Dropping an egg and not breaking it!!!

On the egg planning activity where we had to construct a protector for an egg and release it from a certain height, our group didn't accomplish the mission which was to be able to drop the egg on the protection device and not break it. I will go over the steps in planning process and try to identify where we failed as a group whether by not covering that step at all or by not fulling developing it.

Step 1 is about defining our goals and objectives. We actually did go through this step because we first established what was needed to be done: how to be able to drop the egg without breaking it. Not only that but we also needed to construct a type of mechanism that will restrain the egg so it doesn't move. We also had to keep on mind that at all times 50% of the egg should be visible. Professor setting up the clock for all of us also helped to keep track of the time, but as we got closer to the deadline we realized our shell was not protective enough and started trying to add more padding to the shell. We also determined who was going to be on charged of what during the process of building the case: getting the scissors, building the cage, cutting the straws, dropping the egg, etc.

Step 2 is about determining the resources and current status. I guess it was hard not only for our group but for the rest of groups as well to go through this step without being able to use the material to actually plan our possible egg cage. So instead we guessed the size of the straws and built straws from paper so we could actually start figuring out how our cage was going to look like. We also drew various possibilities of how our cage would look like trying to figure out where to use the limited amount of straws more efficiently. This kind of helped but it also brought confusion to the group since everyone wanted to implement their idea and it took us long to finally decide for one and go for it. About the scissors, since there were only one pair available for the whole classroom, we asked the professor if we could go to other classrooms and ask for a pair of scissors, since the professor gave us the OK, we were able to get one but we kept it hidden until the very beginning of the building process since we didn't want other groups to copy our tactics and go to other classrooms trying to get their own pair of scissors as well. It worked :) because we were the only group who had their own pair of scissors and need not to share it with any other group. The scissors came helpful because we had previously decided to cut the tape by the middle so we could double up the amount of tape available.

Step 3 is about developing several alternative strategies. Our group kind of rush through this step since we were working against the clock. Although we thought about the idea of putting all the straws together-kind of building a "chain" and then attaching it to the egg- we asked the professor if this was permissible but he told us the egg needed to be released, let go from our hands, so we dismissed this idea. Bottom line is that the only group who actually won used the same idea we first thought of! :S Oh well, I guessed we didn't realize that by grabbing all the "chain" and then releasing first the egg and then each straw which was part of the main chain we were actually letting the egg go off our hands. We actually made the mistake of not further developing this first idea and rapidly move to another alternative which was in fact building a cage to protect the egg. We decided to wrap 50% of the egg with the tape so it will increase the probabilities of keeping the shell together in case of hitting the floor.

Step 4 is about making a tactical plan. After our very first idea was dismissed, we rapidly move to the idea of building a cage. Everybody started working on it, and it was kind of messy at certain points since everyone wanted to build a strong protection for the egg. We almost run of time, but were able to manage to send a representative with the paper that contained the egg protection design and with the actual device to the front just on time.

Step 5 is about implementing the plan and evaluating the results. We decided that whoever was the shortest person on the group-in this case I-was going to be the one to drop the egg. I guess we were trying to reduce the distance between the floor and the actual point from where the egg was going to be dropped by choosing the smallest person. It didn't work. Our cage was not protective enough that when the egg hit the floor it broke. Even though I tried to release it as straight as possible and my hand was not shaky at all, the weight of the egg made it fell upside down and our protective cage ended up on the upper side of the egg when the egg was supposedly to launch on it.

I would say my team failed in two things:

First, as mentioned before, we didn’t pursue our first idea, which was to construct a chain with the straws and attached it to the egg since we mistakenly assumed that the egg had to be released from our hand. This idea was the one who led the other group to win. Too bad for us. Second, there was a little bit of disorganization when actually constructing the egg cage, even though we had previously decided who was going to do what, at the end I think everyone got anxious and wanted to participate and implement their ideas. Overall, I think my group did a good job even with the limitations we had; for instance it was very difficult to plan and design the cage without being able to manipulate the elements, and whenever there is a time limit involved people tend to feel nervous.