Fingers on your buzzers

Whether you love or hate teaching circuits, you might like a creative way to do it using our learning through making Circuits Lesson Plan containing four one-hour practical and stimulating lessons for teaching how circuits are made and work.

Pupils will design and make an electronic buzzer and then play a game with it as a class. They will start by exploring the history of buzzers and signalling devices, relating this to how they are used today. Now, with the only non-practical aspect of the lesson out of the way, it’s time to roll up your sleeves.

Each group will receive the component parts of a circuit and taught, through practical demonstration, how they work separately and as a whole. After this, pupils will have a chance to design their buzzer case. Moving from theory to practical will aid deeper understanding and also empower pupils through self-learning.

Over the next three lessons, pupils will test out their buzzer designs, experimenting with different materials and components. They will work with clay to make the shape for their buzzer’s housing, which will then be vacuum formed using the FormBox. Every stage of the process, from the designing of the buzzer to its forming and finally the integration of the circuit within its shell will require practical engagement with the task at hand.

This lesson will engender an understanding of electricity – its power to provide energy but also to be harmful – but also how to make things using the FormBox in a safe and responsible way. Apart from the first few minutes of each class, children will be directing their own learning – something they may at first find daunting, but will quickly get the hang of and hopefully really enjoy.


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