Sorry … late to the party. Crazy half day snow days the whole week and then I was gone for the weekend:
Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum?
I’m sure I could find a place for it in our energy unit. Magnetism, although we refer to it in connection with electricity, is not usually a topic we dwell on too much, but this experiment would make it worthwhile.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
It is simple enough, which also makes it useful as its a project that can be done in about two periods with high school students.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
I’d introduce the topic of magnetism as a form of energy, provide some examples of how it’s used and how it can be detected and then let the kids start experimenting.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
Students would, with guidance, build all the necessary elements that go into making this experiment work. I’d like to challenge them to come up with ideas to make the search a little more challenging by perhaps incorporating some “depth” into the hiding places. If they used perhaps up to 3 layers of cardboard, the magnetic sensitivity could be affected and perhaps with additional trial and error, students would eventually be able to determine how “deep” the obstacles were so it could be determined whether or not they could pass above or below. This element could be expanded by using the arduino and a “sonar” map of the area could be produced … I’ll have to play more with these ideas to make them real, but perhaps the students can contribute to this.
“Field of strength” … just what I was thinking of and which I’d like to use to try to build a magnetic “sonar” terrain map. We’d have to determine an average reading for depths though.
I love this experiment! The connection to the Sea Turtles and the earth’s magnetic fields would be very engaging for students. I could see this experiment as a precursor to creating games or using it with maps.
I was able to download the sketch but am having a hard time getting the data when I press the Connect to Arduino. I am going to try it on another computer later today. The message I keep getting is: Could not find sensor(s) named magneticx, magneticz, magmag in the received data. Make sure that data sent by the device matches the sensor name and try again.
Where does this lesson fit in with your curriculum (if the lesson is not a fit for the class you teach, how could the lesson be modified so that it is applicable to your curriculum)?
The magnet part of the lesson works great with the 7th grade science unit. We are about to start it, and would like to implement this in a modified way.
Which part or parts of the lesson would your students need extra support in order to be successful?
The only issues I had were the same connectivity compatibility stuff.
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your role during the class. What does a successful teacher actively do during this lesson?
I would model the lesson, and have students apply critical thinking skills and come up with real world applications
If you were to teach this lesson to your class, describe your student’s role during the class. What does “student success” look like?
If students take some of the sea turtle lesson and educate other grades during our Environmental Ed lessons, I would call that a success.
This lesson fits in with the Utah Earth Science Curriculum in a couple of different places, but especially when we’re discussing earth’s layers and the magnetosphere. I think students would find this topic extremely interesting and it would be a fun addition to support their understanding; however, Im trying to find a way to increase the rigor for high school level. I’m thinking I’d like them to do measurements and create some type of isomagnetic field map or something. This could also be used in physics when discussing magnetic fields.
This lesson is pretty straight forward and probably a little too simple for high school, but I love the concept. I don’t think my students would need extra support.
The teacher’s role is best served as a guide- making sure the students all have the necessary materials, providing safety precautions and constraints, specifying desired outcomes and letting students explore.
The student’s role would be to experiment with magnetic fields, understand their structure, and how the earth’s magnetosphere works by using the magnetometer and magnets to take readings. Student success looks like putting the pieces together to understand magnetic fields and be able to demonstrate/communicate that with their peers and the teacher.
@KoppinR I agree that I like students to be more scientific about their approach to testing and experimenting with something by recording information in data tables or sketching diagrams. This is a crucial skill as a scientist so I love that you are helping students in 4th grade do this!
@stephanie.macdonald I love the cross-curricular approach of using this for Environmental Ed as well. Too many times we try to box subject areas up without showing how they interact and overlap! This lesson is great for that.
I love this activity and the extension activities! I cannot wait to do this lesson with students.
I can use this in a multitude of ways. There are several books about sea turtles and also sea turtles and current trauma to the oceans and the impact on sea turtles. Also, teaching about the Earth’s magnetic field and life cycles. I also see this as a teaching moment for my middle school or high school students. They could create a project and work with elementary students.
I do not foresee a particular part that students would need help with at this time.
I would act more as the guide on the side and my students would take on facilitator roles.
I think it would be really interesting to incorporate the magnetic putty into this activity. I like your cow idea. I think it would be interesting to have students take data on dogs that are owned by teachers and students in the class. They would determine if it is true that dogs turn around until finding north and that they always face north while laying down. Students could then graph and analyze this data .
I have to say that I often have some connectivity issues as well. Each time I have to reload each page at least two times. I wonder if it is because I am doing the activities during summer.