Skip to content
PlayOwl

Science · Grade 4

Energy Transfer and Devices

Energy travels: heat moves along a metal spoon, light crosses a room, sound reaches your ear and electric current flows through wires to light a bulb. Learners gather evidence of each kind of transfer with heat and circuit simulations, discover what makes a bulb brighter or dimmer, trace the energy conversions inside everyday devices and refine a design of their own.

  • 3 lessons
  • About 100 minutes
  • Energy transfer check: 9 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, match pairs, type a number, put in order, sort into groups and true or false
Try it now (no account) One of the five free starter courses Open in PlayOwl

What learners will discover

  • Use observations as evidence that energy is transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat and electric current.
  • Explain that a complete (closed) circuit is needed for electric current, and use data to describe how batteries and bulbs affect brightness.
  • Identify energy conversions in devices and use test results to refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

Lessons

  1. Energy on the move 5 steps2 practiceabout 32 min
  2. Circuits carry energy 6 steps3 practiceabout 33 min
  3. Devices that convert energy 7 steps3 practiceabout 35 min
  4. Energy transfer check 9 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Marble MountainLay straights, curves, drops and splitters to roll marbles down the mountain.
  • Bridge LabBuild a bridge from beams, brace it with triangles, and stay on budget.
  • Circuit Workshop 3DWire up batteries, bulbs and switches on a 3D workbench.

More 4th grade science

Guide for grown-ups