Magnetism "Big Idea" What is the BIG IDEA in SCIENCE that would
be most appropriate to link a unit on magnets with kindergarten
students? I cannot say for sure, but I can conceive of a reason
I might consider reasonable. Due to the great increase in the
depth and breadth of technology in past years, science at the
level of mechanics and electromagnetism is becoming more
necessary. Magnetism is such a topic to which young students can
relate: all have played with magnetic letters and have seen
magnets on refrigerator doors. If presented in this context from
a point of view that does not bring mathematics into the
picture, students can achieve an interest in science before
equations and topics they have never contemplated drive them
away. Many kindergarten students have wondered why the magnets
stick to the DR. KENNETH MELLENDORF ILLINOIS CENTRAL COLLEGE I
commend you on your effort. The Big Ideas at the kindergarten
level would be that magnets interact through a distance. We call
that region of influence a Per