Integrating Electrical Engineering Concepts - K-12 Level

A few reasons that girls may wish to pursue a career in electrical engineering include involvement in the design and development of:

clean and more efficient energy sources (for example, solar photovoltaics)
enhanced signal processing methods (e.g., as used in medical diagnostics)
communications systems to make the Earth "a small world"
electronic devices which help society (for example, aids for physically and mentally challenged individuals)
control systems which enhance the quality of life (e.g., automated cars)

Resources and ideas for integrating electrical engineering applications into middle, junior high and high school (math and science) courses are described below.

First Tier

ThinkQuest Library: For example, look under Science/Physics/Electricity or Science/Energy
- The Electronics Workshop which has some nice tutorials (10-12)
- History of Electrical Engineering
Frank Potter's Science Gems Great links to Great Science Resources (K-16) including
- Control / Electrical Engineering which, for example, points out the AT&T Bandwidth Example
- Physical Science II - Electricity and Magnetism
ExploreScience.com an interactive learning experience
Multimedia activities; see E & M (electricity and magnetism) grade 7-9
Columbia Education Center's Mini Lessons came from their summer workshops; they were done by a consortium of teachers
- A alternate site for this stuff is at: OFCN's Academy Curriculum Exchange
- SCIENCE Mini-Lessons Elementary (K-5)
- SCIENCE Mini-Lessons Intermediate (6-8) - for example: 3-D Magnetic Field", activity to make and see a magnetic field (6-8)
- SCIENCE Mini-Lessons for High School (9-12) - for example: Magnetic fields activity (8-12)
Center for Polymer Studies at Boston University has
The How Stuff Works site has several highly related items including:
- Electronics - TV, Radio, Cell phone, VCR, CDs/DVDs
- Science and Technology - electromagnets, relays, Van de Graaff generators, laser, solar light
- Energy and Electrical Power - solar cells, transformer
- Inside - electric motor, smoke detector, cell phone
- Digital Technology - boolean logic, electronic gates, digital clock, microcontrollers
- Home Appliances - microwave oven, telephone, Christmas lights
- Telecommunications - telephone, cell phone, radio scanner, satellites

Second Tier

National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) has On-line Resources such as the SS&C Micro-Units
For example, see unit 943 on Electric Charge and Static Electricity
Lightspan.com has Micro-Units for Teaching (commercial site)
The Why Files science behind the news
A Teacher's Guide to Superconductivity for High School Students available from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
This handbook (ORNL/M-3063/R1) was prepared as an effort to help teachers learn to understand, teach, and demonstrate the basic features of superconductivity. Demonstrations and experiments are provided, but they do require some non-tradiational equipment.
Physics Education Laboratory: A multimedia exercise is an instructional physics software package that allows high school students to experiment will fundamental physics laws and concepts. It includes:
Sound Waves Module - Fundamentals; Speed of sound; Displacement and pressure variations; Interference; Intensity; Doppler effect
The Hands-On Technology Program includes a series of experiments about electricity and magnetism that was designed for use in the 4th grade.

Third Tier

The Wonders of Physics includes
- An on-line book of Physics Demonstrations including Electricity and Magnetism
- Physics Experiments You Can Do At Home
Physics InfoMall CD-ROM for purchase
A large collection of physics resources assembled for students and teachers; it includes 35,000 pages, 11 complete books, 6 study guides and the content of 19 textbooks.
The Physics Connexion
A few physics tricks

Websites with Indices of Links

Yahoo! Science>Education>K-12
Physics Resources on the Web
A short list of general and specific web sites
Busy Teachers' WebSite K-12
See the Physics portion for a list of websites
Teacher Links from the National Science Foundation (NSF)

General Science Resources

Science competitions
- Science Service competitions - International Science and Engineering Fair; Science Talent Search; Young Scientist Challenge
Kids' Almanac - Science
Stephen Hawking's Universe
BillNye.com

Local Phoenix Metro Websites

Arizona Science Center
Arizona Solar Energy Center
Electricity resources for elementary-middle school from Tempe school district
Magnificent Magnets & Shocking Electricity for elementary school from Scottsdale school district
Salt River Project (SRP) Resources for Parents and Teachers
Arizona Public Service (APS) Educational Initiatives
Motorola Arizona Education including K-12
Intel K-12 Education

Demonstrations

Physics demo's from the UK
Java applets
Science Demos for science teachers grades 9-12
Take a look at the Electrical Circuit Demo from June 1999
MAD.SCI Libe: Demos!
Demonstrations for home and the classroom. The age level varies for specific activities, but most of these sites feature activites for K-12 students
Physics Demos & Science Exhibit Designs
Several Physics Demos unique to that website
Physics 2000
Lots of interactive Java applet demos
TIPTOP/VLAB:
A list of physics related Java Applets (also some VRML and Shockwave stuff) available on the Net
VAP Index with mostly physics motion applets
Physics Demonstration Resources On-Line for Science Educators
A compilation of websites with physics demos
How Things Work from Physics Dept. at The University of Virginia
Demonstration instructions in a pdf file, but they are not well indexed
Physics Lecture Demonstrations
Physics Lecture Demonstrations, with some problems and puzzles, too.
Physics demos from Cal Poly Pomona
includes a list of electricity and magnetism demonstrations
Boston University Physics Demo Room
including electricity and magnetism demos

Last Updated: June 21, 2002
Return to WISE Investments in Electrical Engineering Lab Page