Last week in Mrs. Messler’s Middle School algebra class, students used their linear regression skills to design something fun — the Barbie Bungee experiment! Students worked in small groups of 3-5 students. The groups then were given a worksheet and packet containing materials for the activity such as rubber bands, a yardstick, a Barbie doll and a ruler.
Students were challenged to create a bungee line for Barbie that would give her the most thrilling, yet safe, fall from a height of 2 meters. What’s the relation between the number or rubber bands and the distance Barbie dropped? Middle Schoolers collected data, learned how to plot the data on a coordinate plane, wrote linear equations to approximate the relationship, looked for the best fit linear equation, and discussed what slope and y-intercept mean in this context.
Finally, students used their equations to predict how many rubber bands they would need to tie to Barbie for a big 200 cm jump and tested it out to make sure their math successfully kept her safe while enjoying the most thrilling bungee jump possible!
Middle schoolers were engaged, having fun being creative while learning the concepts of math and practicing it with a hands-on experiment! Well done, Clairbourn Cougars!
“It’s not that I am so smart. It’s just that I stay with problems longer!”
Albert Einstein
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