Balloon Rescue

In a fun twist on the classic Egg Drop Experiment, teams of students create a protective contraption for a water balloon. Students learn group dynamics through choosing roles associated with their project and experiencing how these roles must work together to be successful. At the conclusion of the experiment, students discuss the scientific principles of the drop and the teamwork involved.

What’s Covered

In this class students will explore group dynamics and learn about the different attributes that make a good team. Students will then take on a specialized role within their “company” to complete their project. The goal? Together they will work as a team to engineer a product that will protect their water balloon during a 2-story drop.

Lessons & Activities

The activity will be split up into three stages: design, sales, and testing.

• In the design phase, students will be asked to complete the tasks assigned to their role
• In the sale phase, students will present their final product and show their “commercial” for their product to the class.
• In the testing phase, students will test their products and then have a discussion about how they could have improved their design.

Educational Standards

The standards that are followed for this class are the Next Generation Science Standards. The specific standards covered in the course are:

• MS-ETS1-3 – Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria.
• 3-5ETS1-1 – Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or want that includes specific criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
• 3-5ETS1-2 – Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints on the problem.