Life Vest Challenge

Student Worksheet:

 Engineering Teamwork and Planning
You are part of a team of engineers given the challenge of developing a personal floatation device (PFD) or life vest out of everyday materials that can provide enough support to float an unopened can of soup or vegetables for at least one minute.  There are some rules: 

1.	The device must be in one attached piece and able to be affixed to the can within a 20 second period
2.	Some part of the can itself must be touching the water.
 
 Research Phase
Read the materials provided to you by your teacher. If you have a life jacket or vest at home take a look at the design and consider the materials used in manufacture.  Also consider all the materials provided by your teacher and how they might be used to create a system that can be quickly attached to the can -- in 20 seconds. 

 Planning and Design Phase
Draw a diagram of the PFD you will build for the can…be sure to make a list of all the materials you will need for the construction phase.

	
Materials you will need:

	
  Life Vest Challenge

Student Worksheet (continued):

 Presentation Phase
Present your plan and drawing to the class, and consider the plans of other teams.  You may wish to fine tune your own design.

 Build it!  
Next build your PFD.  You can practice putting it on and taking it off the can so you are within the 20 second limit, but you'll only have one chance to test it -- under the supervision of your teacher.  During the building phase, you may share unused building materials with other teams -- and trade materials too.  Be sure to watch what other teams are doing and consider the aspects of different designs that might be an improvement on your team's plan.

 Test it!
You'll test your PFD along with other student teams and earn points in the grid below.

PFD on can within 20 seconds?  
Yes 30 points
No 0 points	Float time:
1 minute: 70 points
45 seconds: 45 points
30 seconds: 30 points 
15 seconds: 15 points
Never floats: 0 points	Total Score?	

			

 Reflection 
Complete the reflection questions below:

1. Were you able to design a PFD for the can that you could put on the can in 45 seconds?  Was this part of the challenge harder than you thought?  Why or why not?

2.  Did you redesign your PFD after presenting your drawing to the class?  Why or why not?

  Life Vest Challenge

Student Worksheet (continued):

3. How similar was your final drawing to the actual PFD your team built to support the can?

4. If your team found it needed to make changes during the construction phase, describe why the group decided to make revisions.

5. Which PFD in your class worked best? What was it about that design that made it superior?

6.  Do you think that this activity was more rewarding to do as a team, or would you have preferred to work alone on it? Why?  

7. If you could have used one additional material (tape, glue, wood sticks, foil -- as examples) which would you choose and why?

8. Do you think your design is scalable?  Would it work efficiently if it had to float a brick or a bicycle? Why or why not?