Getting to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop[R]: engineers have seen the lab and think it looks like a great way to discover the concepts of mechanical engineering.(Tootsie Roll Industries Inc.)

Publication: The Technology Teacher

Publication Date: 01-NOV-07

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COPYRIGHT 2007 International Technology Education Association

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Princeton High School is a relatively large, urban, four-year comprehensive high school that serves approximately 2,000 students in Cincinnati, Ohio. Academic offerings include, among others, the International Baccalaureate program, technology, business, and general studies. Approximately 82% of the graduates attend college, with 60% going to four-year schools and 22% enrolling in two-year/technical schools.

Before utilizing the "Tootsie Pop[R] Challenge" in a new engineering class next year, I tested it with four engineering drafting students. It was quite successful, and the students had a great time.

Overview

Students are assigned the task of helping the Tootsie Roll Company to answer the age old question--how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop[R]? Students can use any means available to complete the challenge, including viewing the following Tootsie Roll[R]-related websites at www.tootsie.com/howmany-sb.html and www.tootsie.com/ memoriesLicksMachine.html.

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop[R]? This was the question I posed to my engineering drafting class. None of the students had ever worked on a problem-solving activity like this. They all planned to go into engineering at the university level next year and wanted a challenging project that was not drafting-related.

The original idea came from a cooking show, but I wanted to make a lab out of it. The first step was to ask the students to do some research to determine if an answer even existed. After consulting the Tootsie Roll[R] website, they discovered that engineering students at Purdue University had worked on the problem. They saw an example of the machine used by the Purdue students, and then began the design process, working...

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