Name ________________________

Date __________

Science Skill: Experimenting with Magnets

Follow This Procedure
1. Can you tell by looking at them which magnet will pick up the most
paper clips?
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2. State the problem. Which magnet is stronger?

3. Write a hypothesis about which magnet you think will pick up more
paper clips.
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4. Design your experiment. The variable that changes is the magnet. Are
the paper clips a variable that changes?
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Scott Foresman 4

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56. Record the results of your experiment in the table.
Number of Paper Clips Picked Up
Trial 1
Magnet 1
Magnet 2

Trial 2

Trial 3

Average

Name _____________________________________ Date ________________

7. Use your data to make a graph.

Number
of
Paper
Clips
Picked
Up

75
70
65
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Magnet 1

Magnet 2

8. State your conclusion.

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Thinking About Your Thinking
What did you learn from this experiment?
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Self-Assessment Checklist
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Notes for Home Your child wrote a hypothesis and designed an experiment to test it.
Home Activity: Have your child explain to you what is involved in conducting a scientific experiment.

Scott Foresman 4

I conducted an experiment to see which of two magnets

was strongest.
I wrote a hypothesis about which magnet I thought would pick
up the most paper clips.
I designed an experiment and identified which of the variables
changed and which did not.
I recorded my data in a table and developed a conclusion based
on the data.