Hands-on Activity Creative Engineering Design:
Tinkercad Circuits & EV Motor Workshop

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Use the Tinkercad Circuits simulator to model circuits.
• Use Tinkercad Circuits to make a motor circuit design.
• Apply the “Create” step of the Engineering Design Process to build an actual model electric motor circuit.

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards - Science

Materials List

Workshop Day 1:

Each student/pair needs:

• 1 laptop/computer with internet connection: Windows, Mac, or Chrome OS recommended (but not needed)
• Tinkercad Account (Go to https://www.Tinkercad.com)

For the entire class:

• 1 teacher laptop/computer with access to the internet
• Tinkercad Account (Go to https://www.Tinkercad.com)
• projector

Workshop Day 2:

Each student/pair needs:

• 1 laptop/computer with internet connection: Windows, Mac, or Chrome OS recommended (but not needed)
• Tinkercad Account (Go to https://www.Tinkercad.com)
• 1 motor
• 2 alligator clips
• battery pack (2 AA size)
• 2 AA battery

For the entire class to share:

• 1 teacher laptop/computer with access to the internet
• Tinkercad Account (Go to https://www.Tinkercad.com)
• projector

Worksheets and Attachments

Introduction/Motivation

Do you know how school computers or any other electronic device you use every day are powered to make them work? Electrical energy, which is a form of kinetic energy, powers our electronics. Electrical energy is one of nine forms of energy. Energy can transform from one form of energy to another. Can you name any other eight forms of energy? (Elicit student responses) (potential energy forms: chemical, mechanical, nuclear, gravitational, and kinetic energy forms: radiant, thermal, motion, sound)

To power our electronics, we access electrical energy by simply plugging devices into wall sockets that provide AC (alternating current) electric charge or by using batteries that provide DC (direct current) electric charge. How do you think electrical energy is transmitted in an electronic device? Electrical circuits conduct electricity (flow of electrons) through conductive materials to make electrical devices work.

In this Tinkercad Circuits & EV Motor workshop, students will first be introduced to the basics of circuits and the Tinkercad Circuits online application to build an understanding of electronics, which is an essential engineering skill set. After students explore the Tinkercad Circuits simulator, they will design their own model EV motor circuit.

Explore electronics with Tinkercad, and have fun creating circuits!

Procedure

Background

Computer simulations offer a time- and cost-effective way to design and assess project ideas and plans. Engineers, architects, artists, and others use computer simulations to create and test a variety of models.

Beforehand, teachers should familiarize themselves with the Tinkercad web application by setting up an educator account:

• Go to Tinkercad.com > Sign Up > select “Educators” > agree to terms > sign in with Google email or other school email.
• Once the account is set up, click on the upper right account icon > select “Profile” > for “How will you use Tinkercad?” select “Teacher” to enable classes to be created.
• Add classes by selecting “Create a New Class” > set up class >  select the class and share the class link with students to join Tinkercad.
• Review the “Classrooms” tab for guidance for integrating classes and students in Tinkercad.
• Review on the “Resources” tab for guidance and ideas on using Tinkercad, etc.
• NOTE: Google Workspace admins may need to allow login to Google for Tinkercad (details here).

Before the Activity

• Teachers should review the Tinkercad Circuits & EV Motor Workshop to become familiar with its content and format.
• Teachers should set up the slide presentation and projector before class.
• Suggested timeline:
• Day 1 (Part 1: Introduction to Circuits, Part 2: Tinkercad Circuit Simulator)
• Day 2 (Part 3: Electric Motor Tinkercad Circuit Simulator, Part 4: Build a Model Electric Motor Circuit)

During the Activity

Tinkercad Circuits & EV Motor Workshop

Part 1: Intro to Circuits & Circuits Simulator

Session 1: Circuits Basics

1. Read through the Introduction/Motivation section.
2. Display and go through session 1 of the Tinkercad Circuits & EV Motor Workshop.
3. Have students follow along on their laptops using their own Tinkercad accounts.

Session 2: Circuits Simulator

1. Display and go through session 2 of the Tinkercad Circuits & EV Motor Workshop.
2. Have students follow along on their laptops on their own Tinkercad accounts to learn to use the Tinkercad Circuit Simulator interface to create, run the simulations, and troubleshoot circuit designs.

• Students then choose one of the Tinkercad Circuits tutorials of their choice to create their circuit.
• Students choose a virtual tutorial from the Resources tab, Learning Center, and Circuits projects.
• Give students time to tinker with their circuits using the following “Basic Components”.
• Have students share and review their circuits by taking a screenshot of their circuit design.
• Have students reflect on the following questions:
• What circuit did you choose and what components did you use?
• How does your circuit work?
• What is your power source (type and number of batteries)?
• What ideas do you have to change up your circuit?

Part 2: Electric Motor Circuit Simulator & Build an Electric Motor Circuit

Session 3: Electric Motor Circuit Simulator

1. Display and go through session 3 of the Tinkercad Circuits & EV Motor Workshop.
2. Have students follow along on their laptops using their own Tinkercad accounts to build an electric motor circuit simulation by going to Design > Create > Circuits to make a new circuit design.

• Students select the following basic components:
• Slide switch
• Resistor
• DC Motor
• 2 AA Batteries
• Wires
• Work through the motor circuit simulator with the students.
• Have students take a screenshot of their final motor circuit simulation.
• Have students reflect on the following questions:
• How are your components arranged to make the motor circuit?
• What is your motor power source (type and number of batteries)?
• How does your motor circuit work?
•  Advanced Questions:
• What would happen if you connected the positive battery terminal to the negative motor terminal?
• What would happen if you connected the negative battery terminal to the positive motor terminal?

Session 4: Build an Electric Motor Circuit

1. Display and go through session 4 of the Tinkercad Circuits & EV Motor Workshop.

• Have students get their materials to make a model electric motor.
• Have students follow and build their model EV motor circuit.
• Review and reflect on the model EV motor circuit design successes and challenges.

Vocabulary/Definitions

AC: An abbreviation for alternating current, an electric current that continually changes direction as it flows.

ampere: A unit of electric current.

anode: An electrode where electricity moves into.

atom: A particle that consists of a nucleus of protons and neutrons surrounded by a cloud of electrons.

cathode: An electrode where electricity is given out or flows out

circuit: A complete circular path that electricity flows through.

current: The flow of charged particles, such as electrons or ions, moving through an electrical conductor or space.

DC: An abbreviation for direct current, an electrical current that always flows in one direction.

electron: A negatively charged subatomic particle that can be either bound to an atom or free (not bound).

LED: A light-emitting diode (a semiconductor diode which glows when a voltage is applied).

Ohm’s law: Ohm's law states that the voltage across a conductor is directly proportional to the current flowing through it, provided all physical conditions and temperature, remain constant.

parallel circuit: A circuit that has two or more paths for the electricity to flow, the loads are parallel to each other.

resistance: A measure of the opposition to current flow in an electrical circuit.

resistor: An electrical component that limits or regulates the flow of electrical current in an electronic circuit.

series circuit: A circuit where all components are connected end-to-end to form a single path for current flow.

volt: A unit of electric potential, also known as electromotive force.

voltage: Pressure from an electrical circuit's power source that pushes charged electrons (current) through a conducting loop, enabling them to do work.

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment

Have students do a think-pair-share to draw and explain the basics of how an electrical current flows through a circuit. After pairs do a quick share out, show the class a basic circuit diagram to reinforce or clarify students’ background knowledge about circuits.

Activity Embedded (Formative) Assessment

• Students create their circuit design.
• Students create their model EV motor circuit in Tinkercad.
• Students create a simple EV motor circuit.

 Post-Activity (Summative) Assessment

 Part 1: Students reflect on the following questions:

• How does your circuit work?
• What components did you use?
• What is your power source (type and number of batteries)?
• How many LEDs did you use? If more than one LED, are they connected in series, parallel, or both?
• What ideas do you have to change up your circuit?

Part 2: Students reflect on the following questions:

• What components did you use?
• How does your motor circuit work?
• What is the motor power source (type and number of batteries)?
• Advanced Questions: What would happen if you:
• Connected the positive battery terminal to the negative motor terminal?
• Connected the negative battery terminal to the positive motor terminal?

Troubleshooting Tips

• The internet has extensive resources to support instruction and learning about circuits.

Activity Extensions

• Demonstrate the basics of circuits and how to draw a circuit diagram by having students do the TeachEngineering activity "Circuits: One Path for Electricity" as a warm-up.
• Explain the relationship between voltage, resistance, and current in circuits by teaching students Ohm's Law and how to calculate individual voltage and current across specific parts of a circuit.
• Allow students who have an interest in circuits to go more in-depth. For example, if students ask “What would happen if I added another motor? Or another battery pack?” encourage them to create it on the Tinkercad Circuit Simulator and then with real materials. 

Copyright

Contributors

Supporting Program

Acknowledgements

This curriculum was developed under National Science Foundation grant numbers 1941524 and 1941701. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.