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3rd grade · Science · Unit 8 of 8

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.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: 3-PS2-4; 3-5-ETS1-1; 3-5-ETS1-3 · solving design problems with magnets, setting criteria and constraints, and running fair tests

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 Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 8 of 8 in 3rd grade Science, after Weather Hazards & Solutions.

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: Maine Department of Education

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

    Which problem could a magnet solve?

    • Warming soup
    • Keeping a cabinet door shut
    • Drying wet socks
    • Making a cookie sweet

  2. Question 2

    You can only use two magnets. That is a…

    • constraint
    • prediction
    • criterion
    • pole

  3. Question 3

    Two north poles brought together will…

    • pull together
    • push apart
    • turn into one magnet
    • melt

  4. Question 4

    In engineering, criteria are…

    • a type of magnet
    • what a design must do
    • the test results
    • the limits on a design

  5. Question 5

    A fair test changes…

    • the answer
    • everything at once
    • nothing
    • only one thing at a time

  6. Question 6

    A magnet latch holds a light door but not a heavy one. That is a…

    • criterion met
    • perfect design
    • failure point to fix
    • constraint

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