Class #36--5th Grade Science

Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 12:15 P.M. 5th Grade Science Class. Class #36 on my “50 Classes or Bust!” journey. The students have hustled in from their “lunch recess” and settle into their seats in Mrs. Ossmus’s colorful, lovingly-decorated classroom. After showing students some old-fashioned paper fasteners, Mrs. Ossmus informs the class that the paper clip was invented in 1899. Did you know the world’s heaviest paper clip is 4,000 pounds? The record-setting paper clip is obviously very large, and it is made of solid metal. Metal has multiple properties: conducts heat and electricity, shiny, hard, malleable, and ductile. Ductility, as I learned today, is the ability to be pulled into thin wires without breaking. By 12:27, the students are making predictions about a “hardness vs. malleability” experiment they are about to conduct in class. How many times can the students bend a copper wire and a paper clip before the objects snap? Which is more malleable? Each student tests the two items. I can see their inquisitive expressions as I hear them counting the number of bends. I help out with bending a student’s paper clip, and the small clip is tougher than you might think! It turns out that the copper wire takes many more bends before it breaks, on average, than the paper clip. Therefore, we can state that the copper wire is more malleable than the clip. The class discusses which metals might be better for various tasks and structures, including an invention the students might make. I greatly appreciate both Mrs. Ossmus’s and the class’s enthusiasm today. In the pictures below, you will see a student bending a copper wire, another student holding a broken paper clip, and Mrs. Ossmus demonstrating the proper bending technique!