Abstract
This study reports changes in kindergarten students’ understanding of magnets after participating in a series of hands-on, inquiry-based lessons. The lessons focused on the dipole nature of magnets and employed a visual representation of a magnet as an arrow for the kindergarten students. This dipole model was used to describe how magnets interact with each other and how they interact with steel objects (i.e., magnetization). Many students adopted this dipole model of magnets and were able to use it to describe how multiple magnets would interact and how magnetized paperclips would interact with magnets and with each other.
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Van Hook, S.J., Huziak-Clark, T.L. Tip-to-tail: Developing a conceptual model of magnetism with kindergartners using inquiry-based instruction. J Elem Sci Edu 19, 45–58 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173662
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173662