Last Thursday, I gave each team of students a scale, a bag of steel washers, and two doughnut magnets. I asked - How would you test the force between two magnets? Our kids quickly figured out a method to test the force. By dropping in washers on one side of the scale, they could see how many washers it took to pull apart two magnets. This lead to a discussion about reliable and accurate results. We decided to keep as many factors the same as possible - how we set up the materials, how we put in the washers, and how we dropped them in. We then extended our experiment by increasing the space between the magnets. Would our results be different? Would the force be stronger or weaker? I love this experience - it teaches kids how to design an experiment, to collaborate with each other, and record and analyze data.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Breaking the Force
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Magnet Exploration
During science this week, we had a great time exploring with magnets. When we first began exploring, we noticed that magnets do not stick to all metals (which surprised many of us). We decided to test various materials, and we found out that magnets only stick to objects that contain iron. We discussed ideas like attract, repel, and magfnetic poles. Here are a few pictures of our young scientists at work...
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Studycast - Electricity and Magnets
Click here to listen to the studycast for our upcoming test on Electricity and Magnets. You can download the audio file to by right clicking on the link and saving it to your computer.
The study guide for the test came home on Monday, October 19th; and the test is on Friday, October 23rd. If you need an extra copy of the study guide, visit our classroom website's homework page to download a copy.
Send me an email or leave a comment below if you have any questions!
