Magnets Explained

Magnets Explained
After completing a whole-class magnet unit, students choose activities that highlight various properties of magnets. Each pair investigates and then explains an activity. The teacher records each pair demonstrating and explaining their chosen activity.
Objectives: Students will be able to demonstrate and verbally explain a magnet activity that shows a magnetic property. Students will write an explanation telling why the activity works.
Assessment: Written explanation, Oral explanation, Rubric
Materials:
Nine magnet activities (brief descriptions follow the lesson plan; complete activity sheets available upon request)
Materials for activities (magnets, paper clips, items in classroom, cardboard, piece of cloth, piece of foil, glass of water, dry erase slate, magazine, yarn, rulers, yardstick, glass pan, thick books, small plastic container, bottle of baby oil, iron filings, drinking straw, red & blue stickers)
Flip Video Camera, tripod
Procedure:
Students will have completed a unit on magnets, focusing on concepts such as: like poles attract, different poles repel, what items attract to magnets, magnets can attract through other materials.
Magnet activities were gathered by the teacher from Internet resources. Introduce and explain the procedure for each activity. A bag of materials and a direction/recording sheet is available for each activity.
Several days before the investigation, have students write names of three classmates with whom they can work effectively on a magnet investigation. The teacher pairs students based on their choices as well as the teacher’s knowledge of how well certain students work together. On investigation day, the teacher chooses student names randomly (cards, popsicle sticks). The chosen student and his/her partner choose an activity and receive the bag of required materials.
Students are given time to investigate (about 45 minutes) as the teacher circulates to clarify students' understanding and to ask the students questions to further their understanding. Help may be given to students as they write their explanations.
Talk with students about presence on camera (looking at camera, demonstrating the investigation so that the activities can be seen well) and voice (directed toward camera, volume, clarity). Teacher may need to give suggestions to the students for the above.
Working with one pair at a time, the teacher videos the demonstration and explanation.
Using Windows MovieMaker, import videos into the software. After editing each clip, invite each pair of students to give input on the transition between their clip and the next clip and to give input on font type and color for the title of their demonstration.
Add a title and credits, and save in DVD format. Have a viewing for the class. Make a copy for each child to take home and share with his/her family.
Brief descriptions of partner activities:
1. How do magnets affect each other? Using 3 doughnut magnets, students devise original “tricks” to show repelling and attracting forces. They write about how they placed their magnets, what happened when they placed them that way, and why it happened.
2. Can magnets move objects when the magnet and object aren’t touching? Set up 2 stacks of 2 dictionaries so that a glass pan of water will sit on top of the books. There should be a space under the pan. They students should craft a “boat” out of small plastic container, tape, and 2 large paper clips (for the bottom). An adult puts water in the pan, and the students investigate to discover whether a magnet (taped to the end of a ruler) can move the “boat” with paper clips on the bottom, even though the magnet can’t touch the clips through the glass and water. Students write their observations and explain them, using evidence.
3. Magnetic Field: An adult does the preparation by spray painting one flat side of a plastic bottle (such as a clear lotion or baby oil bottle) and then fills the bottle with baby oil, and adds a tablespoon of iron filings. The students investigate by putting the magnet to the painted side of the bottle. They should see the magnetic field of the magnet by looking through the front side of the bottle. They write their observations and explanations.
4. Attract or Not Attract? Students choose eight objects from the classroom, and using a magnet, investigate whether each object is attracted to a magnet. Using a chart, they record their observations, and tell why each object attracts or doesn’t.
5. Finding North (from the 2nd Grade Seeds of Science, Roots of Reading Kit): The students tie a string to the large loop of a paper clip, then put a drinking straw through the small loop, until the straw is fairly centered in the clip. Then they slide a doughnut magnet onto the straw until it is next to the clip. One student holds the other end of the string at arm’s length and lets the straw turn until it comes to a rest. One end of the straw is pointing north, and the other is pointing south. Students label the magnet by putting a red sticker on the north side of the magnet, and a blue sticker on the south side. They record what they observed and the explanation
6. Magnet Attraction Through Objects: Students record their predictions of whether a magnet will attract a paper clip through a washcloth, a piece of aluminum foil, a piece of cardboard, a magazine, and a dry-erase slate. Then they investigate to determine whether their predictions were correct. They record their observations and explanations.
7. Herky Jerky: Students tie one end of a 45” long string to a doughnut magnet and hang it from a doorknob so that the magnet is about 2” from the floor. They place 3 other doughnut magnets in a triangle configuration on the floor so that the hanging magnet is repelled and “jerks” around at the end of its string. They students record their observations and explanations.
8. Floating Paper Clip: Students tape a strong magnet to the end of a ruler, and tie a paper clip to the end of a 24” long string. The ruler is stabilized on the top of a shelf, or on a table top near a wall, by laying a few books on the non-magnet end of the ruler. The magnet end should be hanging off the edge of the surface. Tape a ruler on the wall behind the magnet, with the end of the measuring ruler lined up with the magnet. Students then place the paper clip on the magnet, and gently and very slowly pull the string and paper clip away from the magnet. One student should be watching to see when the paper clip falls away from the magnetic force of the magnet. The students can observe how far out the magnet’s force is by determining the number of inches away from the magnet that the paper clip started to fall. Students record observations and explanations.
9. Find the Hidden Magnet: Both students tape a magnet to the inside of two boxes each. Partners should do this independently so they don’t know where to look for the magnets. An adult may need to help with this preparation, as well as taping the boxes closed. Partners exchange boxes and use a magnet to find the hidden magnets. Students write observations and explanations.