{"units":[{"id":1,"grade":4,"title":"Energy Systems","question":"How do we know energy is there?","learn":"Students identify evidence of energy, trace how energy moves through a connected system, investigate what changes a system and finish by designing and explaining their own energy system.","image":"sb-classroom-guide-3-0.webp","lessons":["Does Energy Exist?","How Does Energy Travel?","Can One Source Power Many Things?","Why Didn’t It Work?","Can We Change the Energy?","Build and Explain an Energy System"]},{"id":2,"grade":4,"title":"Inputs and Outputs","question":"What makes a system respond?","learn":"Students investigate the inputs and outputs in electrical systems and discover how changing an input can create different outputs and system behaviors.","image":"sb-classroom-guide-3-3.webp","lessons":["What Is an Input?","What Is an Output?","How Do Inputs Cause Outputs?","Can One Input Cause Many Outputs?","Do Different Inputs Create Different Behaviors?","Build a Responsive System"]},{"id":3,"grade":4,"title":"Sensors and Automatic Systems","question":"Can a circuit notice a change?","learn":"Students explore how sensors detect information from the environment and use that information to trigger or change a system’s response.","image":"sb-classroom-guide-8-1.webp","lessons":["What Is a Sensor?","Can a System Detect Light?","Different Sensors Gather Different Information","Can Sensors Measure Different Amounts?","Build a Sensor System"]},{"id":4,"grade":4,"title":"Electrical Paths and Materials","question":"Why does the path matter?","learn":"Students test circuit paths and materials, compare different arrangements and use evidence to explain why an electrical system works, changes or fails.","image":"sb-classroom-guide-3-5.webp","lessons":["Electricity Needs a Complete Path","What Goes In Must Come Out","Electricity Can Split Into Different Paths","The Path Changes What Happens","Different Materials Make Different Paths","Some Paths Are Harder Than Others"]},{"id":5,"grade":5,"title":"Measuring and Controlling Electricity","question":"How do we describe what we discovered?","learn":"Students give scientific names to the electrical patterns they have observed, investigate voltage, current and resistance, and use those ideas to control a system.","image":"sb-classroom-guide-3-0.webp","lessons":["Giving the Rules Names","Electrical Push","Flow","The Three Rules Work Together","Control the System"]},{"id":6,"grade":5,"title":"Control Systems and Automation","question":"How can a system respond automatically?","learn":"Students examine how control systems sense changing conditions, compare possible responses and design increasingly useful automatic systems.","image":"sb-classroom-guide-8-1.webp","lessons":["What Is a Control System?","The Environment Changes the Circuit","One Sensor, Many Possibilities","Building Better Control Systems","Imagine an Automatic System"]},{"id":7,"grade":5,"title":"Communication Systems","question":"How can a circuit carry a message?","learn":"Students investigate how signals carry information, why shared standards matter and how engineers select and design reliable communication systems.","image":"sb-classroom-guide-3-2.webp","lessons":["Why Do We Need Communication?","Building a Communication Machine","Why Standards Matter","Choosing the Best Way to Communicate","Design a Communication System"]},{"id":8,"grade":5,"title":"Motion Systems","question":"How does electricity become useful motion?","learn":"Students discover how electricity creates motion, look inside a motor and apply mechanical choices to design a machine that performs useful work.","image":"sb-classroom-guide-16-2.webp","lessons":["Electricity Creates Motion","What’s Inside a Motor?","Motion Can Do Work","Designing the Right Machine"]},{"id":9,"grade":5,"title":"From Motion to Electricity","question":"Can the same motor work in reverse?","learn":"Students reverse the energy story by discovering that motion can create electricity, connecting electricity and magnetism and tracing a complete journey of energy.","image":"sb-classroom-guide-3-1.webp","lessons":["Can Motion Create Electricity?","The Secret of Electromagnetism","The Journey of Energy"]}],"lessons":{"4":[[{"big":"Energy is invisible, but we know it exists because it makes things happen.","eq":"If we cannot see energy, how do we know it is there?","desc":"Students build three systems in a row: battery to LED, battery to motor, then battery to siren and speaker. After each one they record what changed, and the class collects the results in a shared chart. The words circuit and current stay out of this lesson on purpose. What students leave with is that energy shows itself through what it does."},{"big":"Energy follows a path through connected systems.","eq":"How does energy get from the battery to the light?","desc":"One build here, battery to switch to LED, and then students break it. Tracing where the energy goes, and watching what happens when a connection goes missing, gives them the idea of a path before they have the vocabulary for it."},{"big":"One source can power multiple outputs, but the way a system is connected matters.","eq":"Can one battery make more than one thing happen at the same time?","desc":"Pairs test one battery against three loads: two LEDs, an LED with a motor, then an LED with the siren and speaker. Students record what each system did and how it was connected. Groups often get different results from the same parts list, and the next lesson starts there."},{"big":"The way a system is connected affects how it behaves.","eq":"Why did some systems work and others not work?","desc":"This one opens with a puzzle, an LED that will not light. Students compare two systems built from the same parts in different arrangements, then hunt for the pattern that explains the difference. The components are identical in both, so the explanation has to come from how they are connected."},{"big":"Energy systems can be controlled.","eq":"Can we change what an energy system does?","desc":"The potentiometer arrives. Students put it into a light circuit, a motor circuit, then a sound circuit, turning the knob slowly and describing what changes each time. They are controlling a system deliberately, which is a different move from building one that works."},{"big":"","eq":"Can I build and explain an energy system?","desc":"The Unit 1 capstone, about 60 minutes. Students design and build an energy system of their own, then explain it: what the parts are, how the energy moves through them, and what evidence shows it is working. Everything from the first five lessons is fair game."}],[{"big":"Inputs tell systems when to act.","eq":"How does a system know when to do something?","desc":"Students start with inputs they already know, the things that make a person or a machine act, then build battery to switch to LED and battery to pushbutton to LED. Comparing how each one starts the circuit gives them a working definition they can apply to systems outside the kit."},{"big":"Outputs communicate information.","eq":"How does a system show what it is doing?","desc":"Same input, three different endings. Students keep the battery and switch in place and swap what comes last: LED, then motor, then siren and speaker. Recording what each one communicates leads to the idea that an output is how a system tells you what it is doing."},{"big":"Inputs cause outputs.","eq":"What happens when an input occurs?","desc":"Two builds, battery to switch to LED and battery to pushbutton to motor, with a prediction written down before the third test. Students watch the order of events and describe the cause and effect they see, which gives them the input to output pattern in their own words."},{"big":"One input can cause many outputs.","eq":"Can one action make many things happen?","desc":"Students add outputs to a single switch, first an LED, then an LED and motor, then all three with the siren and speaker. One action drives the lot. They record what each addition does and explain why the single input still controls the whole system."},{"big":"The type of input affects how a system behaves.","eq":"Does every input affect a system in the same way?","desc":"A slide switch stays on. A pushbutton works only while it is held. Students build both, note the difference in behaviour, then argue for which input suits a given job. Choosing the component becomes part of the design rather than a detail handed to them."},{"big":"Systems respond to inputs and communicate through outputs.","eq":"Can I design a system that responds to an input?","desc":"The Unit 2 capstone, about 60 minutes. Students design a responsive system of their own, choosing the input and however many outputs they want, then explain why each component is there. The curriculum expects a wide spread of designs and tells teachers not to steer toward one answer."}],[{"big":"Sensors gather information about the world.","eq":"How does a system know what is happening around it?","desc":"Before any building, students sort things into sensors and not sensors, starting with their own senses and working up to machines. A pushbutton makes for a good argument. By the end they can say what separates a sensor from a switch: one gathers information, the other gets operated."},{"big":"Sensors can detect changes in the environment.","eq":"How can a system know when something changes?","desc":"The photoresistor comes out. Students cover and uncover it, watch the output respond, then predict what will happen in a different spot in the room before testing there. The circuit changes without anyone operating a control."},{"big":"Different sensors gather different kinds of information.","eq":"Do all sensors gather the same information?","desc":"Three sensors, three kinds of information. Students work out what each one responds to, play a matching game against real applications, then explain why a system built for one job would not use the others."},{"big":"Sensors can detect different amounts of information.","eq":"Can a sensor tell the difference between a little and a lot?","desc":"Students move from detecting to measuring. Working with light from very dark through to bright, they create five levels they can tell apart and record the system's response at each one. A sensor that reports how much is a different tool from one that reports whether."},{"big":"Sensors help systems gather information and respond to the world.","eq":"Can I design a system that uses information from its environment?","desc":"The Unit 3 capstone, about 60 minutes. Students design a system that responds to something in its environment rather than to a person, then explain what it senses, how it responds, and where it would be useful."}],[{"big":"Electricity can only travel through a complete path.","eq":"Why doesn't the circuit work when a connection is missing?","alt":"SparkBlocks Curriculum TEKS Units 1-4 Grade 4-1.pdf","desc":"Students build battery to LED, then take a connection out and watch it stop. Adding a switch lets them open and close the path on purpose. They draw both the working and the broken circuit, mark the gap, and write the rule in their own words."},{"big":"What goes in must come out.","eq":"If electricity enters part of a circuit, can some of it disappear?","desc":"A water junction sets this up. If ten litres a second arrive, how much leaves? Students carry that model into a circuit and test whether any electricity goes missing on the way through. Grade 6 meets this again as Kirchhoff's current law, but the name stays out of it here."},{"big":"Electricity can split into different paths.","eq":"Does all the electricity have to take the same path?","desc":"Students build a branching circuit, an LED on one branch and a motor on the other, then remove one branch and see what happens to the rest. Drawing the junction and labelling both paths is part of the record."},{"big":"The arrangement of a circuit can change what happens.","eq":"Can the same parts produce different results?","desc":"Circuit A in series, circuit B in parallel, the same components in both. Students build each one, compare the behaviour, and write down which arrangement did what. Series and parallel get their names here, after the difference has already been seen."},{"big":"Different materials make different paths.","eq":"Can electricity travel through every material?","desc":"Students build a tester with a gap in it, predict which materials will complete the path, then try them. The LED does the reporting: lit means conductor, dark means insulator. Predictions go on paper first, so the sorting is a real test."},{"big":"Some paths are harder for electricity to travel through than others.","eq":"Why does turning the knob change what happens?","desc":"Back to the potentiometer, this time turning the knob slowly through a sound circuit and listening for where the response starts. The silent stretch followed by sudden sound surprises most classes. Students describe the path as easier or harder, which is resistance without the word."}]],"5":[[{"big":"Scientists use names and measurements to describe the rules of electricity.","eq":"How do scientists talk about the rules of electricity?","desc":"Grade 4 ended with a knob that changed things. This lesson gives that property its name. Students turn a potentiometer in a speaker circuit, describe the change as resistance, then swap in a fixed resistor to compare. Ohms and the symbol come in at the end."},{"big":"Scientists use the word Voltage to describe electrical push.","eq":"How can we tell when electricity is pushing harder?","desc":"Voltage arrives as push. Students compare a circuit carrying one resistor against the same circuit carrying two, hear the difference, and connect it to why a tall waterfall pushes harder than a small stream. The term is introduced after they have described the effect themselves."},{"big":"Scientists use the word Current to describe the flow of electricity.","eq":"","desc":"Current is named here as flow. Students predict what a third parallel path will do before adding it, then test and discuss. Amps get introduced as the unit, alongside a comparison against voltage and resistance so the three stay distinct."},{"big":"Changing push or difficulty changes flow.","eq":"","desc":"With voltage, resistance, and current all named, students change one and predict what it does to the others. A resistor network in a sound circuit gives them something to adjust and something to listen to. Conclusions have to be backed by what they observed."},{"big":"Engineers control systems by changing how electricity behaves.","eq":"","desc":"Two challenges, one sound and one motion. Students use a potentiometer and a resistor network to reach a target behaviour, adjusting as they go, then explain which design choices produced the result. Everything named in the four previous lessons gets used here."}],[{"big":"Some systems can make simple decisions by responding to information from the world around them.","eq":"","desc":"Students build a light alarm and work out what it is reacting to, with no button or switch anywhere in the circuit. Recognising everyday control systems comes first, then the vocabulary: what a sensor is, and what makes a system a control system."},{"big":"Some resistors can change automatically when the environment changes.","eq":"","desc":"A photoresistor drives a motor here, so the change shows up as speed rather than sound. Students change the light reaching the sensor, record what the motor does, and link the behaviour back to resistance from Unit 5."},{"big":"A sensor provides information. Engineers decide what the system does with that information.","eq":"","desc":"Two systems run off the same sensor, one turning a motor and one sounding an alarm. Students compare them and identify what is shared and what the engineer chose. The sensor supplies the same information in both cases, and the output is a separate decision."},{"big":"Engineers improve systems by making them more reliable and better suited to their job.","eq":"","desc":"The light alarm that worked yesterday fails next to a window. Students find where it breaks down, build a housing to shield the sensor, and retest under the same conditions. The vocabulary for reliability and optimisation is built from the failure they just corrected."},{"big":"Engineers design automatic systems by identifying a problem, choosing the right input, and deciding how the system should respond.","eq":"","desc":"Students pick a real problem and design an automatic system for it, choosing the input, the sensor, and the response. What they hand in is a labelled diagram running from input through sensor to output, with an explanation of why each choice suits the problem."}],[{"big":"Information is only useful if it can be communicated and understood.","eq":"","desc":"A drawing game makes the point faster than any explanation could. One partner describes, the other draws, and the result shows how much gets lost in between. Students then build the sender, message, and receiver model out of what went wrong."},{"big":"A simple signal can carry information when the sender and receiver agree on what it means.","eq":"","desc":"Students build a signalling machine and run it two ways, silent with the LED alone and audible with the speaker added. Then they invent a code and try to send a message with it. The success criterion is whether the receiving partner can decode it."},{"big":"Communication only works when everyone agrees on the same rules.","eq":"","desc":"Two pairs with two private codes cannot understand each other, and that experience is what this lesson is built on. Morse code then arrives as the fix for a real engineering problem, and students see why an agreed standard beats a clever private one."},{"big":"The same message can be communicated in many different ways. Engineers choose the method that works best for the situation.","eq":"","desc":"Students compare ways of sending the same message and weigh each against the situation: how noisy it is, how far it has to travel, who is receiving it. The answer changes with the problem, and they have to say why."},{"big":"Engineers design communication systems by understanding the problem before choosing how information will be sent.","eq":"","desc":"The Unit 7 design task. Students define the communication problem first, naming the sender, the receiver, and what has to get through, then choose how to send it. Understanding the problem before picking the technology is the habit being taught."}],[{"big":"Electricity can create motion.","eq":"","desc":"Students run a motor, then reverse the connections and watch the direction flip. Tying that to what they already know about how electricity moves gives them a cause for the behaviour rather than just a fact about motors."},{"big":"Inside every electric motor, electricity and magnetism work together to create motion.","eq":"","desc":"This lesson opens the motor up. Students handle magnets to feel attraction and repulsion, see that current through a wire makes a temporary magnet, then put the two together to explain the rotation they have been watching since the first unit."},{"big":"A motor becomes useful when its motion is used to accomplish a task.","eq":"","desc":"A spinning motor by itself accomplishes nothing, so students build something that puts the motion to work. They identify exactly what is being moved and describe the job it does. The explanation carries more weight in the assessment than the model does."},{"big":"Engineers choose the right type of motion to solve a problem.","eq":"","desc":"Students pick a real problem, decide what kind of motion would solve it, and justify the motor they choose. The opening question asks whether every machine needs its motor to work the same way."}],[{"big":"Motion can be used to create electricity.","eq":"","desc":"The battery comes out and the LED still lights, which is a reliable surprise. Spinning the motor by hand is generating the electricity, and students describe the same device working in both directions, as a motor one way and a generator the other."},{"big":"Electricity and magnetism are connected: each can create the other.","eq":"","desc":"A short lesson, around 25 to 30 minutes, run as two stations. One drives the motor from a battery, the other turns the shaft to light an LED. Comparing them shows the link running both ways between electricity and magnetism."},{"big":"Almost all of the electricity we use is created by turning a generator.","eq":"","desc":"Students trace the electricity in their bedroom back to where it started. Nearly every path runs through something spinning a generator, whether the push comes from water, wind, or steam. Generator and turbine are defined as the parts are identified."}]]},"editions":{"NGSS":{"gradeSplit":true,"pill":"NGSS core curriculum"},"TEKS":{"gradeSplit":true,"lessonLimits":{"5":1},"pill":"Texas TEKS curriculum"},"Canada":{"gradeSplit":false,"bandLabel":"One book, Grades 4–6","lessonTitles":{"1":{"5":"Where Does Energy Go?","6":"Can You Design Your Own System?"},"3":{"3":"Do Different Sensors Gather Different Information?"}},"unitTitles":{"1":"Evidence of Energy and Complete Systems","2":"Inputs, Outputs and Responsive Systems","3":"Sensors and Environmental Information","4":"Circuit Paths and Electrical Behaviour","5":"Electrical Quantities and Scientific Language","6":"Control Systems and Automation","7":"Communication Systems","8":"Motors, Force, Motion and Machines","9":"Generating Electricity and Energy Pathways"},"pill":"Canadian curriculum","countLabel":"lessons, Grades 4–6"}}}