STEM Magnetic Raceway
Civil Engineering is a profession dealing with the design, construction and maintenance of roadways, bridges, canals, dams and more. Show students examples of projects that civil engineers have created.
Explain to students that in this task they will be designing a roadway to get them the quickest from Point A (start) to Point B (finish). There will be some additional factors in building the roadway that they will go over later in the lesson.
Review with students the following terms:
Math:
- area
- perimeter
- right angle
- acute angle
- obtuse angle
Science:
- magnetism
- magnetic field
- Fair Test
- repel
- attract
Activities to teach or review terms:
Magnetism:
Have students divide into small groups.
Each group receives a magnet, bag of objects and chart (object, material, prediction, result). Each group writes the object, the material the object is made of , and their prediction if the magnet will attract it or not.
After charts are completely filled out, allow students to test the magnet on each object, marking the result in the last column of the chart.
Students should conclude what types of materials are magnets attract.
Magnetic Field:
Have students watch as you place a pile of paper clips in a bowl. On a sheet of paper have them predict how many paper clips one magnet will pick up. After predictions are made, test the answer.
Have them predict how many 2 magnets will pick up, then test. Last have them predict how many 3 magnets will pick up, then test.
.Have students take their tested results and make it into a bar graph to display data. Discuss how the magnetic field gets greater with the more magnets added.
*Show students how when you hold a bar magnet with a string directly in the middle it will always end up pointing upwards.Explain how the magnetic field in the earth causes this to happen. Have students copy description into notebook.