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magnetism, I
Howdy-
A few years ago, when I decided to get serious about teaching
finally figured out a problem that many of my students had. Theythought
that the "North" side of a magnet was the side of the magnet that wason
the north -- geographically -- side of the magnetic.this
Looking back at the text and the order of how I taught the material,
interpretation wasn't all that unreasonable. I had spent more than abit
of time discussing how iron could be magnetized by the earth'smagnetic
field, and so on.they
Now, I teach magnetism differently. In the students' investigations
discover that each magnet has two ends*. Picking one end, it isattracted
to one end of another magnet and repelled by the other. The other endnow
behaves similarly but in reverse. The end that used to be repelled is
attracted.group's
I ask the students to come up with way to identify their magnet ends,
offering sides "A" and "B" as options. Soon they notice that one
naming convention is not always the same as their own, and so theyoften
fight for a standard.standard.
When we do compasses they realize that the earth makes a handy
try
-----
One interesting side note. Most of students have already heard that
opposites attract and they have dealt with static electricity, too, so
they use a formulation like "A attracts B and repels A." Some students
to come up with a system where the naming is like "Tab A goes intoSlot
A." They never get far, but a few students try this every year.like
Marc "Zeke" Kossover
The Hockaday School
*I don't give students multi-pole magnets until very late. Do I look
a jerk?