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Egg Drop Teacher Lesson Plan

Curriculum Area: Physical Science

Topic/Concept: Flight

Name of Activity: Egg Drop

Age Range Of Students: 4th Grade

Number of Students: 30

Time Needed: approximately 2 hours/2 class periods

Materials Needed:

• plastic bags
• garbage bags
• eggs
• egg cartons
• 2-liter bottles
• small boxes
• bubble wrap
• Styrofoam popcorn
• fishing line
• scotch tape
• masking tape
• glue
• rubber cement
• cotton
• felt
• popsicle sticks
• tongue depressors
• markers
• crayons
• twist ties
• yarn
• string
• newspaper
• paper towels
• toilet paper
• straws
• police caution tape
• white paper
• construction paper
• PE parachute
• parachute men
• toothpicks
• stop watch
• hole punch
• bouncy ball
• poster board
• whistle
• tape measure
• balloons
• sponges
• rubber bands
• pipe cleaners
• red, yellow, white flags
• ruler

Objective:

Given the background information on parachutes, gravity, and Newton's laws, the children will be able to demonstrate and use their understanding of this knowledge by building an egg drop apparatus and testing the result of their hypothesis. After the test of their apparatus, they will be able to discuss why their egg drop apparatus did or did not work and what could be done differently to successfully test their egg drop apparatus and make their hypothesis true.

Goals:

1. To convey information on gravity, air resistance, Newton's laws of motion, and parachutes.
2. To have each group design an egg drop apparatus demonstrating their understanding of information presented.
3. To successfully test each egg drop.
4. To prove/disprove our advanced organizer question "how can we prevent this egg from breaking when we drop it from the second story of this school?"
5. To have all students participate and work cooperatively in their groups.
6. To follow the scientific method throughout our lesson.
7. To use necessary safety precautions throughout entire lesson.
8. To have fun!

Introduction/Set:

• First we introduce ourselves and tell a little bit about what we are going to do with flight.
• Ask our advanced organizer question "how can we prevent this egg from breaking when we drop it from the second story of this school?" Brainstorm ideas and record on poster. Hand out data sheet 1 and have students copy down ideas. Note: if parachute is not mentioned, suggest it.
• We are going to pretend for the rest of our activities that these eggs are skydivers and our skydiver's name is Cardinal. Note: have students name eggs as things that fly.
• What would happen to Cardinal if we dropped him from a ledge twice his height? Note: use ruler to measure egg from floor to twice it's height.
• What would happen to Pilot Jack if he jumped from a ledge twice his height? (measure Pilot Jack with tape measure)
• What would happen if we dropped Cardinal from the second floor of your school?
• Now look how small Cardinal is and how big Pilot Jack is.
• What would happen if Pilot Jack jumped from a comparable height to the second floor of your school such as an airplane flying in the air?
• Looking back at our brainstorming list, what do you think is the best way to stop Cardinal and Pilot Jack from getting hurt when they are dropped or jump from these heights? Note: Have students record on their paper their own ideas under the "What do I know" section of data sheet 1.
• Discuss parts of parachute off of poster.
• Pilot Jack is going to talk with you about why parachutes are so important to pilots and what could happen if a pilot does not have a parachute.

Lesson:

TUESDAY:

• Go to gym for parachute activity.
• Pull parachute up above head and hold it so that it falls on it's own.
• Pull parachute up to knees and let fall on it's own.
• Pull parachute up, run underneath it and sit down to hold air in and watch what air does. Be sure the students notice the trapping of air under the parachute.
• Return to classroom, Rachel talks about:
• Newton's Principle's of Motion
• Gravity (bouncy ball activity-bounce ball, ask children why they think the ball comes back down.)
• Air Resistance (Wind, Air Currents, time) Note: meter stick activity-show force of air resistance by placing one sheet of newspaper over half of stick and ask children what they think will happen when hit other end of stick. Stick should break.
• Pass out data sheet 2. Then the students will observe 3 eggs being dropped: a plain egg, an egg with a parachute, and an egg with an egg drop apparatus. While these are being dropped, Summer will time them with a stopwatch and the students will record the time on their data sheet as well as what happened to the egg.
• Discuss the egg drop apparatus and why it protected Cardinal from being hurt.
• Tell the students that they will be split up into groups 4-5 depending on the number of students in the class. On Thursday, each group will be given an egg/skydiver and they will they will have the opportunity to use any of the supplies listed to create an egg drop apparatus. While creating their apparatus, they must document every supply used, the procedure that they use to build their apparatus, and the reason for using those supplies and that procedure. Each group will also name their egg/apparatus after something to do with flight. Note: Refer to data sheet 2.
• Tell them that they may only use the supplies provided and the apparatus must be similar in size to the one we used in the demonstration.
• If time allows, we will split the students into groups as dictated by their teacher and they can begin to brainstorm ideas for their apparatus. Note: Refer to poster with list of supplies.

THURSDAY:

• We will begin this day by talking about safety precautions needed for our egg drop activity.
• Assign 3 students to white, yellow, and red flags.

1. white - safety zone, no eggs will be dropped.
2. yellow - near launch, caution, getting ready for egg drop. All participants should be safely behind taped off area during yellow and red flags.
3. red - be careful, ready to launch. Whistle will be blown.

• Discuss safety tape and how all students should remain behind it.
• Mention that all materials should be used properly. Attention should be given to personal safety. If materials are being used improperly, that group will not be allowed to use that material as part of their apparatus. If continues, group will be disqualified.
• If the students have not yet met with their groups to brainstorm for their apparatus and named their egg, then they will now be split up into their groups. Note: Tell students they need to pick out supplies that they want to use and write down safety precautions for each supply to be Oked
• Have the students use the supplies to design the egg drop apparatus. Note: teacher needs to watch that supplies are being used properly..
• After each group has designed their apparatus and documented the procedures and supplies used with safety precautions, the class will go outside and each groups' apparatus will be dropped from the second floor one at a time as that group times their apparatus and the whole class documents what happens to the egg drop. Note: Have students with flags standing out in the open for class to see clearly.
• Then we will reconvene in the classroom to discuss each groups apparatus, why it did or did not work, and what could be done differently to possibly make it a successful drop.
• If time allows, each group will have a chance to re-design their apparatus and drop it a second time.

Closure:

After all of the information that you have learned and the egg drop apparatus that you have created and tested, what do you think the best way is to prevent an egg from breaking when dropped from the second story of your school and why?

Evaluation:

We will know if the students have met our objective if they are able to express an understanding of the knowledge conveyed, create an egg drop apparatus to test, successfully test each groups apparatus, and discuss as a class what worked and what did not regarding the egg drops.

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