90 Minutes | 3rd – 12th Grades
The Egg Drop project is a highly-versatile activity that can be used to introduce students to physics, materials science, and fluid dynamics. For elementary and middle school classes, the students have a wide range of materials to ‘buy’ with their allotted budgets. For the high school classes, the budget and number of available materials are reduced, making the challenge more difficult and emphasizing the engineering design process. Additional components to the activity include timing the falls to calculate the average speed, measuring the deformations of the devices after the drop, and data analysis to compare which materials worked best overall.
Egg drop devices simulate parachutes and other similar features seen in nature, such as the helicopter seeds that are dropped from some trees. The process of slowing descent to resist the force of gravity has been used in a number of instances in history, and continues to be an important science – especially currently around emergency aid and transportation of goods to inaccessible areas.
Lesson Plan – Egg Drop
- 4-PS3-3. Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.
- 6.MS-ETS2-2(MA). Given a design task, select appropriate materials based on specific properties needed in the construction of a solution