“Houston, we have a problem.”
The call for help was not from outer space. Princess Anne Elementary School (PAES) fifth-grader Mark Albarillo was only about 25 feet off the ground, standing on a zip line platform.
He saw slack in the measuring tape his team just carried from one platform to another, but only after he and a partner wrapped the tape around a tree trunk. Albarillo knew the drooping tape would lead to inaccurate results in estimating the length of replacement light strands needed to illuminate zip lines at night. It was time to rewind and retrace their steps to fix the problem.
This was one of many “problems” Princess Anne Elementary School (PAES) teacher Andrew Shippy was happy for his students to encounter at the Adventure Park at the Virginia Aquarium.
“I hope they learn a lot more than force and motion,” said Shippy, referring to the science lesson that prompted his collaboration with the park for the field trip. “There’s math. We’ve got measurement in metric. We’ve got single-step and multistep problems. There are concepts related to mass and how much energy is required to move an object.”
Did any students express a fear of heights when he announced the field trip?
“I had two girls who were a little hesitant, but as you can see, no one is on the ground,” said Shippy as his students climbed, crossed and zipped through the aerial trails above his head.
One of the day’s tasks, however, did involve work at ground level.
“We need to get Zippy to the other side in 4-7 feet per second,” explained one student.
“Zippy” was the name affectionately given to kettlebells students used to test zip lines they designed on-site in teams of three. According to instructions for the Let ‘em Zip! design challenge, the students had some big shoes to fill: The chief builder is out sick and the park desperately needs a new zip line. It has to be fast enough for fun, but no so fast that someone gets hurt. They are asking for your help to design and create a zip line that is thrilling and safe.
Adventure Park course manager Ethan Wright and PAES gifted resource teacher Jill Reid talked with students about the design challenge before construction began.
“So, you need to make a zip line for Zippy that is at a safe speed,” began Wright. “We don’t want him to go too fast, and we don’t want him to go too slow. Because what happens when you go too fast?”
“You’re going to crash,” responded one student.
“And that’s not very fun,” added Wright.
“What if you go too slow?” Wright continued.
“It’s not even fun,” said another student. “You just stop, and it would be boring.”
“What do you think the first thing is that we can do to make a zip line that’s fun and safe?” asked Wright.
The students brainstormed variables that would impact the ride, for better or worse.
Slope. Slack. Tension. Angles. Weight. Speed. Distance. Time.
Talk of math, measurement and mass – all topics Shippy hoped would be integrated into his students’ work at the Adventure Park.
After reviewing their respective notes, drawings and measurements with teammates, students began constructing zip lines within arm’s reach from the ground. They could attempt up to three trials for each of three kettle bells – of varying weights of 5 pounds, 10 pounds and 15 pounds – to test and make adjustments after each zip line run.
“We got this! Come on Zippy,” shouted one energized student before his group’s first trial. Zippy zoomed safely across the line, and the team threw their hands in the air and cheered.
Wright had a question for the cheering team. “How fast did it go?” he asked.
Celebration turned to contemplation.
“How do you determine speed?” Wright prompted when no one answered.
“Distance divided by time,” remembered a student. “Oh, we didn’t time Zippy! Let’s get a stopwatch!”
More trial runs. More adjustments.
Zippy clunked on the ground midway through one zip line run.
“I’m not riding that zip line! It doesn’t look very safe to me,” said Reid.
The group decided to increase the height on both sides by four spaces.
“Make sure you record. Scientists record their data,” reminded Reid.
Another group held Zippy in ready position and shouted, “Ready. Set. Go!”
To their dismay, Zippy didn’t move an inch. Group members talked about slope and made changes accordingly.
“The whole concept is students determining which variables they have to adjust to make this work effectively,” explained Shippy watching from the side. “We told them they could only change one thing at a time. They could change the angle. They could change the tension. They could change the height. We told them, ‘I want to see what you can do.’”
“We wanted to make it a real world problem,” added Shippy, noting the park provided many opportunities for hands-on learning and application.
Will any students consider becoming zip line designers as a future career?
“I still have a lot to learn,” said one student, “but what a cool job that would be!”