Draw the Schematic

1. Draw the symbols of the three components as shown in the video. Begin with the symbol for the power source, then the symbol for the resistor, then the symbol for the LED.
2. Connect the three components with lines as shown in the video. Notice once the symbols are connected the electrical circuit is complete.

STEM Connections

• An electrical schematic is a drawing of an electrical circuit. This is the schematic of the electrical circuit that you will be building using the components you investigated. Schematics only show how the components are connected and how electric current flows from one component to the next. They do show the connections between components, but there are many ways in which the real components can be arranged in the actual circuit.

1. Drawing the schematic incomplete is an opportunity to ask the students what is missing. We really want the kids to understand a complete circuit and how all working circuits have a complete connection to a power source.
2. Before drawing the resistor, I sometimes ask the kids “now, if I directly connect the LED to power, what do you think might happen?”

• Hoping for the answer: it will break. If not, I explain that if we put our LED, which needs about 3 volts to turn on, across our power source, which is 5 volts, it wouldcan break. Tk…this means we should NOT connect our LED directly to the positive and negative side of our power source.
• Then I ask “ what can I put in this pathway that will resist the flow of electricity”
• Hoping for the answer: A resistor!

      3. Finally draw the resistor LED and write out the positive and negative side. Sometimes I mention, “in a schematic you normally wouldn’t see these positive and negative signs around an LED.”

Thinkabit Companion Notebook: Draw the schematic in the notebook under the word “schematic”.;