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Faux toxic spill averted, thanks to teams of students

Engineering, teamwork, writing skills put to test

Thornapple Kellogg — It was an average Tuesday morning at Thornapple Kellogg High School, and then a class of physics students was called to be heroes.

Teacher Charley Vickers tasked ordinary high school juniors to use their extraordinary problem-solving and communication skills to save the town from a fictitious toxic spill, threatening to explode at any minute. 

‘We did way better when we communicated.’

— junior Beck Danh

The disaster in question, a plastic cup full of corn kernels sitting in the middle of a red paper circle, challenged the students to use a system of strings and rubber bands to pick up one cup filled with the “toxic” kernels and pour it into a second, empty cup.

“This activity teaches them to design a system within a given list of constraints,” Vickers said. “They planned and practiced over three days to solve a complex challenge and afterwards, we will write a reflection to identify improvements.”

Charley Vickers’ students were given pieces of string and rubber bands to build a system to pick up and dump a plastic cup filled with corn kernels
Charley Vickers’ students were given pieces of string and rubber bands to build a system to pick up and dump a plastic cup filled with corn kernels

They had two minutes to complete the task and could not enter or even drift a finger into the “circle of death.” If any kernels spilled or the circle boundary was breached, the group failed to save the town. 

One group used a bit of geometry and good communication to safely transfer the kernels out of the circle with 57 seconds to spare, a record time for the class, Vickers said. 

One group used two string-and-rubber band contraptions between four people to safely transfer the ‘toxic’ cups
One group used two string-and-rubber-band contraptions among four people to safely transfer the ‘toxic’ cups

Junior Beck Danh said the key to their group’s success was better communication.

“We talked to each other, told each other when to move and did way better when we communicated,” Beck said. 

Beck’s group used three rubber bands instead of just one to create a square, controlled by four people holding four strings connected to each corner of the square.  

When successful, the string-and-rubber band systems  transferred the ‘toxic’ corn kernels without the students touching the cups
When successful, the string-and-rubber-band systems transferred the ‘toxic’ corn kernels without the students touching the cups

“We used our class time to practice more than a lot of the other groups,”  Beck said. “We adjusted our movements and worked together, and achieved success in the end.” 

Read more from Thornapple Kellogg: 
Can these students’ designs survive the ‘Eggsecutioner?’
He returned to education because he missed impacting students

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Alexis Stark
Alexis Stark
Alexis Stark is a reporter covering Byron Center, Caledonia, Godfrey-Lee, Kenowa Hills and Thornapple Kellogg. She grew up in metro Detroit and her journalism journey brought her west to Grand Rapids via Michigan State University where she covered features and campus news for The State News. She also co-authored three 100-question guides to increase understanding and awareness of various human identities, through the MSU School of Journalism. Following graduation, she worked as a beat reporter for The Ann Arbor News, covering stories on education, community, prison arts and poetry, before finding her calling in education reporting and landing at SNN. Alexis is also the author of a poetry chapbook, “Learning to Sleep in the Middle of the Bed.”

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