Fortunately, I had done a ton of planning for this year's Teen Summer Reading Program well in advance. Good thing to, because this year we had record numbers of teens signing up to participate in our special events.
Our best-attended program of the summer was our Egg Drop, which a whopping 28 teens participated in. This program was based on a widely popular physics project done at many middle and high schools. The idea is to challenge the participants to construct something that will protect an egg that is dropped from a great height and prevent it from breaking. Teens need to use a little bit of ingenuity to figure out how to displace the force of the impact using a few basic supplies.
We set up several tables for the teens to work at with four chairs at each table. Each table was given a single egg and the teens worked together to build an egg-protecting contraption. This was great for encouraging the teens to be social and to promote teamwork and cooperation. We set up a supply table with a variety of objects that the teens could use to construct their contraptions. Supplies included: Berry baskets, styrofoam, cardboard, plastic bags, string, toilet paper tubes, craft sticks, and of course, scissors and tape. The teens were encouraged when they signed up for the program to think about designs in advance and bring any supplies from home that they might need, but most were happy to just use what we had on hand.
We basically told the teens what the goal was, showed them a few of the supplies at the supply table, and then just let them go to town. We gave them about 40 minutes to build their contraptions, and much of this time was also filled with socializing and snacking. I made a point of walking from group to group to ask them about their contraptions and many were eager to show off their ingenuity.
When time was up we went over to our drop point in the library. My library has a fairly unique two-floor construction, with a main floor on ground level and an open basement below. There is a large open space in the center of the main floor surrounded by a rail that looks down on the lower level. We found a spot along this rail that didn't have much that could be disturbed below it, covered it in plastic tablecloths, and marked it off as the area where the eggs and their respective contraptions would be dropped.
The teens gathered on the lower level near the drop point to observe, and groups were called one at a time to go upstairs and drop their contraptions. The group then had to come back downstairs to open up their contraption to see if their egg survived the fall. All in all, the dropping portion of this program took a little over 20 minutes with (if I remember correctly) 9 groups. Yes, we were a bit noisy out in the middle of the library. But most of the other patrons in the area were actually really interested in what the teens were doing and came by to observe. I also think that it was nice doing a program like this out in a public place so that other people could see the teens in action doing something positive at the library.
Generally this was a very successful program. There is only one thing that I would change if we were to do this program again: I wouldn't include so many packing supplies on the supply table. I might even leave the styrofoam and bubble wrap out completely. These materials are built specifically to protect the objects inside from impact, and I think that providing these materials made building successful contraptions a little too easy. We didn't have a single egg casualty and I would say that at least six of the nine contraptions had more or less the same secure design. While there is something to be said for such a high success rate, it could have been nice to see more variety and to encourage a little more creative thinking.
No comments:
Post a Comment