👣 Learning journeys for "High power, and not so high power"

Posing this hinge question...

How could you work out what costs most to run while switched on?

may provoke responses which enable you to allow children to engage with exploring the importance of the idea of the power of appliance to energy paid for at one of three levels.

Teaching ideas from different levels can of course be introduced as appropriate to each child's learning journey.

Particular tripwires to bear in mind

⚠️ just this

⚠️ lonely numbers

⚠️ physical quantities

Keep these in mind as you guide children through the selected level.

Shallow

🩺 Typically children focus on one salient feature. Listen out for talk like this to support your judgement that this might be an appropriate starting point for these children.

The hotter things will cost more.

The brightest things will cost most.

The smaller the thing is, the less it will cost.

🔎 To help children see what they think and to develop those thoughts you might promote discussions using the following set of thoughts as prompts for children to agree or disagree with.

The hottest things cost most. The toaster and stove top glow.

What about the brightness? Very bright lights must be very powerful.

Big radiators might not be hot, but they warm the room a lot because they're big. So they might not be the hottest or brightest, but still cost more when running.

Here are some approaches to extend exploration at this starter level.

🧭 starting to explore "High power, and not so high power"

Digging

🩺 Considers multiple qualitative features in judging the power demand, eg brightness, hotness, time to warm a fixed mass or volume. Children thinking along these lines might use talk like this:

The size of the cooker ring and the number you turn it up to set the cost.

The brightness of the TV screen and its size tell you about the cost.

🔎 To help children see what they think and to develop those thoughts you might promote discussions using using the following set of thoughts as prompts for children to agree or disagree with.

Big cooker rings cost more when running than small rings.

Surely it depends how much you turn the rings up? Setting them on a big number heats things up faster.

What about how full the pan on the ring is? Won't that affect how much it costs when running?

Here are some approaches to extend exploration at this deeper level.

🧭 a deeper exploration of "High power, and not so high power"

In depth

🩺 Focuses on quantitative measures of power, as marked on appliances to compare demand. Children are not distracted by surface appearances.

This bulb is sold as 5 watts, so it won't cost much when it's on.

🔎 To help children see what they think and to develop those thoughts you might promote discussions using using the following set of thoughts as prompts for children to agree or disagree with.

Bulbs and lights are always cheaper than kettles and irons.

cookers cost the most.

Water heaters have the highest number, so they'll cost more than either.

Here are some approaches to extend exploration at depth.

🧭 exploring "High power, and not so high power" at depth