Teacher Information

Title of Lesson

Magnetic Strength

Standards-K-2

Standard 1: Science as an Inquiry-Benchmark 1: All students will be involved in activities that develop necessary skills to conduct scientific inquiries.

Standard 2: Physical Science-Benchmark 1: All students will develop skills to describe objects.

Learning Styles

A variety of learning styles will be used to do this activity. The students use the visual sense to determine the strength of each magnet. The activity is a hands-on process and requires cooperative learning.

Objectives

Academic: After a series of investigations, the students will be able to complete a journal entry about the strengths of different magnets. They will write about the strongest and weakest magnets, the effect the materials had on the strength of the magnet and how they came to the conclusion of their strengths with an 80% accuracy.

Social Skills: Students will share the materials within their group; respect one another’s opinion, suggestions, and ideas.

Student Level

Second Grade

Time Required

25-30 minutes

Background Information

• A magnet is an object that can push or pick up materials made of iron, steel, or nickel. A magnet is made of these same materials
• Objects that are attracted by magnets have similar properties.
• Every magnet has two places where strength is concentrated.
• A magnet that is free to turn will come to rest with its poles aligned in a north-south direction.
• Unlike poles of a magnet attract each other. Like poles of a magnet repel each other.
• A magnet can be made from a steel object by striking it with a magnet.
• Once magnetized, a piece of steel can remain magnetized indefinitely.
• A magnetic compass consists mainly of a freely turning magnet.
• All magnet, and thus all compasses, have a north-south seeking pole.
• A magnetic compass works because the earth itself is a magnet; the compass magnet interacts with the earth-magnet.

Prerequisite Information

Students must have general knowledge of what a magnet is and that it attracts to certain types of metals. Students are not required to understand the complex nature of a magnet at this point.

Safety Information

We will be using very heavy magnets, instruct students to not throw or hit anyone with the magnets. The paper clips have a very pointy end, do not allow students to poke one another with the ends.

Materials

• Bar magnet
• Circular magnet
• Horseshoe magnet
• Regular refrigerator magnet
• Paper clips
• Sheet of loose leaf paper
• Piece of cloth
• Piece of wax paper
• Piece of aluminum foil
• Chart developed by teacher
• Pencil to record data

Group Size

3-4 Students

Roles

Recorder-This student will write down the information observed by his/her teammates

Reporter-This student will report all information observed by his/her teammates to the recorder.

Observer-This student will write down any information observed that follows along with the social skills objective and the T-chart.

Teaching Procedures

Introduction of Lesson

With the materials lying on the table, ask the students which materials they feel a magnet can go through. Assure them that there is no correct or incorrect answer to this question. Have them write down the items that they feel the magnets will be able to go through. Before they make their decision, remind them that all magnets have different strengths. The strength of the magnet depends on the ability of the magnet to pick up objects through the magnet.

Development of Concept (Procedure)

• Before discussing the students’ answers to the introduction, review words such as repel, attract, and poles.
• After review of the words, demonstrate picking up the paper clips with the bar magnet. Once completed, count the number of paper clips the magnet picked up and have the recorder write that number down on the chart.
• Explain to the students that they will be experimenting with each of the magnets to find how many paper clips each magnet will pick up. They are to report their findings to the recorder and he/she will write them down on the chart.
• Discuss with the students, which magnet they think is the strongest and which is the weakest. Have them keep their answers in mind as they continue in their investigation.
• Demonstrate picking up the paper clips with a piece of cloth over the paper clips. Count how many paper clips the magnet picked up with the cloth over them and report this number to the recorder, who will then write it down on the chart.
• Allow the students to continue on with the experiment, having them use each magnet to pick up the paper clips with the different materials (paper, cloth, wax paper, aluminum foil) covering them.
• After trying each magnet the students must report their findings to the reporter, who will then write their answer down on the chart.
• After the students have completed the experiment with all the magnets, discuss the results with the groups.
  • "Which magnet was the strongest?"
  • "Which magnet was the weakest?"
  • "Was the biggest magnet the strongest?"
  • "Was the smallest magnet the weakest?"
  • "What materials did the magnet go through?"
  • "Did the number of paper clips picked up change?"
  • "Which materials caused this change?"
• At the conclusion of the lesson, the students will write a short journal entry about their findings. This entry should include the following items: the strongest and weakest magnets and what materials changed the number of paper clips picked up by the magnet. The students will also write a couple of sentences about their group. They will write about how they felt their group shared during the experiments.
• The journal entries about the experiment and the group work will both be handed in for a grade at the conclusion of the lesson.

Positive Interdependence

The teacher will assign specific roles to each member of the group; each member will be responsible for completing the job that was assigned to their role. Within the group, each member of the group will cooperate in sharing the objects used for the experiment and provide positive ideas, suggestions, and feedback to the other group members.

Individual Accountability

In order to check for understanding, each student will complete his/her own journal entry. They will be asked to include the following: the strongest and weakest magnets and what materials changed the number of paper clips picked up by the magnet. The students will be questioned throughout the experiment, which will help the teacher determine the understanding level of the students.

Criteria for Success

The students will be able to complete a journal entry on the strength of magnets upon completion of the hands-on project. The entry will include discussion about the strongest and weakest magnets and what materials changed the number of paper clips picked up by the magnet. This will be completed with an 80% accuracy.

Expected Behaviors

Sharing

Monitoring

The teacher will walk around the room and observe the students sharing, making note of the positive and negative things happening.

Processing

The observer of the activity will make note each time a phrase or gesture from the T-chart occurs. At the end of the activity the teacher and the group will discuss what the observer has found. The team will then discuss what can be done to improve how they work together in the future.

Conclusion

Review the lesson by asking questions.

• "How did we test the strengths of the magnets?"
• "Do all magnets go through all materials?"

"You all did a wonderful job today; tomorrow we will continue our exploration of magnets by making our own!"

Evaluation

Observe through questioning, the understanding of the students. Look at the completed journal entries and ensure that all parts asked for are correctly written. The students should receive an 80% on their entry to fully understand the strength of magnets. The students will receive five points for giving an honest opinion about their groups ability to share during the lesson.

Extensions

• To re-teach this lesson, you could use different objects for the magnets to attract, or allow the students to discover what weight an object must be, for it to be too heavy for a magnet to lift.
• Put a paper clip in an empty glass jar. Use a magnet to move the paper clip around in the jar. Fill the jar with water and allow the students to discover what will happen.

Resources

Magnificent Magnets. Retrieved from the Internet on March 12, 2004. http://staff.jsr.vccs.edu/asullivan/eisenhower/projects/magnificent_magnets.htm