Electrical Energy Teaching Resources
Build your electrical energy lesson plans with printable worksheets, activities and Google Slide templates created by teachers for primary science teachers like you.
This collection of Australian science curriculum-aligned resources includes editable options and resources that our teacher team has already differentiated for you to make science lesson planning easier!
Explore printable and digital versions of our most popular electrical energy activities, including key electricity vocabulary, kid-friendly experiments and projects. Each resource has undergone rigorous review by a Teach Starter teacher team member to ensure it's ready to be used in your classroom.
Whether it's your first year teaching electrifying lessons or you're just looking for some new ideas, we have you covered! Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Is Electricity? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Electricity is a form of energy that powers many of the devices we use every day, like lights, computers and even some cars.
Electricity is often something we take for granted, but most people in the 21st century would be at a complete loss without it.
Who Invented Electricity? The Real Story of Where It Came From
Electrical energy has always existed in nature — it wasn't invented. But there are specific inventors you might want to teach your students about to help them understand why we have the electrical power we use today.
An American inventor named Benjamin Franklin is often credited with discovering electricity in 1752. The story goes that Franklin attached a wire to a kite in a thunderstorm to demonstrate that lightning had electrical energy.
This is a popular story ... but it turns out plenty of scientists had worked with electricity before him! English scientist William Gilbert, for example, is credited with coining the term 'electricus' in 1600 — later changed to electricity, of course.
His fellow Englishman, Stephen Gray, is credited with discovering the difference between electrical insulators and conductors in the 1720s — nearly 30 years before Benjamin Franklin pulled out his kite.
5 Fun Electricity Facts for Kids to Share With Your Class
Want to zap your class with a bit of excitement to engage them on the topic of electricity? Try using these fun facts about electric to get them hooked:
- Electricity travels fast ... almost as fast as the speed of light!
- There is a fish called an electric eel that can generate electricity. They use this electric power to shock their prey and to defend themselves from predators.
- Our brains use electricity to send messages to the rest of our bodies. These signals tell parts of our body to move or feel.
- Have you ever seen water bend? It's real! Static electricity can actually bend water.
- When a volcano erupts, it can sometimes create electricity and even send out bolts of lightning.
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Electricity Explained Worksheet
A worksheet that explores the concept of electricity.
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Forms of Energy Poster Pack
Display information about mechanical, electrical, light, thermal and sound energy with this poster pack.
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Parts of a Circuit Worksheet
Guide your students to identify and label the 4 parts of a circuit with this electrical circuit worksheet.
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Electricity Word Wall Vocabulary
Use this teacher-created electricity resource to teach electricity-related vocabulary. Build a word wall with your students during your electricity lessons.
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Understanding Conductors Teaching Slides
Teach your students about the basics of conductors with this 17-slide teaching presentation.
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Understanding Insulators Teaching Slides for Year 6
Teach your students about electrical and thermal insulators with this teaching presentation.
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Electrical Circuits Wall Display
Create a wall display showing different types of circuits and related vocabulary.
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Voltaic Pile Poster
A poster showing Alessandro Volta's Voltaic Pile.
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Electricity Teaching Resource Pack
A collection of electricity posters, worksheets and activities.
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It's Electric! Unit Plan
This Physical Sciences unit addresses the principles of electricity. It explores what electricity is, how it is transferred and how energy is transformed to create it.
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Electricity Explained
An assessment task in which students will demonstrate an understanding of energy transfer and transformation when generating electricity.
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Is It Sustainable? Evaluating Sources of Electricity
A 60 minute lesson in which students will consider whether energy sources are sustainable.
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Solar Electricity
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investigate the use of solar panels and determine if they are a viable source of electricity.
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Transforming Energy Into Electricity
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investigate how moving air and water can turn turbines to generate electricity.
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Feeling the Flow - Electrical Conductors and Insulators
A 60 minute lesson in which students will classify objects as conductors or insulators of electricity.
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What is Electricity?
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Shine Bright, Electric Light!
A 60 minute lesson in which students will investigate how changes to electrical circuits affect their components.
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Wired Up! - Building Electrical Circuits
A 60 minute lesson in which students will read and draw circuit diagrams.