Constructing a Beginner’s Electric Circuit

Students are using a 12”x12” cork tile, plastic clip-on connectors, jumper wires, and electrical components to build their first electric circuit.

Most Introductory Physics Labs use manufactured Vernier/Pasco circuit boards based on PCBs. These circuit boards, as well as breadboards, can be confusing for students who are new to electric circuits. Many students struggle to relate the circuit boards to the circuit schematic found in textbooks and to follow the current flow.

When students attempt to build an electric circuit in series or parallel and measure voltage and current using manufactured circuit boards, they often feel lost and sometimes frustrated.

The setup we have developed offers a significant advantage: it allows students to follow the circuit schematic from a textbook or laboratory experiment handout and build the circuit simply by connecting jumper wires and electrical components with clip-on plastic connectors. These connectors are secured with tacks on the cork board to ensure mechanical stability—unlike using alligator clip wires, which is another way to introduce electric circuits. Our setup provides students with a visual depiction of the electric current flow. They can independently build a basic circuit, learn how to troubleshoot it, measure voltage and current, and study the relationship between the two.

This setup can also be used for: i) More complex circuits to study Kirchhoff’s rules ii) RC circuits to examine the charging and discharging of capacitors.

Based on observations and student feedback during the first electric circuits lab, we conclude that students can easily replicate the schematic on the board and measure voltage and current at different points in the circuit.

Additionally, the same board can be used to study electric potential by securing conductive paper with different charge configurations drawn with conductive silver pen or attaching copper tape.

In conclusion, we have developed an electric circuit kit that is affordable, portable, easy to use, and can be used in at least three different electricity and magnetism laboratory experiments.