Sara Tregillis’ and Scott Kleiman’s eighth grade classes at Kingsford Middle School recent conducted bungee jumps using a Barbie doll and rubber bands.

The consideration of cord length is very important in a bungee jump, according to the teachers — too short and the jumper doesn’t get much of a thrill; too long and ouch. The activity had the students collecting data on smaller jumps within the classroom. The data was then put into a scatter plot where a best-fitting line was drawn. Using their line, students calculated an equation that related the number of rubber bands to the distance that Barbie fell. Using this function, the students had to extrapolate — do the math — to find how many rubber bands were needed to give Barbie the most thrilling bungee jump from the top rail of the stairwell at KMS. It took a total of 204 inches of rubber band.