This home magnet design challenge gives 3rd grade students a real engineering task outside school. In Part 1 they find five magnets in use around the kitchen, bedroom, or living room and record each one's job. They then choose a problem a magnet could fix, set criteria and a constraint, sketch an invention, and explain how it works. The 14 questions follow NGSS 3-5-ETS1-1. A teacher note and sample answers cover every part, including a rubric for the sketch.
3-5-ETS1-1
“Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.”
Questions 7 to 10 in Part 2, where students state the problem, who has it, the criteria for success, and one limit such as size, materials, or cost.
A table has space for five magnets, with a refrigerator calendar as the example. Question 6 asks what the attracted materials have in common.
Students name a problem, such as a cabinet door that won't stay shut, and say who it affects. Questions 9 and 10 ask for criteria and one constraint, with both words defined in a box.
Question 11 asks for a drawing of the invention with labels for the magnet, the object it pulls or pushes, and any other materials.
Questions 12 to 14 ask whether the design attracts, repels, or pulls through another material, what metal it needs, and how to fix a magnet that is too weak.
Weekend project
Send it home on a Friday. Part 1 needs a hunt around the house, and families often point out magnets in cabinet doors or bag flaps that students would miss.
Share day
Let students present their Part 3 sketches. The sample leash-hook design in the key makes a good model to show first if the class is stuck.
Grading the sketch
Use the rubric in the key and look for at least three labels. That keeps the grade on the engineering, not on drawing skill.
Get started today
