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3rd grade · Science · Unit 4 of 12

Magnet Inventions

Use magnets to solve problems, then test your design.

What your child practices

Practices using what magnets do to solve simple design problems, such as a latch or a sorter, by setting criteria and constraints and running fair tests that change one thing at a time.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 3.4 · solving a design problem with magnets

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Magnets stick to iron and steel, and push or pull without touching.
  2. Design rules: criteria say what it must do, constraints say what limits you.
  3. A fair test changes only one thing at a time.

Example: Which could pick up spilled paper clips fast? Paper clips are steel. A magnet pulls steel. Answer: a magnet on a stick

Magnet Inventions in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 4 of 12 in 3rd grade Science, after Magnets and Static and before Life Cycles.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    You test how many clips each magnet lifts. What must stay the same?

    • The number you guess
    • The winner
    • The magnet you test
    • The kind of paper clips

  2. Question 2

    A magnet can sort steel cans from…

    • iron nails
    • steel cans
    • steel spoons
    • aluminum cans

  3. Question 3

    Why do engineers test a design many times?

    • To find where it fails
    • To waste magnets
    • To skip planning
    • To make it pretty

  4. Question 4

    A north pole and a south pole will…

    • do nothing
    • pull together
    • light up
    • push apart

  5. Question 5

    In engineering, constraints are…

    • a kind of force
    • limits like time, cost or materials
    • the winner
    • what the design must do

  6. Question 6

    Magnet A lifts 12 clips. Magnet B lifts 5 clips. For a strong latch, choose…

    • Magnet B
    • Either one
    • Magnet A
    • Neither

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