Outreach

Outreach

We value community outreach to help the next generation of youth discover career pathways within the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. To accomplish this, we have partnered with 4-H and Discovery Outreach to develop science kits and host STEM immersion experiences in which participants experiment with fundamental concepts of electricity, magnetism, and magnetic forces.

We are sharing our curriculum on this website to broaden our outreach. We welcome interested educators, parents, and youth to use this material to inspire curiosity and awareness of electromechanical power conversion careers.

4-H Kit: Learn to Use the Force! Electromagnets

Typical Participant: middle schooler interested in electricity and magnets.

Severson Research Page
Severson Research Page

Ever wondered how (simple) door bells work? Or, how speakers work? How can electricity be used to create magnets? Then this kit is for you!

This kit is a combination of readily-available hardware store parts (e.g., bolts, washers, PVC pipe, conduit box) and a few specialized parts (e.g., magnet wire, switch, battery holder). The included instruction manual guides the participant through an introduction and background, then three experiments which give an introduction to electromagnetism. The experiments successively become more advanced, where by the end, the participant will create an electromagnetic plunger to shoot a marble across the table!

Nearly all the required parts are included in the kit; only a few common household items will be needed (e.g., pen, tape).

Kit Documents

Included in the kit are the following documents: