An Eggs-cellent Way to Plan

The egg drop activity was really fun, and we also learned how to make a plan to avoid cracking our eggs from this activity. In the activity, my team actually went through all steps in the Planning Process.

STEP 1. Define goals and objectives
We knew that our goal was to use straws and masking tape to make an egg- protector device, protecting egg when it was dropped without breaking, in order to get 5 extra credit points on the Test #1. Also, we understood that we needed to build the device within 10 minutes and should not cover over 50% of the surface of the egg with the tape and straws.
STEP 2. Determine resources and current status vis-á-vis objectives
We were not immediately given the materials, so we started designing the structure of the device on a paper. We knew that our materials were very limited, just 8 straws, 2 feet of masking tape, and one scissor which was shared with other groups in the class. In addition, we realized that the straws were not strong enough and the egg was very fragile. Those were the weaknesses. However, we still had strength: there were 3 smaller girls (including me) in our group.
STEP 3. Develop several alternative strategies
We came up several designs of the device. For example, one of the designs was built by 5-6 straws cross together, and the egg would be taped at the intersection, but we found a problem: the straws were too soft that the device could not stand, and we were not able to avoid the possibility of falling on the side after dropping the device that would break the egg. Therefore, we banned it. Then, we had another design which was like a pyramid, and held the egg in the middle of the “pyramid”, so the egg might be protected inside the “pyramid” even if the “pyramid” fell on the side.
STEP 4. Make a tactical plan
We chose to build the “pyramid” as the egg-protector device and knew that we needed some to build the device, someone to draw the final design of the device and one of the smaller girls to drop the device, but we did not clearly allocate the jobs.
STEP 5. Implement the plan and evaluate results
After we got the materials, some took the job to build the device, and one drew the design of device. Because of the limited time—10 minutes, we were in a rush, and we almost ran out of time to build it.

Even though our team lacked the clear allocation of jobs, all of us well knew what our design was. Therefore, we could still make it in time, and, fortunately, our “pyramid” worked effectively to protect the egg not to break. However, if we clearly arrange jobs for each group member to do, it may be more effective.