Why opposite magnets attract

Try it! Have one student flip over the magnet and then try it again. Extensions Donut or disc shaped magnets have north on one face and south on the other. Try threading them on a pencil or dowel to make them repel each other in defiance of gravity. Make a pencil levitate using this set up!

We use them in all kinds of ways,…. We believe that now, more than ever, the world needs people who care about science. Help us fund the future and next generation of problem solvers, wonder seekers, world changers and nerds.

When I passed out the magnets I told the students to notice the pick and green sides of the magnets because that would mean something to them later. Then I modeled for the students how to conduct the experiment without actually doing the experiment and giving the results away. This lesson almost feel apart before it began. I committed a serious error; I did not test my materials far enough in advanced to be sure they would work before I did the lesson with my students.

My partner, Ann, was to teach the lesson before me and we assumed, incorrectly, that the poles would attract and repel one another, as they should. They did not. Ann discovered only minutes before her lesson was to begin that they did not work. We were able to get more magnets and do the lesson but what if we did not learn the magnets did not work and we gave them to the students and the students could not do the lesson properly?

This was a valuable learning experience: Always check your materials! There were some teaching methods that I would change about this lesson also.

First, I would have explained how they were to draw what they saw happening with the magnets differently or I would not have them draw at all but recorded their observations in a different manner.

I would also have done my creative drama a little sooner during my colloquium to give their discussion more meaning. Instead of waiting until we talked about all the pole combinations and their effects, I would have done the drama after we discussed each one, north to north, south to south, north to south.

I would have also waited on introducing vocabulary such as poles and force to the discussion because the children did not yet have a clear understanding of the meaning of those words.

I would have also written down the facts or ideas that the children were presenting during our discussion to make the children clarify their thoughts more. I began to feel frustrated at the end of the lesson because I was not sure how to close it. The children were all so excited about their discoveries that a lot of them wanted to share but I was losing the attention of the rest of the class.

When and how do you either end the lesson or draw back the attention of the students you have lost? Overall, I feel this was an exciting lesson.

The Earth acts like a giant magnet. Its invisible magnetism helps animals such as birds, bats, sharks, and mice to find their way around. The opposite poles of magnets will pull toward each other. The poles are said to attract each other. Every magnet has two different ends. This one is called the north pole, and will pull toward the south pole of another magnet. This one is called the south pole, and will pull toward the north poles of other magnets. Two poles of the same type will push away from each other.