Jelly snakes rope

Measuring the elasticity of various jelly snakes from which one must decide which brand of jelly snake would be the best choice to help someone get out of a sticky situation where the only solution is a rope made out of the very same snakes.

Design thinking stages

Empathy, define, test

Curriculum areas

Mathematics, Science

Materials

Three brands of jelly snakes
Retort stand
10 g weights
measuring tape

Activity 1: Creating our character

Use the Writing Ideas generator to create a character who's found themselves in a sticky situation. They need to have a problem that will need solving.

Persona briefs - template.pdf

Once you have generated your sticky situation, create a persona brief for your character.

Activity 2: Fishbone diagram

fishbone.pdf

Use the fishbone diagram to expand upon the problem your character might have. Try to come up with a rich story.

Activity 3: How might we...

How might we.pdf

Generate a “How might we…” statement for the given brief where rope must be used as part of the solution.

Activity 4: Constrained funneling

Our goal is for students to engage with linear functions. However, their created character may not need a solution that requires the use of linear equations. In order to make sure the intended content will be used, we can "funnel" students towards the intended content by using constraints.

Challenge students to come up with a solution for their character, but the solution must include rope made of jelly snakes.

What properties does your rope need?

Strong
Stretchy
Reusable
Fragile
Elastic
Tasty
Colour

Activity 5: Data collection

Set up a retort stand with a jelly snake. Attach a 10 g weight and measure how far the snake stretches. Add a second weight and measure the new length. Keep adding weights until the snake breaks.

Record the data as a table and explore either graphically or algebraically.

Questions that could be posed:

What does the x or y intercept represent?
What does the gradient represent?
If you added another 15 g, how long would the snake be now?

Activity 6: Solve the problem

Using the gathered data, which brand of jelly snake is most suitable to solve the character's problem? Ask students to justify their solution by drawing upon their data.

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