Planning & Implementation:
Students will choose 3-4 materials to do the bend test with from the following list:
Predict: Which type of paper will support the greatest weight in pennies?
Observe:
How many pennies did each type of paper support before it collapsed?
Where did you place the pennies?
Explain:
- Lined paper
- White paper (computer paper)
- Construction paper
- Tissue paper
- Magazine paper
- Drawing paper
Predict: Which type of paper will support the greatest weight in pennies?
Observe:
- Students will choose 3-4 types of paper from the list above
- Students have the option of folding the paper once or not
- Students will place their paper across two tables forming a bridge
- Students will begin adding pennies one by one to their paper bridge - can place the pennies anywhere they want on the paper, but must be within the gap
- Students will continue adding pennies until the paper bridge collapses
How many pennies did each type of paper support before it collapsed?
Where did you place the pennies?
Explain:
- Which type of paper supported the most pennies before it collapsed?
- Why do you think it was the strongest paper?
- Where did you place the pennies? Do you think this affected the amount of pennies the paper could support?
- What other material besides paper would you want to test and why?