CKSci Unit 3: Forces at a Distance
Focus:
In this unit, students investigate the phenomenon of forces that act through a distance, especially in the case of magnetism. The subtitle of this unit is How can a magnet move another object without touching it? This is a phenomenon with which all students have some experience. How can one thing cause movement in another thing that is not touching it at all? What exists between a magnet and an object that the magnet affects? What is a field? How can we observe the effects of a field? This unit allows students to observe the phenomenon of a force acting through a distance in detail and then spend time working with classmates to analyze their shared experience, formulate new questions, and develop new strategies for answering them. Students explore concepts that include the following:
- What causes a speaker to vibrate?
- What can a magnet push or pull without touching?
- What can we figure out about the invisible space around a magnet?
- How does the magnetic field change when we add another magnet to the system?
- How does distance affect the strength of force pairs in a magnetic field?
As students move through their day-to-day activities, they will also read Core Knowledge literacy selections. These include factual articles, history of the sciences, art and literature, spotting bad science in the media and advertisements, graphics comprehension, research-type articles, reliability of sources, and other areas of science literacy.
Number of Lessons:
- Teacher Guide: 12 Lessons
- Student Reader: 5 Collections
Instruction Time (Student Reader):
- Lessons are designed to be completed in one or more class periods.
- A Pacing Guide found in Online Resources offers a suggested time to complete the entire unit if class is held each day.
- The entire unit should take about 30 days to complete if class is held each day.
- A complete list of Materials needed to complete the unit is provided in Online Resources.
Additional Search Terms:
science literacy • magnetism • magnet • force • magnetic field • gravity • electrostatic force • noncontact force • orbit • weightlessness • energy transfer • electromagnet • nonfiction • informational text
