HS-PS2-5
The standard
Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence that an electric current can produce a magnetic field and that a changing magnetic field can produce an electric current.
Next Generation Science Standards
What this standard means
Students need to design and run simple investigations with provided equipment. They should test how wires, batteries, coils, magnets, compasses, and meters behave together. They need to collect evidence, not just describe the effect, and connect observations to cause and effect.
Mastery looks like a clear procedure, controlled variables, useful data, and a claim supported by observations. Students often mix up current, voltage, and magnetism. They may also miss that motion or change matters when using magnets to produce current.
Ways to teach it
- Wrap insulated wire around a nail, connect it to a battery, and test how many paper clips it picks up with different coil counts.
- Ask students to write: What evidence would convince you that electricity and magnetism are linked, not just happening nearby?
- Give students a compass, wire, and battery, then have them sketch and explain the compass needle movement in two minutes.
- Connect the lesson to phone chargers, earbuds, speakers, bike generators, or induction cooktops, using a simple diagram of coils and magnets.
Plan a lesson for HS-PS2-5
Generate a complete lesson plan aligned to this standard, with objectives, activities, and materials. Free, no account needed.
Related standards
- 4-PS3-2
Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
- 1-PS4-1
Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.
- HS-PS1-3
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- MS-PS2-5
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