Without touching them, a magnet pulls on all things made of iron and either pushes or pulls on other magnets. Without touching them, material that has been electrically charged pulls on all other materials and may either push or pull other charged materials. Students explore objects that are attracted and not attracted to permanent magnets. They conduct activities to find out how two or more magnets interact with each other. During exploration of simple electrical circuits, students use a D-cell, a small electric motor, and a switch to learn about open and closed circuits.
Students then test a selection of objects to find out if they are conductors or insulators.
Students explore the relationship between electricity and magnetism by making electromagnets. They apply their knowledge of magnetism and circuits to recreate a piece of technology from the 19th century, the telegraph. The proficiencies on this page were developed by the Indiana Department of Education from the Benchmarks for Science Literacy .