Duncan Busser Term III - Science Preliminary Decisions and Plans To be taught 11/28/2012 Magnets in the Third Grade

Environment I believe that magnets are an eternal fascination for many people. They have a mysterious force about them that holds artwork on the fridge, makes toy trains stick together, makes some things dodge out of the way, and makes other things almost inseparable. They arent moving, and they dont seem to run out of batteries. I think that magnets and learning about what they can do will instill a great amount of wonder and sense of discovery in my students. Core Decisions What: I want kids to be fascinated by something scientific. I want to hear them say, Whoa! when they see science come to life in front of them. I want to see them get confused and then be able to tell me later that there is a reason for the magnets attracting or repelling each other. (I plan on using terms like spitting out and sucking up magnetic force when talking about the electrons.) For this particular lesson, I want to do a basic introduction to magnets, staying away from very complicated issues and electromagnetism. I feel that this basic introduction to magnet terminology and characteristics will be a good spiral starting point for a lot of physical science discovery. It is something very similar to the Sink & Float activity, which kids seem to love. How: Utilizing some newly updated handout materials generated by the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED, www.need.org), I plan to have the kids predict behaviors of magnets and materials. Following an opening show of placing two spherical magnets on the table and observing the attraction, I want to discuss some basic observable principles of magnets, without going far into the details. I will assess their prior knowledge, and I will build my exact framework based on what they have in their arsenal of information. Using a box of various materials, I will start with some group work demonstrating magnets effects on steel and on each other. Then, we will go into the prediction stage using various pieces of metal, non-metal, coins, and possibly things with magnets hidden inside. These predictions and results will be documented individually on data worksheets. Following each short activity, I will ask them to tell me

what they learned, and after the fourth activity, I will collect their worksheets and give them all excited praise for completing the work. Why: This is, of course, the most important part of the plan. I went through a few processes and a few ideas. I was wandering through ideas online and through physical resources, and I came across Green Science kits at Spectrum Scientifics in Manayunk. They had a few options, and I settled on a Clean Water Science kit that would offer my students an opportunity to observe the process of water filtration through gravel, sand, charcoal, then paper. The kids could predict which would clean the water the most, which would remove oil, or some such, but they wouldnt really discover what I wanted them to. Sure, they would learn how the processes affect their daily lives, and they would have no problem relating to the material. My problem was that it was, frankly, boring. Even I eventually found it boring after I started writing the plan for it. Meh. Make the water dirty. Make it clean. Neat processes, but nothing is discovered, certainly nothing very exciting. If Im going to use this Term III opportunity to excite four kids about science, Im going to do it with something they see all the time but cant yet comprehend. Im going to do it with magnets. Magnets are fun! Magnets do things we dont understand. Whats the polarity of a spherical magnet? How can you see that? Did you know that the Earth is a big magnet just like that with an iron core? The force can be measured, but how? I dont want to go subatomic, especially in the first lesson with third graders, but I do want them to have the initial introduction to the characteristics. Pouring muddy, oily water through gravel isnt fun. Tiny, spherical neodymium magnets can undoubtedly jump to each other, one by one. Then, what happens with a string of 5 balls is placed near another string of 5 balls? Does anybody know? Lets find out! Watching metal dance with what seems like magic, thats a heck of a hook. But then we need to explore what magnets arent. What dont they stick do? What color is your fridge? Why do the magnets stick to the black side better than the shiny stainless steel front? It has steel in it, doesnt it? Magnets stick to steel, right? There are so many questions! And I want my students to seek answers. In my one, short, small-group lesson, I hope to instill a curiosity that evokes interest in seeking more answers. I think that showing students that there is more mystery than they ever previously thought would instill another longing for learning. This, I want to teach. I dont really want to pour oily, dirty water on rocks. I want to teach kids that they can make metal dance. After they know the basic effects of what happens when magnets touch other magnets or ferrous material, I want them to see

reactions to non-ferrous materials. Then I want to leave them with a thousand questions that they will either ask or answer themselves. I will be excited, and I will make them excited.

Duncan Busser Term III Science Magnet lesson plan 1 An Introduction to Magnets Time: 35 minutes Goals / Objectives Students will be able to: I identify magnets, Recognize those magnets polarity as indicated on the tools presented, and Identify non-ferrous materials, as defined within the lesson. Students will generally understand that not all metals are the same.

1) 2) 3) 4)

Students will have the building blocks upon which further investigation into the world of magnetism can develop., further leading to better understanding of atomic science and electricity. Standards / Assessment Anchors Magnets attract or repel other magnets. Design and conduct an investigation to answer a question about an object, organism or an event making and recording observations using appropriate tools and instruments. S4.A.2.1.1,S4.A.2.1.2,S4.A.2.1.3,S4.A.2.1.4 Magnets attract or repel other magnets. Measure, describe, or classify organisms, objects and/or materials by basic characteristics, their changes, and their uses. S4.A.1.3.1,S4.A.1.3.2,S4.A.1.3.3,S4.C.1.1.2 K-12 Framework: Practices: Asking questions; Planning and carrying out investigations; Obtaining, evaluating and communicating data Crosscutting concepts: Energy and matter, specifically magnetic force Core Ideas: PS2.B Types of Interactions, specifically magnetic force Materials and Preparation

Following suggestions in lesson guidelines offered from the NEED curriculum of energy education (http://www.need.org/needpdf/WondersOfMagnets.pdf), I will use a variety of magnets and materials to allow students to test predictions of magnetic effects. For this initial introduction to magnets and magnetism, I will use a wide variety of tools, mostly contained in a materials box: 2 bar magnets, same size 2 horseshoe magnets, same size Several spherical magnets Mystery box of materials Glass marble Wooden disk Plastic disk Steel paperclip Samples of steel, aluminum, copper, and brass Various papers Various cloths Plastic cup of water 2 each of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters Additional assortment of magnets to be pulled out, depending on the needs of the lesson and in response to questions asked by students Magnetic compass Sufficient copies of worksheets 1 through 4 of NEED Wonders of Magnets curriculum packet Projection slides or displayable handouts of polarity and magnetic fields Plan Introduction: (6 minutes) Take two sphere magnets and run them toward each other. Once they snap together, ask the students, What do you think just happened here? Assess prior knowledge What do you know about magnets? Do they stick to everything? Do they stick to every metal? What are they made out of? Where have you seen magnets at work in your life? What else do you know about magnets?

Project 1: (6 minutes) : Bar magnets (See worksheet Magnets 1) Predictions: Given similar marked bar magnets, can you predict which magnets stick to each other? What about to the sides of those same magnets? Does that make a difference? Knowing the basics that we have just talked about, I want you to write down what you think is going to happen in each of the scenarios. Then we will test it out and see how well you guessed. Try end-to-end NN, SS Try pressing the magnets together in the same orientation Try end-to-end NS, SN Press magnets together in opposite orientation. How easy is it to break them apart? How often did your predictions match up with your results? Project 2: (6 minutes) : Comparison of bar and horseshoe magnets (See worksheet Magnets 2) Predictions: With marked polarity, can you predict attractions and repulsions? Does the shape matter? What happens in the middle of the horseshoe? Does the polarity of the bar magnet matter when attracting or repelling a horseshoe magnet? How often did your predictions match up with your results?

Materials Box (Projects 3 and 4): (12 minutes) Which of these objects stick to magnets? (Worksheet Magnets 3) Paper, glass, wood, plastic, cloth, metal (a paperclip), water? How often did your predictions match up with your results? What does metal mean? Are all metals the same? What is steel? Iron? What other kinds of metals can you name? Will a magnet stick to all of them? Why or why not? Lets try some different kinds of metal. (Worksheet Magnets 4)

Copper, brass, aluminum foil, steel Penny, nickel, dime, quarter Does polarity matter? Will all materials react the way we saw the magnets act with each other, attracting sometimes and repelling other times? Why?

How often did your predictions match up with your results? What else would you like to try? With an assortment of things in my box and whatever is nearby, I will have the kids verbally predict then test materials in the classroom (steering clear of sensitive electronics). How often did your predictions match up with your results?

Closure: (5 min) How were your predictions overall? What did you learn here today? What did you already know? Was there anything you know now about magnets that you learned to be different what you used to believe? What was your favorite thing we did today? I will collect worksheets. By discussing and reviewing the predictions and results, we will understand what we knew already and what we learned about magnets through experimentation.