Helpful Teacher Tips
DSM Magnets Activity 2: What Does a Magnet Attract?
- Significant class time may need to be devoted to addressing the idea of predicting. Students need to understand the purpose of making predictions and the importance of not changing them following experimentation.
- Pacing: If significant time is devoted to discussing and making predictions, the post-experiment discussion could be conducted on Day 2.
- Copy teacher-generated sheet onto the back of Activity Sheet 1. Activity Sheet 1 is in the DSM Magnets Teacher's Manual. Have students answer Question 1 prior to conducting the experiment. The question is critical for eliciting students' current conceptions about magnetism. Question 2 should be completed after conducting the experiment and facilitating a class discussion about the results.
- Teachers need to deliberately teach that metal items made of iron and iron-based metals (like steel) are attracted to the magnet. (See Step 4 on page 21 in Teacher's Manual)
DSM Magnets Activity 3: Can the Force Go Through It?
Use teacher-generated sheets in place of the one provided by the publisher.
The teacher-generated sheets also include the two short answer questions used in Activity 2. Have students answer Question 1 prior to conducting the experiment. The question is critical for eliciting students' current conceptions about magnetism. Question 2 should be completed after conducting the experiment and facilitating a class discussion about the results.
The publisher's activity sheet is not being used because it emphasizes magnetic forces being blocked. A more accurate idea is that the magnetic force is not strong enough to go through certain materials.
DSM Magnets Activity 4: How Strong Is the Force?
Use teacher-generated sheets in place of publisher's sheets. The teacher-generated sheets require students cite evidence that supports their answers.
Since students may have no prior knowledge to help them make reasonable predictions about the number of paper clips picked up by the magnet, it may be more meaningful for students to make predictions as they move through the experiment rather than making them all at once before experimenting.
In order to facilitate a conversation about "fair" experiments, accurate record-keeping, and inconsistent results, teachers need to make a class data table displaying all students' experiment results.
Completing and discussing the class data table could be accomplished on Day 2.
Sample Table
| Magnet |
Average Number of Paper Clips Lifted |
| Group A |
Group B |
Group C |
Group D |
Group E |
Group F |
Group G |
| Rod, magnet, dotted end |
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| Rod, magnet, undotted end |
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| Small magnet, small end |
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| Small magnet, undotted end |
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| Rod magnet, middle |
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| Small magnet, middle |
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DSM Magnets Activity 5: Magnetic Fields
Activity 5 is a teacher demo because it is excessively messy and requires all students wear goggles.
DSM Magnets Activity 6: Investigating Magnetic Poles
The only difference between the publisher's sheet and the teacher-generated lab sheet is the addition of Question 8, which asks students to describe what happens when two magnets are brought together.
Magnets Assessment
- The teacher's manual does not provide a formal review/reflection of concepts and skills learned through the activities. However, prior to administering the formal assessment, students should have an opportunity to synthesize what they have learned. This could be accomplished in a number of different ways. For example, working in groups, the students could list on poster paper what they have learned from Activities 2-5. Their ideas should relate to the content and science process benchmarks.
- Questions about Magnetism sheet contains the teacher-generated questions. This sheet should be used in conjunction with questions 1-4 on Activity Assessment Sheet 1, Part A from DSM Magnets Teacher's Manual.
Questions about Magnetism Sheet:
Question 1: The question is designed to contain some ambiguity. From Lesson 2, students should have learned that the steel nail is attracted to the magnet and the aluminum one is not. They also should have learned that all items containing iron are attracted to a magnet—thus steel contains iron. In Question 1 on the assessment, the type of nail is not specified. Students should indicate that it's unknown as to whether the nail will be attracted to the magnet. Students should not state that the metallic items are attracted to the magnet.
Question 2: From Lesson 6 students should have learned that magnets push and pull on other magnets. A complete answer to the question should contain the following ideas:
- The magnets would push away from each other. They wouldn't touch.
- One magnet would pull the other one towards it.
If students use the terms repelled and attracted, have them explain the meaning of each.
STC Electricity Lesson 3: A Closer Look at Circuits
Activity sheet in lesson 3 shows batteries with very little detail, which should lead to discussion about whether or note the bulb will light. For example, the bottom and top outer edges of a battery are coated with a material that will not conduct electricity. Thus, if a picture shows the wire touching the bottom or top outer edge of a battery it is debatable as to whether the bulb will light.
STC Electricity Lesson 13: Constructing a Flashlight
- This lesson serves as a summative assessment of the electricity section of the unit. The students' model flashlight and drawing should be used together to determine whether they understand how to make a complete circuit. An optional student reflection sheet is available on the electronic curriculum. It asks the students to reflect on why or why not their model flashlight works. All the data together (drawing, model, and reflection) should be reviewed holistically. If a student shows through his drawing and/or reflection (even if the flashlight doesn't work) that he understands the importance and meaning of a closed circuit, that information would constitute evidence of learning the benchmark.
- The teacher's guide indicates the drawings are quick sketches. Given the students' prior experience with sketching from the Plants and Earth's Changes units, their sketches should be detailed and labeled.
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