An idea that sticks

Marisa O’Neil

You could call the fourth-graders in Karin Selby’s class at Eastbluff

Elementary School little MacGyvers, except they’re probably too young

to remember that TV show.

But give them a battery, some wire, a rivet and a switch, and

they’ll put it all together to make an electromagnet.

Each student at the school in Corona del Mar has been diligently

keeping a science notebook detailing all the class’ experiments,

including lessons on magnets and electricity. On Monday, they put

those two together.

“Think of a junkyard and the cars stacked on top of each other,”

Selby explained to them. “They use a really big magnet to pick up and

move the cars because the crane operator can turn the magnet on and

off. Can you make a junkyard crane that turns on and off?”

She then demonstrated that using a permanent magnet attached to a

steel rivet turns the rivet into a temporary magnet, able to pick up

small metal washers. The students went through their notebooks and

wrote down their question.

Selby made a list of all the materials they would need -- a rivet,

a 150-centimeter wire, a 15-centimeter wire, a circuit base, a D-cell

battery, a switch, 50 small washers and a plastic cup.

“Uh, don’t we need a magnet?” 9-year-old Lillian Rauch asked

skeptically.

“No, no magnet,” Selby replied. “And I’m not going to tell you how

to do this. You are scientists, and you have to figure out how to

make this.”

The scientists broke up into groups while one member of each got

the needed materials.

“This is going to be hard,” 9-year-old Grant Wysopal sighed as he

sat on the floor.

In a nearby group, 9-year-old Adam Varasteh struggled with his

supplies. He held his notebook in one hand, wires, cup and battery in

his other and hopped along with the circuit base between his ankles.

Grant’s group members, Zoe Paris and Braden Cooley, sat down with

their supplies and set to work. First, they set the battery in the

base, strung wires to the switch and one to the rivet.

They dipped the rivet in the cup filled with washers. Nothing

stuck.

“Grant, you have a really long wire there,” Selby said when she

came to check on their progress. “Why do you think it’s so long? It

has electricity running through it.”

“I get it,” he said, struck with a sudden epiphany. “Wrap it

around the rivet.”

They took the long wire, wrapped it around the rivet and again

dipped it in the cup.

“It’s working!” Grant exclaimed as tiny washers stuck to its end.

“We did it!” Zoe added.

Things progressed more slowly in Adam’s group. The first few tries

yielded no magnet for Adam, 9-year-old Brett Thompson and 10-year-old

Katie Corum.

Student teacher Christine McClintock came by for a look, just as

they caught on to the wrapping-the-rivet idea. But, still, no magnet.

Brett fetched a new battery, just in case that was the problem. He

re-wrapped the rivet for added measure.

They dipped the rivet in the cup, and the washers finally clung to

it.

“Yeah, that’s cool!” Brett said, satisfied with their miniature

junkyard magnet.

* IN THE CLASSROOM is a weekly feature in which Daily Pilot

education writer Marisa O’Neil visits a campus in the Newport-Mesa

area and writes about her experience.