HS-PS2-5: Magnetic and Electric Fields

HS-PS2-5: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that an electric current can produce a magnetic field and that a changing magnetic field can produce an electric current.

HS-PS2-5 Evidence Statements

The NGSS performance expectations are basically asking that students re-create the experiments of Michael Faraday.  In 1831, Faraday discovered the relationship between electricity and magnetism.  His experiments showed that electric currents could be manipulated to create magnetic fields and magnetic fields could be manipulated to create electric currents.

I recently had my students compete in an engineering challenge as they worked towards meeting this learning standard.  The students really enjoyed having the opportunity to explore the topics of electricity and magnetism, design and build their electromagnets, test them and then finally compete.

Students were allowed to use the following materials.  Students were allowed to request additional or modified materials as needed.

1. 3 D batteries
2. wire
3. electrical tape
4. Popsicle sticks
5. Electrical Switch
6. Four 4" nails
7. Index cards (up to 10)
8. Rubber bands
9. 10 push pins

The competition consisted of two parts.  The first challenge required students to activate their magnet and lift as many regular size paper clips as their magnet could support.  The second part of the challenge required that students lift a single paper clip at a time and transfer it a distance of 1 meter and drop it into a shoe box without pulling the paper clip off with their hands or "scraping" it off into the box.  Groups had 90 seconds to transfer as many paper clips as possible. 

Groups were given a score for each challenge based on their overall rank, with the top group in each challenge receiving a score of 1.  The grand champion was determined by the group that had the lowest point total.