This week, the blog's focus is that old chestnut...the Egg Drop activity!  A great activity for Elementary, Middle, High and Adult students alike!  I hope you cats find it useful.

http://burndogsburnblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/egg-drop.html

Prep time was next to none.

The activity itself took two classes for the intro and build...and then a third class for the drop and write up.

So three 40 minute classes.

For my camp, I'm going to condense it into two 40 minute periods...and be a little bit of a stickler for time limits.

I guess if you want them to take more time, you could have them make a plan for their capsule...explain why they've designed it the way they have, and outline how it will fall and what they expect.

If their level is a little low for that, you could just have them 'personalise' their craft, and give a prize for the best looking capsule!!

Brilliant idea!

No worries...it's one of those ideas that I heard about in my first year, but was too lazy to try!!  Now the kids are all talking about it...and with the preview movie...it's going to be the centrepiece of my winter camp!

I'd like to try this next week.  I remember doing it in HS physics :)  Before you let the kids start building, how did you instruct them?  Did you show them ideas or a Powerpoint?  I'm just wondering how to take up a whole class period before letting them build.  Thanks for any help!

Useful PPT Cad, but does it give them answers without them thinking (parachutes/double boxes)?

I tried this today and didn't give them much instruction before starting.  Naively, I thought they should be able to come up with ideas themselves.  Unfortunately they tried using balloons as parachutes (this doesn't work!) and many projects were simply packages of paper. :(

Use the preperation time.  Don't give them materials until they've got a plan.  Make them label diagrams etc...

How did your students like it? Did your school provide all the supplies or was this "homework" that they had to do and then bring into class? 

bjinglee - my students really enjoyed it.  They had a good time, and were really committed to the project, and trying to protect their egg!

foreverj - great stuff!  I did the first version with my advanced class...and the video I made is from that lesson...I found that the video gave them clues...but not answers!  I can't do the egg drop again...all of my 4th, 5th and 6th grade kids have done it...so I have to wait until I change schools :-) 

Anyone have a document made for this or a handout for the students?

For the last camp, I made the entire camp book myself so this time my co-teachers were going to do it. But they just told me yesterday that 'oh, I have no good idea" and told me to do 3  units, and have it finished by tomorrow.

Wonderful!

I did a version of this a few summers ago, quite modified from the ones shown here.

Instead of being a drop from a window and pairs designing I did this.

I had groups split into two halves.  One half went into a room and inspected an already finished model of a previously designed egg transporter.  Basically it allowed an egg to be scooped up and slowly lowered to floor from a desk.  I had students in a prior after school class design and build it. 

That half of the class had to then go to their partners and describe what they had seen, but weren't allowed to touch anything (at first I tried to make it so they couldn't see it being built but it was too hard) - just explain (using English so far as possible).  After a set time they were all compared and tested to see whose worked and which looked most like the original. 

They had great fun doing it and it was good for getting them to give instructions in English.