Arizona STEM
Acceleration Project
Antimatter Motor Design
Antimatter Motor Design
A 4th grade STEM lesson
Ana Ramirez
12/29/2023
Notes for Teachers
List of Materials:
Picture Book (or video read-aloud)-How Does an Electric Motor Work?
Science Standards:
4.P4U1.1: Develop and use a model to demonstrate how a system transfers energy from one object to another even when the objects are not touching.
4.P4U1.2: Develop and use a model that explains how energy is moved from place to place through electric currents.
Science and Engineering Practices
4.RL.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
4.RL.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
4.W.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
4.SL.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly
Objective(s):
Today we will explain how to build a simple electric motor and study how simple changes affect the motor's rotation.
Today we will describe a character using details from a story.
Today we will collaborate and communicate effectively with our peers to complete an engineering design challenge.
Today students will be able to design and engineer a magnetic field to make a simple motor.
Agenda (60 minutes)
What is a simple motor? What could you use the motor for? What’s the purpose?
Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor Book
Engineering a simple motor
Share or present
What is a Simple Electric Motor?
Simple Electric Motor
Electric motors are devices that convert electrical energy into mechanical energy (electricity into motion). Motors take the electrical energy from an electricity source, such as an outlet or battery, and change that energy into something that spins, moves or does some sort of work.
Read-Aloud
Hands-On Activity Instructions
In a group of 2-4, engineer a a magnetic field to make a simple motor.
Constraints:
How do we assess our work?
We evaluate our final iteration’s ability to meet requirements and stay within constraints
Assessment
Test your motor:
ELA Assessment
How is what you are doing similar to what Frank Einstein invented?
How is it different?
Describe in detail how Frank Einstein loves figuring out how the world works by creating household contraptions that are part science, part imagination, and definitely unusual.
Differentiation
One way to differentiate in this lesson is to provide some groups pictures of their motors and then have them draw arrows to show how the energy flowed through their motors.
Another option is to make the wire coils in advance and have students put together the simple motor as a group;
Remediation
Extension/Enrichment