Use these Year 4 Electricity Concept Cartoons to spark discussion and deepen scientific thinking. Each cartoon presents a range of common misconceptions that children can explore and unpick, helping them to develop a secure understanding of the topic. Pupils are encouraged to share their viewpoints and use evidence from their learning to decide whether a statement is true, while teachers can quickly identify any gaps in understanding to address.

These resources are highly versatile - they can be introduced at the start of a topic to probe prior knowledge or revisited at the end to consolidate learning. They also work brilliantly as classroom displays, ensuring a knowledge rich environment to further young minds.

N.C objectives:
identify common appliances that run on electricity

construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers

identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery

recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit

recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors.