by James Johnson

Created on: November 02, 2009

Electricity is something that can get a class really charged up and going. It is intimately involved in everybody's life because our bodies literally run using electricity! It also provides energy for our lights, our refrigerators and, most important to children, television. But what exactly is electricity and how do we create it? Electricity is the effect of magnetism and electrons that work and move. It can get complex but, the main two things young children need to know is that it is useful and that it is dangerous.

One of the most powerful forces of nature that a child will actually see and experience is an electrical storm. Lightening or electricity coming from the sky to the earth with enough power in most cases to run a city for a week. That is just one large lightening bolt, the storm will have hundreds.

Start your the Electricity Bulletin Board with a small city and include a power plant showing a dynamo and how electricity is created by man. This can be nuclear, water, wind, coal, gas, or even geothermal. Have lines going around and running things, factories, streetlights, and into the home (or school). Show how the electrons flow into and out of the home. You might even ask the students to draw things that require electricity as a homework project, and then put the pictures on the board. Be sure to include hospitals, factories and everything. The idea is to emphasize how much we depend on electricity.

Reserve a small part of the board to show the dangers of electricity and how electricity is a force of nature, and one that can become deadly. Show how too much current can explode a light bulb or kill a person. Talk about fuses and plugs and how you need to stay away from a downed wire after a storm. Some would say this might be to much for a bulletin board and should just be discussed in class, but the board is best as it is a reminder that they will see for several days!

That is the real reason for bulletin boards, as reminders of what is being taught in class, and to give children time to adsorb important points. They are visual tools that help the class answer questions and remember the important points of something like electricity. Bulletin boards are an essential part of the education system!

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