Barbie Bungee Implementation

I think that there are a million and one ways you can do almost anything.  Dan Meyer tweeted this out the other day…

Hey: three versions of Barbie Bungee. What differences do you notice? Which is best and what do you mean by "best"? https://t.co/lGMC1aXWl5

— Dan Meyer (@ddmeyer) June 13, 2016

I was quick to comment.

I think it’s important to note that I work most closely with 8th grade (on grade level) students.

After seeing the subsequent comments…I wanted to add that IMPLEMENTATION can be more than just here’s your worksheet, “get on with it.”

I like to lead up with this…

Can you guess what their answer is???

Then I show them this…

Of course this changes their answer.

Then I move onto this…

And I have students come up to put a point…usually around a y-value of about 10 or so.

Then, I click to reveal additional points.

The point is…I make the point that collecting multiple pieces of data helps to make better predictions.  I also ask the question about what mathematical models can we create to help make predictions in math.

Their answers:

• Graphs
• Tables
• Equations

Just what I want.

Then I show one of the many videos that you can find on YouTube.

The last thing I do is pass out a worksheet.