Here is what the KICD curriculum design asks for in Electrical Energy, with a sample lesson plan, notes and an exit check you can read before you teach. In Fuma, the same lesson comes out of your own scheme of work, starting from the lesson your class has reached and dated to your term.
Aligned to the KICD curriculum designSample — review before you teach
What learners should be able to do
Specific learning outcomes, word for word from the KICD curriculum design.
a)identify sources of electricity in the environment
b)connect simple electrical circuits to demonstrate the flow of electric current
c)identify common electrical appliances used in day-to-day life
d)identify safety measures observed when handling electrical appliances
e)appreciate the use of electricity in day-to-day life
Key inquiry questions
What are the sources of electricity in the environment?
How is electricity used in day-to-day life?
A sample lesson plan: Sources of Electricity in the Environment
This is a sample. Read it and change it for your class before you teach it. In Fuma, everything stays a draft until you approve it.
Grade 7 · Integrated Science · 40 minutes
identify the main sources of electricity in the environment
match sources of electricity to their energy inputs using picture and word cards
appreciate the importance of different electricity sources in daily life
A sample lesson plan
Time
Teacher
Learners
Introduction5 min
Teacher:
Greet learners and display a torch switched off
Switch on torch and ask, "What makes the bulb light?"
Draw K-W-L chart on board; record learner responses under K
State: "Today we will find out where electricity comes from."
Learners:
Observe torch
Answer teacher's question
Share ideas on what they already know about electricity sources
Listen to lesson focus
Touch and See: Sources of Electricity12 min
Teacher:
Display dry cell and small solar panel
Show card of hydro dam and wind turbine
Ask learners to identify each item in pairs
Invite volunteers to touch dry cell and solar panel
Ask which item can make a bulb light without socket
Record responses on chart
Learners:
Observe displayed items
Discuss with partner what each item is
Touch dry cell and solar panel
Answer which items can produce electricity
Explain their reasoning
Sorting Source Cards12 min
Teacher:
Distribute sets of picture and word cards to groups
Instruct groups to match each source name to its picture
Ask groups to match each picture to an energy input label
Circulate to check matching decisions
Ask one group to present one match and explain
Learners:
In groups, match word cards to pictures
Match each picture to an energy input label
Discuss whether each source needs moving water, moving air, sunlight, etc.
Present one match and explain reasoning
Listen to other groups' presentations
Defining a Source6 min
Teacher:
Ask groups: "What do all these sources have in common?"
Write learner responses on board
Guide class to define: a source of electricity is something that supplies electrical energy.
Ask learners to write definition and list three sources in exercise books
Randomly call learners to read their list
Learners:
Discuss in groups common features of sources
Share answers with class
Copy agreed definition and list three sources
Read list aloud when called
Shown: the first 35 minutes of the 40-minute lesson.
Sample teaching notes
Teaching notes are for you at the board: the subject knowledge and what to watch for.
Content Mastery — What You Need to Know One Level Above Grade 7
The core idea: a source is where the energy is stored or gathered, not where the electricity appears to be.
Electricity is not a substance that lives in a socket. It is a way of transferring energy. Energy from somewhere else — chemicals, sunlight, moving water, moving air, heat from underground — is converted into electrical energy, and the wires simply carry it to the device. A wire is a path, not a source. This is why a piece of wire lying on the desk lights nothing, but the same wire connected to a dry cell makes the bulb glow: the cell supplies the energy, the wire moves it, the bulb changes it into light and heat.
Why the source matters: any source is judged by the energy input it uses. The dry cell holds stored chemical energy; when you connect it in a circuit, chemical energy changes to electrical energy. A solar panel captures light energy from the sun and changes it directly to electrical energy. A hydro dam uses moving water — the water is held high behind the dam, so it also has stored gravitational potential energy, and the fast-moving water turns turbines that drive generators. A wind turbine uses moving air. Geothermal uses heat from deep inside the earth, and biogas or a diesel generator uses chemical energy in fuel. In every case the pattern to say aloud to the class is: energy input → source/device → electrical energy → appliance.
Misconceptions — Watch For and Correct
Watch for 1: "Electricity comes from the wire or the socket, not from the source." This misconception forms because a learner's whole experience of electricity is a device switching on at a wall socket or a wire at home — they never see the power station. It will surface in the touch-and-see activity, when someone answers "the socket" for where the torch gets energy. Surface it by asking the class directly: "Point to the socket that this torch is plugged into." There is none — and that is the whole argument. Then hold the dry cell, connect the bulb, and say: "The socket is only a delivery point, like a tap is a delivery point for water already in the tank. The dry cell is the tank." Corrective move: run the chain backwards aloud — bulb ← wire ← dry cell, and then for a house: appliance ← socket ← wires ← power station ← moving water or underground heat. The socket is the middle of the chain, never the beginning.
Watch for 2: Learners write "water" instead of "moving water" for the hydro source. This happens because the picture card shows a large body of still-looking water behind the dam, and a still lake at a glance seems to be doing nothing. Surface it during sorting: "Look at your hydro card again — is the water sitting still or doing something?" If they say still, tell them to look at where the water passes through the dam wall — that is where it is moving fast. Corrective move: contrast the two side by side with the class: still water in a tank powers nothing; moving water turns the turbine. Ask: "If the water stopped moving tomorrow, would the dam still produce electricity?" No — no movement, no turning, no electricity. Then have every group rewrite that card label as moving water in full words, never just "water".
Watch for 3: Learners define a source as the bulb or the switch rather than the energy provider. This forms because the bulb is the part that visibly does something — it lights up — so it feels like the beginning of the story, while the dry cell looks like a plain metal tube. Surface it in the definition activity by asking: "If the bulb were the source, why does it stay dark until we connect the cell?" Corrective move: hold the cell and the bulb side by side and let the class decide which one gives and which one uses. Say plainly: "A source gives energy. A bulb uses energy, and a switch only opens and closes the path — neither of them gives anything." Then have learners test their own definitions against three examples — dry cell, bulb, switch — and cross out any word that breaks the rule.
A quick exit check, with answers
1.Which one of the following is a source of electricity?
A. Solar panel
B. Electric bulb
C. Switch
D. Wall socket
Show answer
A. Solar panel
2.A dry cell changes stored ________ energy into electrical energy.
Show answer
chemical
3.A group of learners in Kitui want to light a bulb using a source of electricity from the environment. Name one suitable source and state the energy input the source uses. Explain why the bulb cannot be called a source of electricity. (a) Source: (1 mark) (b) Energy input: (1 mark) (c) Why the bulb is not a source: (1 mark)
Show answer
(a) Solar panel (or dry cell, or a generator driven by moving water or wind). (b) Sunlight (or chemical energy, or energy of moving water or wind) — must match the source named in (a). (c) A bulb only uses electricity to give light; it does not provide electrical energy.
4.Write TRUE or FALSE for each statement. (a) Electricity in a socket comes from a source found elsewhere. (b) For a hydroelectric source, it is the moving water that provides the energy. (c) The switch on a wall is a source of electricity.
Outcomes and inquiry questions are quoted from the KICD curriculum design. The lesson plan, notes and exit check are Fuma's draft. Fuma is built from the KICD designs; KICD has not endorsed it.