Indiana Science HS-PSII-6.3

ScienceGrades 9–12Physical Science

The Standard

Describe the motion of a charged or uncharged particle through a uniform magnetic field.

Indiana Academic Standards for Science (2023) · Magnetism

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students predict whether a particle moves straight, travels in a circle, or spirals through a uniform magnetic field. They use its charge and starting direction to explain the path.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students show that a neutral particle travels straight. They show a charged particle moving across the field in a circle, one moving along it in a straight line, and one moving at an angle in a spiral. They know the field changes direction, not speed.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think every charged particle curves, even when it is still or moving along the field. Some draw neutral particles bending. Others think the field speeds particles up or pushes them along the field arrows.
How to Assess It: On an exit ticket, have students sketch paths for a neutral particle and a positive particle moving right through a field marked × (into the page). Ask them to label which path curves upward.

Lesson moves

Use pipe cleaners and field arrow cards to build straight, circular, and spiral paths; label each with its charge and starting direction.
Ask students to write why a charged particle moving along the field goes straight while one moving across it curves.
Hand out charge, velocity, and field cards; students sort possible paths into straight, circle, or spiral and mark opposite turns for opposite charges.
Give students a mass spectrometer sketch and ask why ions bend in its magnetic field while neutral atoms would travel straight.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to HS-PSII-6.3, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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