In this activity, the students simulated a bungee jump using a Barbie® doll and rubber bands. Before they conducted the experiment, each group made a guess:
I believe that _____ is the maximum number of rubber bands that will allow Barbie to safely jump from a height of 434 cm.
Next, the students conducted the experiment to test their conjecture.
The students attached elastics two at a time and dropped Barbie from a starting point on paper attached to the wall. They then measure the distance she fell, recorded the data in a chart and repeated the process. When they had completed the data table, created the graph and use it to make a prediction. Their objective was to get Barbie as close to the ground without touching (hair didn’t count). The students preformed the experiment by tossing Barbie over the stair railing and students judged together which Barbie had won. The math concepts that were use were making an educated guess, performing the experiment, recording in a table of values, creating a scatter plot, drawing the line of best fit, in order to, help them determine the number of elastics they needed to attach to Barbie's feet, so she could safely bungee jump.
