Teams take their cavern designs and build a model from clay or paper mache that can be buried in sand. Testing involves dropping a bowling ball on the buried cavern. Teams dig out their cavern, inspect it for damage, and consider possible design changes that would permit the cavern to survive the impact. 

Concepts

design, engineering design, asteroids, disasters, human survival, survival, scale models, technology resources

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Instructional Ideas

• Consider using the lesson earlier in the unit, right after finding the needed size, so groups can determine the shape
• Because the cavern is carved from the rock, set a consistent size and shape of clay that represents the rock and have the teams carve out their caverns

Classroom Considerations

• Allow time for the caverns to dry completely
• The activity is the last in a series of eight

Pros

• The activity provides teams an opportunity to redesign their caverns
• The lesson extension allows for a more realistic testing by selecting different materials surrounding the cavern

Cons

• None