Unit Overview

Students explore how invisible forces power our world investigating electricity and magnetism principles. Through solving Light Balance performance mysteries or investigating maglev train levitation, building series and parallel circuits testing conductors and experimenting with electromagnets varying coil counts, and engineering devices using electrical or magnetic principles, students discover how these invisible forces enable modern technology from doorbells to MRI machines.

  • Lesson 1
    Lesson 1: Solve: Light Balance + Electricity Mystery

    Solve: Light Balance + Electricity Mystery

    Mosa gets caught in a storm and takes shelter at an electrical station, meeting an engineer and Eddie the Eel. When Jessie calls—her model skyscraper's light bulb won't glow—Mosa uses what she learned to help. Students discover that electricity is generated when electrons flow from negative to positive charges through closed circuits. But the bulb still isn't bright enough! The solution: generators create stronger electricity by increasing electron flow. By the end, students understand circuits, conductors, and how to boost electrical power.

  • Lesson 2
    Lesson 2: Make: Compare Electric Currents in Fresh Water and Salt Water

    Make: Compare Electric Currents in Fresh Water and Salt Water

    The town of Waterville is low on wires but has abundant water. Can water conduct electricity to light up the town? Students test two solutions: pure water and saltwater. They build circuits using water as the conductor, measure current flow, record brightness observations, and analyze data. The verdict: saltwater conducts electricity far better than pure water because salt dissolves into ions that carry electrical charge. Students create annotated diagrams comparing both solutions and recommend the best option for Waterville's electrical system.

  • Lesson 2
    Lesson 2: Lab Extension: Explore Properties of Magnetism and Electromagnetism

    Lab Extension: Explore Properties of Magnetism and Electromagnetism

    Students explore how magnets and electromagnets work in the real world, then design an enhanced Light Balance performance integrating invisible magnetic forces. At Station 1A: Magnetic Rules, they experiment with 4 bar magnets discovering attraction and repulsion. At Station 1B: Magnetic Challenge, they use magnets and tape to move toy cars without touching them. At Station 2: Electromagnets, they build three electromagnets with different coil counts (10, 20, 30 wraps) around iron nails connected to batteries, discovering more coils create stronger magnetic fields. After investigating these invisible forces, students apply their knowledge designing how Light Balance could incorporate magnets and electromagnets into their LED costume performance, adding hidden magnetic interactions to enhance the visual spectacle.

  • Lesson 3
    Lesson 3: Engineer: Educate about Electricity and Magnetism Safety

    Engineer: Educate about Electricity and Magnetism Safety

    Homeowners are worried about electromagnetic fields (EMF) from nearby power lines—are they dangerous? Students research the relationship between electricity and magnetism, investigate scientific claims about EMF exposure and health effects, evaluate evidence quality, and design evidence-based reports.

  • Next Generation Science Standards
    MS-PS2-3
    Ask questions about data to determine the factors that affect the strength of electric and magnetic forces. [Clarification Statement: Examples of devices that use electric and magnetic forces could include electromagnets, electric motors, or generators. Examples of data could include the effect of the number of turns of wire on the strength of an electromagnet, or the effect of increasing the number or strength of magnets on the speed of an electric motor.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment about questions that require quantitative answers is limited to proportional reasoning and algebraic thinking.]
  • Inquiry Scale
    • Each lesson in the unit has an Inquiry Scale that provides directions on how to implement the lesson at the level that works best for you and your students.
    • “Level 1” is the most teacher-driven, and recommended for students in 4th-5th grades. “Level 4” is the most student-driven, and recommended for students in 7th-8th grades.
    • For differentiation within the same grade or class, use different inquiry levels for different groups of students who may require additional support or an extra challenge.
  • Common Misconceptions
    • Students may think that all electricity is dangerous. Electricity is not always dangerous, and depends on a number of factors, including voltage, current and how easy it is for a current to move through an object or person (resistance).
    • Since batteries are used to power electronics, students tend to believe that electricity flows through them, which is incorrect. Instead, batteries work by storing negative ions on one end and positive ions on the other with a separator in between. This way, when something like a copper wire is placed on the battery from one end to another, the negatively charged ions travel from the negative end to the positive end, creating current.
    • Students sometimes think that electricity is a flow of atoms like the flow of water in a hose. Emphasize that the electrons move along the outer energy level of the charged atoms, bumping each other along, resulting in a current. For example, it’s like soccer players passing a ball down a field, except that in an electric current, the soccer player receiving the ball would not just kick the ball, but would pick up, hold, drop, and then kick the ball along.
    • Students often think that water is an excellent conductor of electricity. This may be because they have heard that you should never keep a plugged-in hairdryer near water because of the risk of electrocution. In the investigation, they discover that water containing free ions is best at conducting electricity because of the nature of how electrons will flow along the surface of ions if an electric potential difference is created.
  • Vocabulary
      • Electron
      • Electricity
      • Charged Atom
      • Positive Charge
      • Negative Charge
      • Battery
      • Magnetism
  • Content Expert
    • Brian Walsh, Ph.D.
      Dept. of Mechanical Engineering Center for Space Physics Boston University
  • Leveled Reading

    * To give our users the most comprehensive science resource, Mosa Mack is piloting a partnership with RocketLit, a provider of leveled science articles.

    • Simple Circuits

      This article is an introduction to simple circuits and the characteristics of series and parallel circuits. To give students a solid foundation for labs and further learning, we explicitly define the terms: circuit, conductor, and current. Read on to see how cookies rolling down streets are used as an analogy for the different kinds of circuits!

    • The Motor Effect

      In this article, students read an intro to how electricity and magnetism are used to create electric motors. The article gives students a description of current, electromagnets and how they create a magnetic field in the area around them. Finally, students read a quick introduction to the right-hand rule as it relates to current and the direction of a magnetic field.

    • Making a Magnet with Electricity

      How tough is it to build an electromagnet and what makes them work? In this article, students read about the basic parts of electric motors and how to increase their strength with additional turns of wire!

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