Electricity is needed for lighting, heating and making machines and appliances work.

An electrical appliance is a device or piece of equipment designed to perform a specific task, which needs electricity to work.

An engineer is a person who designs and builds things.

A diagram is a simplified drawing of information.

Electrical appliances of the future (non-statutory)

Science

Electrical appliances

Components in a simple circuit

Building simple circuits

Troubleshooting problems with circuits

Switches

Electrical conductors and insulators

Electrical conductors: testing

Generating and transporting electricity (non-statutory)

Working with electricity

In this Simple electrical circuits unit, pupils learn to construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts. In the Changing circuits unit, they will build on this knowledge to learn to compare and give reasons for variations in how components function in a simple circuit

In the Everyday materials unit, pupils learnt to identify and name a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass and metal. In this Simple electrical circuits unit, pupils will build on this knowledge to recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors

This unit covers constructing simple series electrical circuits, identifying parts like cells, wires, and switches, and recognising conductors and insulators. It also explores how circuits work with lamps and switches. The emphasis is on practical enquiries, making observations, and presenting data.

Simple electrical circuits

Scientists and engineers invent and design electrical {{}}. These include televisions, mobile phones and washing machines.

Why were electrical appliances introduced?

Modern mobile phones do not need electricity to work.

Modern mobile phones have a longer battery life.

How have engineers improved mobile phones since the first ones were introduced?

Which of these are electrical appliances?

machines which can copy, replace or help humans complete tasks

electrical tools which have human or animal faces or bodies

they don’t need any words or labels so they save time over writing

they help people see and understand the different parts of a design

they make a design look more interesting and colourful

Why are diagrams and drawings useful for presenting engineering designs?

What material are these toy building bricks made from?

Scientists and engineers choose materials for particular tasks based on their physical {{}} such as whether they are strong, waterproof or flexible.

An {{}} is a device or piece of equipment designed to perform a task or function.

Match the appliance with how it is powered by electricity.

Which of these appliances use mains electricity?

Starter Quiz

Which of these is a material?