Brain freeze: Students learn science of ice cream, Velcro

The Daily Mining Gazette - Published: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

CAPTION: Dan Schneider/Daily Mining Gazette

Students from Barbara Petersen’s Houghton Elementary first grade class observe the science and engineering of ice cream in action during a field trip to Michigan Tech University on Monday afternoon.

By DAN SCHNEIDER, DMG Writer

HOUGHTON — Krrrrrrrrrrrritchtk. Krrrrrrrrrrrritchtk.

That was the approximate sound made several times over in a conference room in the Minerals and Materials Engineering Building at Michigan Tech University as students in Barbara Petersen’s first grade class demonstrated the Velcro on their boots.

The class was on a field trip from Houghton Elementary to learn about the scientific origins of Velcro.

“Basically, what I want to do is introduce them to science,” said Ed Laitala, an engineer and scientist in Tech’s Material Science and Engineering department whose son is in Petersen’s class.

He told the class about Georges De Mestral, the inventor of Velcro, and how the idea came to him on a walk through the woods.

“He wanted to know why the burrs stuck to his clothes and to his dog,” Laitala told the class.

So the class took a close look at some Burdock seeds using magnifying glasses. They drew pictures of the seeds in detail and discovered it was small hooks on the burrs that allowed them to clutch clothing and dogs.

Students had floated various explanations for the phenomenon prior to examining the burrs with optical enhancement. Static electricity was one reason given.

What they were learning was part of the early stages of developing a scientific mind, according to Petersen.

“We don’t use words like hypothesis, but we do do a lot of predicting,” she said. “So this ties into making an observation and predicting what an outcome will be to figure out if your predictions fit the final result. So it feeds into experimenting, it feeds into exploring.”

Laitala talked about the connection between science — pursuing answers to why things are the way they are in the world — and engineering — applying that knowledge to things that are useful.

So they started by learning about De Mestral’s using his burr observations to engineer Velcro.

“And then we’re going to engineer ice cream,” Laitala said.

With the help of various lab assistants, one wearing thick gloves as he poured liquid nitrogen into five-gallon buckets, the class made ice cream. There was vanilla, chocolate, cookies and cream and strawberry.

After learning about how the cold, cold liquid nitrogen created ice crystals from the cream, student A.J. Whittliff made a scientific observation about his bowl of ice cream.

“It’s really good,” he said.

Dan Schneider can be reached at dschneider@mininggazette.com