Humpty Dumpty Goes Bungee Jumping

80 youth max, 1 hour minimum

The following is an event plan for the activity based on one hour. 

Event Plan:

Introduction (10 mins)

Welcome/Engineering Overview

Volunteers Intros

Describe the Design Process

Activity (45 mins)

Introduction (5 mins)

Explain the problem (Your friend Humpty wants you to design their bungee jumping cord to jump from the top of the ladder).

Explain the importance of modeling.

Explain Hooke’s Law.

Initial Design Process (10 mins)

Test/Re-design (20 mins)

Wrap Up (5 mins)

Q& A (5 mins)

Notes for School:

Students should bring: Pencils

The Gym should have ten tables for students to create the models of the egg in groups of two.

The school provides 2 6-8’ ladders, one for each testing facility.

 

Activity Details

Description

In this activity students will learn about modeling by building a model of an egg. They will also learn about iterative design by designing a bungee jumping cord for the model egg and then modifying to improve upon that design.

Through this activity, the students will learn and implement the design process. They will understand that failure is a natural part of learning and will hopefully gain a confidence in themselves with respect to engineering.

Steps

  1. Youth will work in teams of two.
  2. Each team be provided elastics, a plastic Easter egg, masking tape, color markers, a real egg inside a plastic Ziplock bag, a bulldog clip, paper, pencil and a Record Sheet
  3. The teams are encouraged to name and decorate their real egg.
  4. They will be encouraged to design a simulated egg using a scale and pennies (pennies will be kept at the scales).
  5. Using their simulated egg they will design a bungee jumping cord using different size elastics.
  6. Testing will take place at the ladders by a volunteer. The youth will watch their simulated egg perform to determine how much longer/shorter or springier their bungee cord needs to be.
  7. They will use the Record Sheet to guide and track test results.
  8. Final testing with real eggs happen at the end of the activity where Humpty will have a great fall.   Hopefully, all the King’s horses and all the King’s men need not be called. 

 

Materials (note: provided by Engineers Nova Scotia; except eggs)

  • Eggs
  • Plastic Easter Eggs (empty)
  • Elastics (#24, #33, #64)
  • 2 Bulldog Clips
  • Plastic Ziplock bags 
  • Markers to decorate actual egg
  • Record Sheet
  • 8’ ladders (2) – the ‘wall’
  • Masking tape
  • Grid at base of ladder to measure proximity to floor
  • Large plastic bags to protect the floor
  • Pennies or washers for weight
  • Scales to weigh egg & simulated egg
  • Egg cups
  • Paper
  • Pencils

 

 

Volunteer Roles

Set up the area to facilitate the activity.

Assign a lead volunteer to introduce the activity. This person’s (can be shared) role is to convey the following messages:

  • Engineering is about problem solving at its core.
  • Engineers are focused on helping make the world a better place by keeping people and the environment safe.
  • Engineering is very broad (many different careers, industries); this can be achieved by telling stories about where and how engineers work (hospitals, arctic, offices, in the field, with robots, with plants and water, etc.)

One implicit message we would like you to convey is that engineers are both men and women. This can be done by saying “she” during the stories of engineers, it does not need to be an explicit statement.  

Introduce yourself during the intro, include what you studied, an interesting part of your work, why you enjoy engineering and why you would encourage students to consider it.

Distribute materials to each group to decorate their egg, create their model egg, design, build and test their bungee jumping cord.

There will be 10 scales around the room where youth weigh their simulated egg. Volunteers will support the use of these scales.

There will also be two ladders (Humpty Dumpty’s walls) for testing – youth are not allowed to use the ladders. These will only be used by a volunteer. Two volunteers per ladder are needed if 8’ ladders are provided. One volunteer should be responsible for keeping time.

Provide guidance to groups by asking questions. “How could you make the jump more exciting for Humpty?”

Q&A time will need one volunteer to invite questions from the students. This is a good place to share the “How do you recognize and engineer?” story about the Iron Ring being on the pinky finger of the hand we write with to create the constant reminder that people will be impacted by our actions. Answer questions during the Q&A.

Hand out gifts and brochures as a thank you to the students for participating.