Egg Drop Project with Grading Rubric

Major Project - I designed to have students do after our Neuro / Concussion Unit. My students are junior and senior level health science students; when we do this activity we have finished talking about basic nervous system anatomy and the pathology of nervous system injury. (For reference, my junior health science students are ideally co-enrolled in anatomy and physiology). Prior to this activity, we watch and discuss the PBS documentary League of Denial (PBS, 2013). I preface this discussion and film with we are trying to be objective about concussions and sports; many students, parents, and teachers/coaches have strong feelings about the topic.

You could have them watch the movie Concussion [Film, Landesman 2015] instead; I have had better experience using the PBS documentary. I think whatever works for your students and your budget.

I also generally provide materials for this project that I collect throughout the year (bubble wrap, packing materials, cardboard boxes, eggs) but I allow students to bring their own if so desired. Their grade is not necessarily tied to the packaging being successful as the effort and creativity they put into the project.

I use 2-3 days to watch the film (depending on scheduling) and give the students two days in class to complete their design. You may find it helpful to have fake eggs (plastic or other) for students to test the size dimensions. Overall this is one of my favorite units to teach and a unit that gets consistently high marks from students.