Magnetic or NonMagnetic: A Science Activity
Looking for a lesson to pull your students into science? Look no further than the simple joy of magnets!
Before Your Lesson Starts
The magic of holding two opposing forces together is a fun past time of every young scientist. Kids are amazed to manipulate opposing magnets and feel the resistance of opposite forces pushing away from each other. I like to begin with exploring magnets this way in the classroom. Provide your students with time to let them play with the magnets. When you get them a short time of even just five minutes, they become more familiar with the tools and are ready to use them for instruction instead of just play and exploration. Kids don’t yet recognize the fact that magnets are scientific tools which is totally fine! The next step is for a young person to see what objects in our every day environment are magnetic.
Let’s Get Ready for Science!
I like to treat this activity as a whole group or small group project in the beginning. Most students in the classroom have some experience with magnets either on their refrigerators at home or even with the classroom’s magnetic alphabet and numbers. To experiment with large magnets and test different materials to see what is attracted to a magnet, I like to have a ready-to-go worksheet (see the pictures below) along with a classroom poster that matches the students’ worksheet. Whenever possible I use a poster that correlates with a worksheet because children in early childhood are still figuring out how to do school. This method allows us to teach them how to complete an activity and how to record results. Having a large classroom poster is also helpful for students with special needs as it serves as a visual of what is happening in the classroom.
Gather the Supplies or Stage Your Classroom
Aside from the worksheet, I either gather the supplies listed on the paper and have them ready to use in a tub, or I strategically make sure that I have all the necessary items strategically placed around the classroom. Using this hunt-and-find method allows students to go grab each testable item one at a time and bring it back to the group. This is an excellent strategy to help students become more aware of their surroundings and more interested in the different materials throughout the classroom.
Let’s Experiment!
If you have enough supplies for students to each experience the pull of the magnet or the lack of attraction of a magnet to each object, then you’re amazing and you should go for it! If you have more limited resources, you can place students in groups or trios and give each group one magnet and one item to test at a time. Tell the students they are going to guess first if an item is magnetic or not and then experiment to discover the answer together. Make sure that each person or group is experimenting with the item. After experimenting discuss if the item was magnetic or not. Use scientific words to strengthen the children’s vocabulary by talking about hypothesis, force, magnetic pull, magnetic fields, and magnetic poles specifically north and south. Record the answers onto your class poster and have the students do the same on their worksheet.
A Fun Science Add On
Want to spice up this lesson? Round up some scientific looking gear like safety goggles, protective eyewear, lab coats, clipboards, rubber gloves, and even hair nets. Usually the junior high or high schools has some you can borrow so ask one of your secondary education teachers for a loan out. Not only does this get your students in the mind set of being a scientist but they look pretty darn cute.
Extend Your Lesson
This activity doesn’t have to stop with just one experimentation time. Place the exact same materials (work smarter, not harder!) into your literacy centers. Allow the students to experiment again and be amazed at their joy of repetition and, this time, knowing all of the answers. I also put out blank paper, pencils, and clipboards and allow my students to make their own grids, create a list of supplies, and then conduct their own magnetic or non-magnetic experiments.
Get your ready-to-print
Magnetic or Non-Magnetic Sheets
