Our Attraction To Magnets

The scholars spent time sharing all they thought they knew about magnets, generated a list of things they wondered about magnets then got down to business. Scholars were asked to bring in objects that were attracted and not attracted to magnets.....I requested that they not use a magnet to test their objects. At school, the scholars shared with their table groups the objects they brought from home. Next, I had the groups take all the objects and sort them into groups...an open sort. Some groups sorted the objects according to their properties while others sorted by whether or not they would be attracted to a magnet. Each group shared providing us with great vocabulary, new insights and some new I wonders. Finally, we tested our objects, resorted and debriefed.

On days that followed, we read many books about magnets, watched a BrainPop Jr. about magnets and participated in STEMLabs exploring magnets. We learned a great deal about magnets!