This one-page 4th grade check on conductors and insulators has an answer key on page 2. Students write C or I for eight materials (copper, rubber, aluminum, glass, steel, wood, plastic, silver) and predict whether a bulb lights when a metal nail, a rubber band or a metal coin sits in a circuit gap. They then pick the best pot handle material and explain why wires have a plastic coat. It supports NGSS 4-PS3-2.
4-PS3-2
“Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.”
Part 2 asks students to predict whether current flows through three objects in a circuit, and item 12 applies heat flow to a pot handle.
Eight materials in two rows, each with a blank for the letter C or I.
A circuit diagram with a gap labeled Test Object, and a table where students circle lights or does not light for a metal nail, a rubber band and a metal coin.
A multiple-choice question on the best pot handle (copper, wood, steel or aluminum) and a three-line short answer on why metal wires have a plastic coat.
Each answer with a short reason in brackets, such as wood being both a thermal and an electrical insulator.
End of unit
Use it as a quick end-of-unit check. Thirteen items fit on one page, and the key gives a reason for each answer, so marking is fast.
Day one pre-test
Give it at the start of the unit. Part 1 shows quickly who already knows that metals conduct and which students expect all hard things to conduct.
Heat and electricity
Item 12 shows who mixes up the two. The key answer, wood, rests on wood being an insulator for both.
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