Guide for the organization of an Inquiry Learning Space according to

Go-Lab inquiry cycle designed to combine in-class teaching with the

use of online labs.
The Go-Lab Inquiry Cycle
The Go-Lab Inquiry Cycle is graphically presented in the image.
This activity includes two ILS.
In this ILS students will have to design experiments and measure data, so we will follow this
pathway:
OrientationHypothesisExperimentationData InterpretationConclusion;
There is a previous ILS that should be solved before this one. It follows a different pathway
because students don't deal with numbers, they only have to solve a problematic question.
In this case, the structure will be:
OrientationQuestionExplorationData InterpretationConclusion;

About the lesson plan

Title:
Why did bulb explode?: Ohm's law
Brief Description:
This is an ILS thought for 12-14 years old students that work with electricity in a more
conceptual way, talking about potential and intensity in a numerical way, for the first time in
their curricula.
Students, who have previously solved the ILS Better if bulbs don't explode and used the
concepts of voltage, current and resistance, have to find the numerical relationship between
these main electrical magnitudes in the bulb.
Subject Domain: Technology, physics, electricity
Keywords: Electric circuit, voltage, intensity, resistance, Ohm's law.
Language: Catalan
Age Range: 12-14 years
Didactical Hours: 2 hours
Educational Objectives (Types of knowledge):
Factual:
-Relationship between electrical magnitudes: Ohm's Law.
-Limits in electric magnitudes for real components.
Conceptual:
-Main electrical magnitudes: Resistance, Current and Potential.
Procedural:
-Connecting electrical circuits
-Measuring electrical magnitudes: ohmmeter, voltmeter and amperimeter connexion
Meta-cognitive :
-Using simulators as a way to study behaviour of real systems
-Ability to self-evaluate and correct their work

Orientation (5 minutes)
Students have previously done the ILS Better if bulbs don't explode.
At the end of this ILS, they were asked to reflect about their conclusions and to think further
questions to investigate. With the teacher's orientation, they may have asked about the
relationships between the different electrical magnitudes involved in the bulb's explosion.
In case they haven't arrived to this kind of questions, teacher will introduce the ideas here,
something in this line:
OK, we have solved the bulb's problem but we have to experiment and break some
bulbs before arriving to a conclusion. Is there a way to know if the bulb is going to
operate properly without having to do explosive experiments?

Conceptualization
Remembering the previous concepts (5 minutes)
First we have to remember the concepts worked in the previous activity. To do that,
we will show the students and briefly comment the different conceptual maps they
have produced in the previous ILS. A IWB with a document projector may be useful in
this point.
Introducing numerical ideas (15 minutes)
Teacher explains we are trying to find which is the relationship between the numerical
values of the electrical magnitudes. This way, we will be able to predict the behavior
of the bulbs. What do we need to do so?
With the help of all the class, we should arrive to the conclusion that we need to
agree about which units are we going to use in the first place. And second, we will
need some kind of tool to measure this magnitudes.
At this moment, we give them the personal documentation and the group
documentation, and students are asked to individually fill in the different concepts in
the following table:

Electrical
magnitude

Unit and simbol

Aparell de mesura

Com es connecta

Volt (V)

Voltimeter

Between two different

points, in paralel

Diferncia de potencial
o voltatge (V)
Resistncia (R)

Corrent o Intensitat (I)

Ohm ()

Ampere (A)

Ohmmeter

Amperimeter

Between the resistor

ends, without
generator
In a point of the
circuit, in serie

After that, they have to share it with the group, and fill in one definitive version of the
table in the group documentation. They may need to consult the text book.
Hypothesis (20 minutes)
We have to be sure all the groups have understood what an hypothesis is: an
affirmation that we will have to check with an experiment.
The group has to generate as much hypothesis as possible, in form of sentences with
the required structure. Again, they have to work individually for some minutes, and
them share their results and complete the group report.
TEACHER TIP:
We are working in a PILE project, and this activity was great to work with the first
conditional, so we asked them to write the sentences originally in English instead of
catalan. You can translate them after if necessary.

Investigation
Sub-phase 1: Exploration (10 minutes)
The virtual laboratory has already been presented and used in the previous ILS, so they are
familiar with the informatic environment.
(http://go-lab.gw.utwente.nl/production/circuitSimulator/build/circuitSimulator.html)

Anyway, teacher has to present the measuring tools at the right side of the window, because
they haven't used them in the previous experiment.

This is the last activity of the first session, an can be done in the second one in case there is
not enough time
Sub-phase 2: Experimentation (40 minutes)
This is the first activity of the second session.
Students have to design, in the group documentation, different experiments to check
the hypothesis they propose.
They have to use the structure proposed, one experiment for every hypothesis.
They will have to discover by themselves that not every magnitude can be changed in
the simulator. In fact, they can only set the values for voltage and resistance, not for
intensity. And can measure voltage or intensity, but not resistance in the circuit
To change resistance values, they have to know the color code. If they have never
worked with this code, teacher will have to introduce here a new activity to explain it.
Finally, they have to do the experiments in the simulator and write down the collected
data.
Sub-phase 3: Data interpretation (10 minutes)
They have to draw the graphics (in the space prepared to do so in the group
documentation or with a spreadsheet if there is one available) and conclude if their
hypothesis are true or false.
Conclusion (10 minutes)
To finish this ILS, students are asked to write down their conclusions, and try to find a
mathematical expression that relates the three magnitudes.
In case they are not able to come up with the expression, they can ask for teacher tip. The
teacher will give them three possible expressions (V=I.R, R=V.I and I=V.R) and they have to
check which one is right.
In this case there is not enough time to present conclusions in the classroom, so the group
will have to hand in all the material next day, with the final conclusion filled in.

Discussion
In this case there is not enough time to present conclusions in the classroom in two hours.
It's important for the group to write down the conclusions. It is highly recommended, in the
next class, to comment with all the group the experiment result and the difficulties students
have encountered during their work.
Students have to fill the auto-evaluation rubrics and hand in the individual and group reports
to the teacher.