April 19, 2024
Search
Close this search box.
Search
Close this search box.
April 19, 2024
Search
Close this search box.

Linking Northern and Central NJ, Bronx, Manhattan, Westchester and CT

BPY Students Become Engineers for the Day

On Thursday, March 30, Ben Porat Yosef students participated in an egg drop engineering packaging challenge. This experiential day of learning was part of BPY’s unique discovery learning approach, which provides students with the opportunity to combine critical thinking, creativity and imagination to help them “see” the math and science in the world around them. Students worked in partner teams to plan, design and create devices that would protect an egg from breaking when dropped. The devices created were required to be within 60 cm long and could be constructed only using the materials provided: straws, manila folder sheets, cotton balls, balloons, aluminum foil, Dixie cups and tape. Students were prompted to think of ideas incorporating force, gravity, drag and impact as they considered the designs for their respective devices. Throughout the day, they also heard from several experts in the engineering field who gave them some advice and guidance to refine their designs. Students brainstormed with their partners to work on building and testing, then formally tested their devices before their peers and teachers by dropping their eggs off a platform on the stage of the school auditorium, a height of 400 centimeters. After this initial test, they participated in further re-evaluation and peer-solicited feedback sessions and improved their devices or rebuilt them. They then put their final creations to the test by having them dropped from the roof of the school building, approximately 970 centimeters, to see if the eggs survived. Miraculously, the overwhelming majority of the students’ eggs emerged unscathed.

 

Leave a Comment

Most Popular Articles