Learning Map
ScienceEnergyusually ages 12–13

Series vs parallel circuits

Describe and apply the rules for current, voltage, and resistance in series and parallel circuits, and explain the practical uses of each circuit type

How to tell they’ve got it

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Try this together

Can your child explain why the lights in your home don't all switch off when you turn off one room's light, but a string of old-fashioned Christmas lights does go off if one bulb breaks?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on
Circuit vocabularyages 9–11Applying rules for current, voltage, and resistance in series and parallel circuits requires all this vocabulary
Ohm's Law: voltage, current, resistanceages 12–13Applying V = IR rules to series and parallel circuits requires Ohm's Law as a working tool
Why circuit components behave differentlyages 10–11KS2 investigation of component variations (brightness/loudness) provides intuitive grounding for series vs parallel behaviour
Series vs parallel circuitsthis skill · ages 12–13
Unlocks
Nothing on the map depends on this yet.

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

This skill sits beyond Year 6 in the Australian Curriculum, so no F–6 code is matched. It also sits beyond the NSW K–6 syllabuses. It also sits beyond Level 6 in the Victorian Curriculum.

Nearby on the map

Conduction, convection, and radiationages 12–13 Efficiency, Sankey diagrams, and work doneages 12–13 Heating experiments and Q = mcΔTages 12–13 Ohm's Law: voltage, current, resistanceages 12–13

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