Science and Technology

Grade 3: Matter and Materials: Magnetic and Charged Materials	Achievement Level
Overall Expectations	1	2	3	4
•demonstrate an understanding of the properties of materials that can be magnetized or charged and of how materials are affected by magnets or static electric charges;
•identify and describe, using their observations, ways in which static electric charges are made in everyday materials, as well as different types of interactions that take place both between charged materials and between magnetized materials;
•identify familiar uses of magnets and give examples of static electric charges that are created in the home or at school.
Specific Expectations
Understanding Basic Concepts
•classify, using their observations, materials that are magnetic and not magnetic, and identify materials that can be magnetized (e.g., iron, nickel);
•identify, through observation, the effect of different conditions on the strength of magnets and on static electric charges in materials (e.g., the effect of distance between magnets; the effect of moisture on charged materials);
•compare different materials by measuring their magnetic strength or the strength of their electric charge (e.g., the number of paper clips that can be picked up by a magnetized needle; the number of tissue paper bits that can be picked up by a charged comb);
•identify, through observation, pairs of materials that produce a charge when rubbed together (e.g., glass and silk; wool and hard rubber);
•describe and demonstrate how some materials that have been electrically charged or magnetized may either push or pull similar materials;
•determine, through observation, the polarity of a magnet (e.g., use a magnet of known polarity to test another magnet of unknown polarity);
•identify materials that can be placed between a magnet and an attracted object without diminishing the strength of the attraction (e.g., construction paper);
•predict, verify, and describe the interaction of two objects that are similarly charged (e.g., the interaction of two balloons after rubbing them on hair);
•describe, through observation, changes in the force of attraction at different distances, both for magnetic forces and for static electric forces.
Developing Skills of Inquiry, Design, and Communication
•design and construct a system that uses magnetic force to move an object (e.g., create a boat that holds paper clips, and move it through water using a magnet);
•ask questions about and identify problems related to magnetic and static electric forces, and explore possible answers or solutions (e.g., investigate ways of producing static electric charges in different materials);
•plan investigations to answer some of these questions or solve some of these problems, and explain the steps involved;
•use appropriate vocabulary in describing their investigations, explorations, and observations (e.g., use terms such as north pole, south pole, attract, and repel when describing magnets, and charge, dry, humid, conductor, and insulator when describing static electricity);
•record relevant observations, findings, and measurements, using written language, drawings, charts, and graphs (e.g., use a data table to show the number of times a needle can be magnetized and the results of testing magnetic strength);
•communicate the procedures and results of investigations for specific purposes and to specific audiences, using demonstrations, drawings, simple media works, and oral and written descriptions (e.g., demonstrate how an object moves through a magnetic maze they have created).
Relating Science and Technology to the World Outside the School
•identify uses of magnets in familiar things (e.g., refrigerator magnets, compasses, door seal on a refrigerator, magnetic catches on cupboards);
•describe examples of static electricity encountered in everyday activities (e.g., clothes clinging together after drying in a spin dryer; sparks made by touching objects after shuffling feet on carpets or by sliding down plastic playground slides in nylon snowsuits);
•identify ways in which static electricity can be used safely or avoided (e.g., use a charged sheet of plastic to pick up dust; moisten materials so they do not cling together).
Student Name:

 Expectations: Copyright The Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1998.  Format: Copyright B.Phillips, 1998.