A hands-on STEM buddy for the Light It Up! breakout. Wire a battery, a wire, and a bulb into a working circuit — then test what happens with a gap, and which materials conduct.
🎯 The problem
How can you make a small bulb light up? Build a closed circuit so electricity flows from the battery, through the wire, to the bulb, and back. Then break the loop and see what happens.
Big question: What must be true about the path for the bulb to light? And which materials let the electricity through?
🧰 What you need
1 battery (a D-cell works well) and a battery holder if you have one
1 small bulb (and a bulb holder) or an LED
2–3 wires with the ends stripped (or aluminum foil strips)
Test materials: a paper clip, a coin, a rubber band, a plastic spoon, a pencil
⚠️ Safety: use only a small battery and small bulb. Never use wall electricity. Ask a grown-up for help.
🔁 Be an engineer
Ask: How do I make the bulb light up?
Imagine: Draw the loop — battery, wire, bulb, and back to the battery.
Plan: Decide how the wires will connect the battery to the bulb.
Build: Connect it into a full loop with no gaps. Watch the bulb light!
Test: Now open the loop (pull one wire loose). Does the bulb go out? Then close it again.
Make it better: Put each test material into the gap. Which ones let the bulb light (conductors) and which don't (insulators)?
📊 What conducts?
Material in the gap
Bulb lights? (conductor / insulator)
Paper clip or coin
Rubber band or plastic spoon
🗣️ Tell about it
What had to be true for the bulb to light?
Which materials were conductors, and which were insulators? (Try the words circuit, closed path, and conductor.)
🔧 Meet a STEM job — Electrical Engineer. Electrical engineers design the circuits inside phones, lights, cars, and robots. They test their designs and fix the gaps — just like you did! (Grade 4 innovators to explore: engineers who design electronics and clean energy.)
TEKS for this challenge
4.8(C) electricity in a closed path makes light & heat · 4.8(B) conductors & insulators · 4.1(B) plan & do an investigation · 4.1(G) develop & use a model · 4.2(D) evaluate a design. Aligned to, not reproduced from, the official TEKS — confirm before adoption.