This virtual manipulative will allow the students to explore the interactions between a compass and bar magnet. Students can discover that magnetic fields are produced when all the electrons in a metal object are spinning in the same direction, either as a natural phenomenon, in an artificially created magnet, or when they are induced to do so by an electromagnetic field.
Some of the sample learning goals can be:

• Predict the direction of the magnet field for different locations around a bar magnet and electromagnet.
• Compare and contrast bar magnets and electromagnets.
• Identify the characteristics of electromagnets that are variable and what effects each variable has on the magnetic field's strength and direction.
• Relate magnetic field strength to distance quantitatively and qualitatively.