December 9, 2009

Gotta Love Kids

So I was correcting my students science tests today and I had a few laughs out loud and knew that I had to post them.

Here they are:

The question was: "Describe the steps you would take to make a simple working compass". Now---we did an experiment where they made a simple working compass by magnetizing a needle, sticking it Styrofoam, then sticking that in a cup of water- the needle points north. We also talked about it a few times and it was in a movie we watched. Almost all of them got the question right but there were a few answers that were pretty clever.

- "Take a piece of paper, write North, South, East, and West. Take a paperclip and attach it." (if only it were that easy).

-"I would take all the direction letters off" (yes...I suppose that would make it more simple)

-1st- You take the compass and put it towards north. 2nd- pick it up and walk west. 3rd- turn back north and there you go :) (the smiley face was included on the test)

Next question: "Why does a compass needle point north?"

-"It has to or else it won't work" (true, true)

Last one: "What do the magnetic fields of a bar magnet, horseshoe magnet, and disc magnet have in common?"

-"They all have magnetic fields" (as if the question didn't already state that out).



If they are going to get the answer wrong at least it gave me a laugh! Luckily for the most part they did awesome on the test. :)