Questions at the Sentence-Strip Station

A Classroom Station with Two Puzzles

At the classroom sentence-strip station, students arrange words and arrows to build sentences. Their teacher adds two science puzzles beside the word pockets: a rolling arrow and a hanging tissue flag. The class will watch what happens when objects are near each other but not touching.

For the rolling arrow, the teacher tapes a bar magnet onto a small toy cart. The cart rests on a smooth, level board. A second bar magnet sits in a holder nearby. Each magnet has ends called poles, labeled north and south. The teacher keeps magnets away from mouths and electronic devices.

The teacher changes which poles face each other. She resets the cart at the same starting mark, with a 2-centimeter gap between the magnets. The cart, board, and magnets stay the same. Students watch the cart's first movement after she releases it without a push. They record whether it rolls closer or farther away before the magnets touch. They repeat each arrangement three times.

For the tissue flag, students use a plastic comb and a dry wool cloth. Rubbing the comb can give it electric charge. The teacher hangs a narrow tissue strip from the table edge. Students will watch whether the tissue begins bending toward the comb while a gap remains.