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Experimenting with Safety Gear

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  Document Type: Lesson Plan
  Lesson Plan Type: Interactive Instruction
  Subject: Science
  Grade Level: 8
  Time: 60 minutes
  Last Updated: 02-11-2010
     
  Keywords:
     
     
 
Created/Provided by:
NBC Learn
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CALIFORNIA STATE STANDARDS ADDRESSED

Science/8/Investigation and Experimentation
 
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Students will learn several important characteristics about the process of creating safety gear. Students will create a device to protect an egg from cracking if dropped. Students will learn about the concept of dispersing energy, and learn how safety helmets and other safety gear help keep Olympic athletes alive.

  

 
PROCEDURES
 
Goal(s):
Students will learn several important characteristics about the process of creating safety gear. Students will create a device to protect an egg from cracking if dropped. Students will learn about the concept of dispersing energy, and learn how safety helmets and other safety gear help keep Olympic athletes alive.
 
Specific Objectives:
  1. Ask scientific questions
  2. Explore the concept of “dispersing energy”
  3. Explore the science behind designing safety gear for athletes
  4. Conduct a scientific experiment to understand dispersing energy
  5. Conduct a scientific experiment to test safety gear they have designed to protect the egg.
  6. Maintain a record of their observations
  7. Use the record of their observations to construct reasonable explanations for questions presented to them.
 
Required Materials:
  • The NBC Video: Safety Gear
  • one raw egg for each group of students in the classroom
  • various materials such as foam, fabric, poster board, cardboard, cotton, Styrofoam cups, socks, toilet paper, garbage bags, straws, bubble wrap, newspaper, tissue, tape, glue
  • a copy of “Experiment worksheet: Safety Gear for an Egg”
 
Anticipatory Set (Lead-in):
Ask students how many of them ride bikes. Next, ask how many wear helmets when they ride their bikes. Ask them why or why they don’t wear helmets. Next, take an egg and tell students that if you wrap your hand around it and squeeze it evenly on all sides you can’t break it. Let a few students try this. Then show students that a slight tap on a table will crack the shell. Ask students why they think that this happens. Discuss possible answers. Tell students that they are going to find out why it is important to wear protective gear, in particular helmets. They are going to design an experiment on how to protect an egg from cracking and then compare their results with how the Winter Olympic athletes protect themselves from being injured by watching the NBC Learn Video: Safety Gear.
 
Lesson Plan Procedure:
  1. Tell students that they will be working in groups to design a safety gear device that would protect a raw egg if dropped from a height of 6-8 feet. Remind students that they must not alter the egg itself in any way (to make the egg stronger). Tell students that they must complete the preparation and the creation of their safety gear, with their raw egg inside, by a given deadline.
  2. The group must first take time to read the experiment worksheet “Safety Gear for an Egg”.
  3. Next, the group must go to the materials table and look over the materials that are available to them.
  4. After examining all the materials that are on the materials table, students should brainstorm ideas on how to create the most protective “gear” for their egg.
  5. It is important, at this stage, that every student’s idea is discussed within the group. The group must come to an agreement about which idea to start with. Remind students that they might start with one idea but change to another at some point. This is a normal part of the planning process. However, at some point, the deadline must be considered, and a decision needs to be made.
  6. When the group has decided upon the plan it will use to create their safety gear, they must complete Part Two of the experiment worksheet. After they have written this part down, they may proceed to create their safety gear.
  7. At the appointed time given in the deadline, all groups will be told to stop.
  8. At this point, students are to complete Part Three in the experiment worksheet. They must write a hypothesis about what they think will happen when the egg is dropped.
  9. The teacher will take all the groups, with their completed projects, to the site where they will drop the egg.
  10. After all the eggs are dropped, the students should return to their classroom to review and discuss the results. Groups should now complete Part Four in the experiment worksheet as they discuss why their protective gear worked well or why it failed to protect the egg.
  11. Next the students should complete Part Five of the experiment worksheet. As they formulate a conclusion about what they would do the same or differently, the next time they try to do the experiment.
 
Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set):
One person from each group should be chosen from within the group to share with the class what they wrote in Part Five. Students should take turns sharing their group’s conclusion, specifically how well their safety gear protected the egg and what they could do differently to improve their design. Tell students that they are now going to see how and why athletes in the Winter Olympics are protected. The teacher should show the NBC Learn Video: Safety Gear
 
Assessments & notes
 
Plan for Independent Practice:
After viewing the NBC Learn Video: Safety Gear, tell students that they are to work in their same group to complete the last part, Part Six, of the experiment worksheet. This part of the worksheet will ask specific questions to help students relate what they did in constructing their protective gear for their egg to the construction of helmets for athletes. Students will also be expected to describe and draw a picture of how energy was dispersed when the impact of the egg hitting the ground occurred.
 
Assessment Based on Objectives:
Begin the next day’s lesson with the quiz titled, “Exploring Safety Gear”.
 
Adaptations & Extensions:
 
 
Additional Notes:
 
 
Copyright:
 
 
 
 
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Submitted by NBCLearn on Fri, 01/22/2010 - 05:11


Title:

Experimenting with Safety Gear

Grade Level:

8

Subject:

Science

Author:

nbclearn

Time:

60 minutes

Lesson Plan Type:

Interactive Instruction

Keywords:

Safety gear, physics, science, helmet, egg, energy, olympics

Brief Description:

Students will learn several important characteristics about the process of creating safety gear. Students will create a device to protect an egg from cracking if dropped. Students will learn about the concept of dispersing energy, and learn how safety helmets and other safety gear help keep Olympic athletes alive.

  


California State Standards Addressed:

Science/8/Investigation and Experimentation)

Related Links:

Link 1:
Link 2:
Link 3:

Goal(s):

Students will learn several important characteristics about the process of creating safety gear. Students will create a device to protect an egg from cracking if dropped. Students will learn about the concept of dispersing energy, and learn how safety helmets and other safety gear help keep Olympic athletes alive.

Specific Objectives:

  1. Ask scientific questions
  2. Explore the concept of “dispersing energy”
  3. Explore the science behind designing safety gear for athletes
  4. Conduct a scientific experiment to understand dispersing energy
  5. Conduct a scientific experiment to test safety gear they have designed to protect the egg.
  6. Maintain a record of their observations
  7. Use the record of their observations to construct reasonable explanations for questions presented to them.

Required Materials:

  • The NBC Video: Safety Gear
  • one raw egg for each group of students in the classroom
  • various materials such as foam, fabric, poster board, cardboard, cotton, Styrofoam cups, socks, toilet paper, garbage bags, straws, bubble wrap, newspaper, tissue, tape, glue
  • a copy of “Experiment worksheet: Safety Gear for an Egg”

Anticipatory Set (Lead-in):

Ask students how many of them ride bikes. Next, ask how many wear helmets when they ride their bikes. Ask them why or why they don’t wear helmets. Next, take an egg and tell students that if you wrap your hand around it and squeeze it evenly on all sides you can’t break it. Let a few students try this. Then show students that a slight tap on a table will crack the shell. Ask students why they think that this happens. Discuss possible answers. Tell students that they are going to find out why it is important to wear protective gear, in particular helmets. They are going to design an experiment on how to protect an egg from cracking and then compare their results with how the Winter Olympic athletes protect themselves from being injured by watching the NBC Learn Video: Safety Gear.

Lesson Plan Procedure:

  1. Tell students that they will be working in groups to design a safety gear device that would protect a raw egg if dropped from a height of 6-8 feet. Remind students that they must not alter the egg itself in any way (to make the egg stronger). Tell students that they must complete the preparation and the creation of their safety gear, with their raw egg inside, by a given deadline.
  2. The group must first take time to read the experiment worksheet “Safety Gear for an Egg”.
  3. Next, the group must go to the materials table and look over the materials that are available to them.
  4. After examining all the materials that are on the materials table, students should brainstorm ideas on how to create the most protective “gear” for their egg.
  5. It is important, at this stage, that every student’s idea is discussed within the group. The group must come to an agreement about which idea to start with. Remind students that they might start with one idea but change to another at some point. This is a normal part of the planning process. However, at some point, the deadline must be considered, and a decision needs to be made.
  6. When the group has decided upon the plan it will use to create their safety gear, they must complete Part Two of the experiment worksheet. After they have written this part down, they may proceed to create their safety gear.
  7. At the appointed time given in the deadline, all groups will be told to stop.
  8. At this point, students are to complete Part Three in the experiment worksheet. They must write a hypothesis about what they think will happen when the egg is dropped.
  9. The teacher will take all the groups, with their completed projects, to the site where they will drop the egg.
  10. After all the eggs are dropped, the students should return to their classroom to review and discuss the results. Groups should now complete Part Four in the experiment worksheet as they discuss why their protective gear worked well or why it failed to protect the egg.
  11. Next the students should complete Part Five of the experiment worksheet. As they formulate a conclusion about what they would do the same or differently, the next time they try to do the experiment.

Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set):

One person from each group should be chosen from within the group to share with the class what they wrote in Part Five. Students should take turns sharing their group’s conclusion, specifically how well their safety gear protected the egg and what they could do differently to improve their design. Tell students that they are now going to see how and why athletes in the Winter Olympics are protected. The teacher should show the NBC Learn Video: Safety Gear

Plan for Independent Practice:

After viewing the NBC Learn Video: Safety Gear, tell students that they are to work in their same group to complete the last part, Part Six, of the experiment worksheet. This part of the worksheet will ask specific questions to help students relate what they did in constructing their protective gear for their egg to the construction of helmets for athletes. Students will also be expected to describe and draw a picture of how energy was dispersed when the impact of the egg hitting the ground occurred.

Assessment Based on Objectives:

Begin the next day’s lesson with the quiz titled, “Exploring Safety Gear”.

Possible Connections to Other Subjects:



Adaptations and Extensions:

 

Additional Notes:

 

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