To mark the start of Queensland's newest design thinking and social entrepreneurship high school program, students undertook the 'egg drop challenge'; an activity which encouraged group problem-solving and creativity. The activity helped students reflect on the design thinking process in which they were about to embark on, whilst teaching the importance of prototyping, testing and iteration.
Before starting the challenge, students were introduced to the Jump Start program and learnt about the double diamond design process. As students progress, they will use this process, alongside other design, business strategy and start up tools to tackle the problem of waste.
Upon being put in groups and given 'the egg challenge' instructions, students are given free reign to tackle the challenge as they best see fit. On completion of the activity, students reflect on the successes and failures, taking away learnings about how they would best tackle the challenge in the future.
THE CHALLENGE GOAL:
To design something which protects the egg from breaking when dropped from one story high.
TEAM NUMBERS:
3-4 students to a group
MATERIALS REQUIRED PER TEAM:
- 2 eggs (One for the final drop and an extra if they would like to test their design before)
- 5 sheets of A4 paper
- 50cm of masking tape
- 10x10cm piece of cardboard
- 2 wooden skewers
TIME LIMIT:
45-60 minutes
Outcomes:
Overall, students take away strong insights into success, failure, the design process and team work. The questions below can be used to help guide discussion and reflection from each of the teams on completion of the challenge:
- What would you change next time to work more effectively as a team?
- How do you think you could have arrived to a better result?
- How do you think rapid prototyping and testing (or the lack of) advantaged/disadvantaged your team?
- Would creating specific roles and responsibilities for team members have effected the outcome in any way?
- How did the tight deadline effect the outcome and how could you better manage time in the future?
