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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Our Magnetism and Electricity Questions

Mrs Chrystall set up some activities for us to try.  We had a lot of fun but there were also a lot of things we wanted to find out.  Here are our questions we want to find the answers to.

Justus, Osyris and Portia want to know "How do you make the bulbs light up?"
Peter wants to know "How does electricity work?"

Justus and Peter want to know "How does a magnet work?"
We know that lots of things that are metal are magnetic but some metal things are not magnetic.  We want to know "What is in the metal that makes things magnetic?"
We know that plastic, wood, clothing (material) and glass is not magnetic.

Portia wants to know "How does the magnet make the paper clip move through the bubble wrap?"

We keep hearing this word "circuit" so we want to know "what is a circuit?"

Justus wants to know "How do you do the activities and quizzes on the computer?"
Portia wants to know "How do you match them together to make them work?"

This website has big words like "conductor" and "insulator" on it so we want to know "What are conductors and insulators?"

We have found out that magnets work through bubble wrap but we want to know "How many layers of bubble wrap can our magnet work through?"

We found out that magnets can work through wood so now we want to know "How thick does the wood have to be before the magnet stops working?"

Osyris and Portia want to know "How do you make the buzzer go?"
Jimi wants to know "Why does the buzzer need cords?"
Justus wants to know "Why are there different types of buzzers?" and "Why do we need to use buzzers?"

Some of us made a complete circuit using a cell (battery), wires and a bulb.  We made the bulb light up.  But "What would happen if we used two cells (batteries) and one bulb?" or "What would happen if we used one cell (battery) and two bulbs?"

We had fun with Tiber's magnets.  They are oval magnets and when you throw them in the air close to each other they join together, spin around and make a rattling sound.
Sativa wants to know "Why do magnets go away from each other?"

We have this cool UFO ball although we don't know why it is called an Unidentified Flying Object when it does not fly and we know it is a ball.
Yawden, Justus and Osyris want to know "How does the UFO ball work?"
Portia wants to know "Why does the UFO light up?"
Jimi wants to know "What is in the UFO ball to make it work?"
Osyris wants to know "Why doesn't the UFO ball work when you push it with only one hand?"
Room 1 stood in a circle holding hands while Mrs Chrystall touched one metal piece and Sativa touched the other metal piece.  We made the UFO ball light shine and buzzer sound.  Now Mrs Chrystall wants to know "Will the UFO ball work with everyone in the school joined together?"

We are going to find out the answers to our questions and then we will post our answers.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! We are most impressed by the way that you keep questioning each other and challenging your own ideas. What a great blog you have set up here! I will share it with my class in Dunedin later in the week when I am back with them. Ka Pai Ruma Tahi!!!

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  2. Room 1, what as wonderful blog. I love all the questions and reflections about electricity. My class loved this topic last year. It is so much fun to find out why and how things work. Our topic for this term is "Fairytales, Myths, Fables and Legends". We are having a lot of fun learning. You might want to check out our blog at http://stmarys-room4.blogspot.com/
    Thanks for sharing your learning.
    Mrs K and Room 4

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  3. Hi Room 1
    What fantastic questions. I think I'd like to know how many layers of bubble wrap your magnets will work through too. My class investigated magnets and machines last term, it's a really exciting topic. I will pop back with my class tomorrow so they can see all your fantastic thinking and investigating.
    From Mrs McGhie

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