Learning about Magnets

The children had great fun learning all about Magnets in the unit, 'Magnetic Max'. For their learning experience, I brought them to the Science Lab. They were shown a horseshoe and bar magnets and they used them in their mini experiment - to test for magnetic or non-magnetic items.

I was rather impressed when they are able tell me about lodestones being naturally occuring magnets as well as using the 'stroking' method to create a magnet!

Read about their learning experiences below. I've chosen the group writings from the Ketchup and Lemonade group. The rest of the groups' writings are displayed in class =)

Here are some photos to enjoy as well!

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Group Name: Ketchup
Members: Ethan, Dawn, Letitia & Donovan

Just now, we used magnets to find out what things are magnetic and which are not. Miss April gave us a horseshoe magnet, a bar magnet, a copper-looking coin, two paper clips, a plastic ring, a rubber ring, a toothpick, a piece of wood, a copper sheet, an aluminium foil and a metal token. We collected ten things from Miss April.

We used two magnets to try to attract things. We found out that steel and iron can be attracted to magnets. The copper-looking coin, two paper clips were attracted to the magnets. These things were attracted as they were magnetic. The other things were not attracted to the magnet as they were non-magnetic.

We enjoyed our activity as we were having lots of fun trying to use the magnets to attract materials. We also found out our stainless-steel scissors were magnetic. We made a paper clip into a magnet by stroking it on a bar magnet many times. We used the magnetized paper clip to pick up the other paper clip. We enjoyed the activity very much.

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Group Name: Lemonade
Members: Chan Jun Lin, Lim Qi Yang, Josiah Kerr, Kow Chloe & Etienne Leow

We did a magnetic activity. The group leader collected a horseshoe magnet, a bar magnet, a paper clip, an iron bolt, a black plastic ring, a rubber ring, a toothpick, a coin, a metal token, aluminium foil and an ice-cream stick.

We used the magnet to attract things. We found out that some of the things can attract to the magnet and some cannot. The items that are attracted to the magnet are made of iron or steel and are magnetic. The things that cannot attract to the magnet are not magnetic.

We enjoyed ourselves by discovering what is magnetic and what is not. It was interesting!