relevant Standards for Technological literacy and Florida Department of Education Sunshine-Standards, required materials and supplies, key terms, a detailed sequence for both teacher presentation and student completion of the lesson, and section on assessment.

The PowerPoint presentation provides an introduction to FLATE’s “Made in Florida” lesson plans, a teacher lesson plan review, a breakdown of materials and costs to complete the lesson, and a section on theory review and technical terms, tools, and applications, related to basic electronics and LEDs. There is also a presentation of the lesson’s design problem at the end.

The six page Student Worksheet, designed to be used throughout the multi-day lesson, includes an introduction to the design problem, space for students to think critically before completing the LED circuit, instructions for building the circuit, and space to report their results.

The Teacher Grading Rubric provides areas for assessment in studying the circuit diagram, the LED and battery portions of the LED circuit, the on/off switch of the LED circuit, the report, and student participation.

The three page Teacher Reference Sheet provides an alphabetized list of key technical terms to review before teaching the lesson, as well as a list of additional resources to consult.

Below is a list of the files contained within the .zip attachment. The size of each file is included in parenthesis.

Light Up with Technology - LED Circuit Application (5 files, 4.9 MB)