Spencer_Anecdotal+Records

First Grade: Science Exploration of Magnets

Objectives: 1. Explore the question, “How do magnets work?” to explore the concept of magnetism. 2. Students will illustrate the attraction and repulsion of magnetic poles. 3. Demonstrate an understanding of magnetic force. 4. Record discoveries as a class.



Analysis of data: Based on this data, it is apparent that there are student who take to these investigative experiments much faster than others. Many of the limitations present during the lesson was due to students not having schema to build off of. Students didn't understand how magnets worked so it became "magic". The other misconception that became apparent was that the size of the object affected if it would be attracted to the magnet or not. It also became apparent that some students preferred one part of the lesson over another. This will be useful in developing further instruction for these individuals.

Recommendations for future instruction of the entire class: Provide students with a large amount of various metal objects, ranging from large to small, some magnetic, others not. This will help clear up the concept of size affecting magnetism. Also during this activity work with students who were under the concept of magnets being magical and help them notice the way the metals, and no other objects work with magnets. This should help them build schema to base their thought process off of.

Recommendations for future instruction of sampled child: Tyler: Provide student with various metals to experiment with. Alex: Provide student with small magnetic objects and large non-magnetic objects. Wyatt: Provide student with different metals to help foster understanding of magnetic attraction. Rebecca: Have student hypothesize why magnets stick to a chalk board.

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