How can a magnet move another object without touching it?
This physical science unit builds science ideas about forces at a distance as well as electric and magnetic fields. Within this unit, students are reintroduced to the speaker (from the previous sound unit) to wonder what is causing the speaker to vibrate and how magnets are involved.
The unit starts off with students observing, breaking apart, and building a speaker. As they break open a speaker, students notice that all speakers use a magnet, a coil and a speaker membrane to produce sound. But students notice that the magnet isn’t in contact with anything else. This motivates students to wonder, how does a magnet move an object without touching it.
Students develop cause and effect relationships within the speaker system. They draw and develop models to better explain how magnets cause vibrations in this system. As the unit progresses, students recognize how energy and forces play a role in speaker function. Finally, students extend their models to think about and explain other machines or systems that use magnets.