Electromagnets and electromagnetism teaching resources

Worksheets and lesson ideas to challenge students aged 11 to 16 to think hard about electromagnetism (GCSE and Key Stage 3)

There isn’t a lesson I love more than challenging students to figure how how a bell works! It’s a beautiful problem to solve where students have to use their knowledge of circuits, magnets and electromagnets. Here is a great animation of a bell that you can use to stimulate some thinking.

Electric Bell animation

The electromagnet challenge!

Key Stage 3 worksheet on electromagnets. This activity has been designed to motivate students to investigate electromagnetism. After a demonstration introducing students to electromagnets, students compete to build an electromagnet that can transport exactly 5 paper clips a distance of 1 m. By doing this they will explore the relationships between current, coils and magnetic field strength.  You may want to test out the method first to make sure that 5 paper clips is an appropriate number to use. (PDF)