Worksheet

A Handle for Beach Sand Stamps

Use beach stamp tests to define a magnetic design problem, identify goals and limits, and evaluate possible solutions.

Grade 3ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to3-PS2-4

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
13 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 3
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students define a sand-stamp design problem that magnetic attraction could help solve.
Students distinguish design goals from limits on materials and parts.
Students use attraction and stamp-test evidence to evaluate possible designs.

How to use

Read the beach-station passage together. Have students compare goals, limits, and test results before writing a design problem. No hands-on materials are needed.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

3-PS2-4

Define a simple design problem that magnets can solve.

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A Handle for Beach Sand Stamps

Use test evidence to define a problem magnets could solve.

What Needs to Change?

Read about the beach station. Decide what a successful design needs to do.

Prints Beside the Tide Pools

At a beach activity station, visitors press stamps into trays of damp sand. The stamps make outlines of animals people might see in nearby tide pools. The station is well away from the pools, and no animals are collected. Imani helps visitors choose from several light wooden stamp plates. Each plate has a different animal shape underneath.

The station has one wooden handle. Visitors need to move it from plate to plate. Right now, they rest the handle on a plate and press down. When they lift the handle, the plate stays in the sand. Visitors must reach around the plate to pick it up, sometimes smearing the print.

Imani wants a connection that keeps a plate attached during eight out of eight test lifts. Visitors also need to remove one plate and attach another in six seconds or less. The team must keep the original handle and plates. It may add no more than one large, enclosed magnet to the handle. An adult will firmly attach any added parts. The handle and plates must remain separate pieces that visitors can switch.

Which design problem best fits the station's needs?

A. Make deeper animal prints by building a heavier handle.
B. Connect plates for lifting while keeping them quick to change.
C. Join the handle to one plate so visitors stop changing shapes.
D. Make wider plates so visitors can pick them up by their edges.

Sort each requirement. A goal describes a result the design should achieve. A limit restricts what the team may use or change.

Keep the original wooden handle and plates.Keep the plate attached in eight out of eight lifts.Use no more than one enclosed magnet on the handle.Allow a plate change in six seconds or less.

Goal for success	Limit on the design

Which check would best test whether visitors can change plates quickly enough?

A. Time how long a visitor spends pressing a plate into sand.
B. Time how long a visitor spends choosing an animal shape.
C. Time how long a visitor spends lifting an attached plate.
D. Time how long a visitor spends removing and replacing a plate.

Plan a Connection

Use the material-test evidence to decide how a magnet might help.

An adult tests three loose samples: steel, aluminum, and wood. The adult places each sample on the same smooth surface and holds the same enclosed magnet the same short distance away. The steel sample moves toward the magnet. The aluminum and wood samples do not move. Three repeats give the same results. The adult keeps the magnet enclosed throughout the tests.

A helper says, “An aluminum patch should work just like a steel patch because both are metal.” Which response best uses the evidence?

A. Disagree; steel moved toward the magnet, but aluminum did not.
B. Agree; steel and aluminum moved toward the magnet in the test.
C. Agree; the wooden sample showed that metal patches are unnecessary.
D. Disagree; aluminum moved toward the magnet, but steel did not.

Which plan best uses magnetic attraction to connect the handle to a plate?

A. Put a magnet under the handle and an aluminum patch on the plate.
B. Put a magnet and a steel patch together on top of the handle.
C. Put a magnet under the handle and a steel patch beneath it on the plate.
D. Put a magnet under the handle and leave the plate's wooden top bare.

A helper finds a brass patch. Brass was not included in the material tests. What should the team do before planning to use it?

A. Use it because the steel result shows how metals behave.
B. Test it with the magnet using the same material-test steps.
C. Reject it because the aluminum result shows how metals behave.
D. Compare its color with steel to decide how strongly it attracts.

The team puts a magnet under the handle and an aluminum patch on a plate. The plate does not lift with the handle. What change should the team try? Explain using the material-test evidence.

Check Goals and Limits

Compare the designs with both the goals and the limits from the passage.

The team compares four connections. Narrow Patch uses one enclosed magnet and a narrow steel patch. Wide Patch uses the same magnet and a wider steel patch. Two Magnets uses a wide steel patch and two enclosed magnets. Elastic Loop uses a stretchy band around the handle and plate, with no magnet. An adult securely attaches added parts before testing.

The team changes the connection but keeps the wooden handle, stamp plate, damp sand, lift height, and tester the same. For each design, the tester presses the stamp into sand and lifts the handle eight times. The team counts how often the plate lifts with the handle. It also times one complete plate change for each design.

Time to remove one plate and attach another:
Narrow Patch: 3 seconds
Wide Patch: 5 seconds
Two Magnets: 4 seconds
Elastic Loop: 14 seconds

How many more successful lifts did Wide Patch have than Narrow Patch? lifts

Consider just the TWO performance goals: eight successful lifts and a plate change in six seconds or less. Sort the designs by their test results. You will check the magnet limit in the next question.

Elastic LoopWide PatchNarrow PatchTwo Magnets

Meets both goals	Misses a goal

10.

Which tested design meets both performance goals AND follows the limit on the number of magnets?

A. Two Magnets
B. Elastic Loop
C. Narrow Patch
D. Wide Patch

11.

A helper says, “Elastic Loop is finished because it held the plate during eight lifts.” What is missing from this claim?

A. The loop also needs to let visitors change plates within six seconds.
B. The loop also needs to make the plate stay behind in the sand.
C. The loop also needs to be tested with a newly built wooden handle.
D. The loop also needs to use two magnets to help lift the plate.

12.

The team wants to check whether patch width caused the difference between Narrow Patch and Wide Patch. Which comparison would give the clearest evidence?

A. Change patch width and magnet size; keep the plate and lifting steps the same.
B. Change patch width and plate weight; keep the magnet and lifting steps the same.
C. Change patch width; keep the magnet, plate, and lifting steps the same.
D. Change patch width and lift height; keep the magnet and plate the same.

13.

Write a design problem for the beach station. Include what needs to improve, both performance goals, and one limit on the design. Then use a test result to explain why a magnetic connection is worth trying.