Hands-on classroom experiments to study the characteristics of an electric generator (voltaic cell) and receiver (voltameter) using simple, low-cost and easy-access materials

As part of a comprehensive study on the experimental teaching of physics, some causes for the problems faced by Portuguese students in this area were investigated. In order to contribute to the solution of these problems, we developed a set of experimental kits with varying degrees of complexity, which were applied to two samples of students (students of the Physics Olympiads pre-selection cohort and other high school students in Portugal). This article presents one of these kits "Study of the characteristics of a generator (voltaic cell) and a receiver (voltameter)" which was tested in the classroom environment in some schools. The voltameter (electrolytic cell) is built by students using widely available, low cost materials. Some methodological suggestions made available to the teachers and the results obtained with the two sets of students are also presented.

Keywords Experimental teaching; "hands-on"; generalized Ohm's law; electric generator and receptor; voltameter and electric motor