MAGNETS!
An Interactive Educational Installation
Collaborators: Dipika Titus & Junru Chen
OBJECTIVE: Teach the learner about the basics of magnets & magnetic force, and show that larger magnets = larger magnetic force.
SECTION 1: INTRODUCE THE CONCEPT
The left-most panel of our section was used to show the title of the installation, and introduce the basic concepts of mangetism.
SECTION 2: GO FISHING
This goal of this section is for the learner to see that the larger the magnet (or stack of magnets in this case), the more paperclips they are able to hold, because there is more of a magnetic pull. To show this, we attached 3 stacks of magnets, one small, one medium, and one large, for the learner to continue the chain of paperclips, to try and reach the fish lower down on the board.
SECTION 3: TRY A HIGH FIVE
The goal of this section is for the learner to see how attraction & repulsion work in practice. To achieve this, we inserted magnets into a felt hands, attached them to pieces of string, and indicated whether they were North or South poles, using the same colors and fonts from Section 1. The two hands on the left are opposing poles, so they attract, while the two hands on the right are the same, so they repulse each other.
USER TESTING:
