Balloons plus math, what’s not to love? In Dr. Jody Marberry‘s eighth-grade accelerated math class, students got their physics game on with an experiment involving water balloons and rubber bands.
The goal was to determine the optimal number of rubber bands to attach to a water balloon to allow it to bounce as close to 200 centimeters as possible without bursting. Students collected data by repeatedly dropping the balloon from a fixed height, delicately adjusting the number of rubber bands each time, and recording the resulting bounce height.
After collecting their data, students used Excel to create a scatter plot, calculate a line of best fit, and determine the correlation coefficient and coefficient of determination. By analyzing these statistics, students could predict the maximum number of rubber bands for a burst-free 200-centimeter drop and the minimum height for 15 rubber bands. Additionally, they explored the real-world implications of specific data points, such as the maximum height the balloon could bounce without any rubber bands.
Jordan Soshnik ’30 thought the lab was a great and engaging way of assessing his knowledge. He said, «It was fun because I got to work in a group with two other peers to create a bungee jumping model that simulated how far a person drops per length of their bungee cord when jumping off a platform. This was a much safer way to collect and analyze data without actually having to jump off a platform. One thing that was really challenging about this lab was the fact that if your math was off and the balloon dropped more than 200 cm or you simply just dropped the balloon by accident, your group would get 0% on the quiz. Having no room for error forced us to work together as a team to make sure that we were 100% accurate. I loved getting to apply a challenging math concept to an adventurous activity in the real world.»
Audri Willeman ’29 said, «One thing that I found challenging was taking a calculated risk. In this lab, the balloon was to go as far down the wall as it could without popping against the ground. If the balloon popped then we would get a zero on the quiz, so it was a good incentive to be on the cautious side. This was challenging because each group had to find the perfect amount of rubberbands to make the balloon go as far as possible without popping. In the end, each group tried to test the limit while still veering on the cautious side. Overall this lab gave us a deeper understanding of calculated risks.»
Mila Gomez ’29 added, «In the balloon lab, it was challenging to keep the balloon from going over the 200 cm ‘ground’ level for our bungee jumping balloon. After each rubber band, we had to carefully predict whether the balloon would fall over or under that line. I was surprised how my group’s data landed exactly at 200 cm after seven rubber bands. This made me think more about what the data meant in the real world, which was an additional challenge. Another interesting factor that had me thinking was that each group had different data, even though we all had the same materials. Some needed more rubber bands and were different lengths from 200 cm. Altogether, the quiz caused us to ask more ‘why’ questions and helped us go deeper into the data-based math we’ve been learning.»
What an engaging way to learn about risk assessment, data analysis, and real-world applications of math!