Understanding series and parallel circuits involves conceptualizing how voltages drop and currents pass through an entire circuit. A technique that I found useful in helping students conceptualize and remember the nature of voltage drops in circuits involves sculpting 3-D wire models.
REFERENCES
1.
Rosalind Driver, Ann Squires, Peter Rushworth, and Valerie Wood-Robinson, Making Sense of Secondary Science: Research into Children's Ideas (Routledge Falmer Publishers, 1985), pp. 117–120.
2.
Thomas B.
Greenslade
Jr., “The hydraulic analogy for electric current
,” Phys. Teach.
41
, 464
–466
(Nov. 2003
).3.
Solving the series and parallel circuits using tables was a method taught to me by a physics teacher, Dale Graves, of Mooresville High School in Mooresville, IN.
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© 2005 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2005
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