National Engineers Month

 
 Activities by Grade K - 2

5 - 8
3 - 4 9 - 12

Bicycle Helmet Design

  1. Divide students into groups.
  2. Give each group a boiled egg and a hunk of Play-Doh.
  3. Ask them to design bicycle safety helmets where the boiled egg models the bicycle rider's skull.
  4. Designs are judged by simply dropping each construct on the floor from waist height and seeing which eggs break.

This demo is simple, fun, and rather illustrative of the use of modeling to help solve engineering problems.

Thanks to Victoria Heil in Arizona for providing this activity idea.  

Comments/Changes/Additions: National Engineers Resources Coordinator 
Updated: 11/27/07 01:21:08 PM -0800