The "Mr.Good Egg Farmer" Model Tractor Overturn Activity Instructor's Guide and Activity Materials

Instructor's Guide and Activity Materials Table of Contents

How to Conduct the Mr. Good Egg Farmer Activity

These instructions are divided into three parts. These parts explain what to do before the demonstration, during the demonstration, and after the demonstration.

Before the Demonstration

• Read through this entire instructor's copy. Decide which way you will conduct the activity (with one or two tractors).
• Gather the materials assemble the bridge, and get your ROPS-equipped and non ROPS-equipped tractor(s) ready.
• Make copies of the activity evaluation form so that these can be completed by participants and collected following the activity.
• Look through the follow-up notes and materials. Select and duplicate those materials you want to use during the discussion after the demonstration. It is a good idea to have most of these materials available. Participants' questions may arise for which various materials in the follow-up notes may be effective at "teachable moments."
• Decide where and when you will conduct the activity. Plan to have a place large enough and open enough that all participants can see the demonstration.

During the Demonstration

• Involve the participants when you conduct the activity. Begin by breaking the larger group of participants into smaller groups of three or four people. Give each one of these small groups a felt tipped marking and a raw hen's egg. Ask each group to draw a face on their Mr. Good Egg farmer, and to name their egg (Mr. Good Egg farmer Sam, or Joe, or Burt, etc.). If they wish, they can also add small paper hats to the eggs by using bits of colored paper and tape.
• After the participants have finished drawing faces on their Mr. Good Egg farmers,have one person from each small groups draw straws. One straw should be short, one long, and one in-between. When a short straw is drawn that group's Mr. Good Egg gets to ride a tractor without a ROPS. A middle-length straw gets the Mr. Good Egg a ROPS-equipped tractor but no seat belt. The long straw gets the Mr. Good Egg farmer a ROPS-equipped tractor and a seat belt. If you have more than three groups, use the same three straws to redraw after one set of three groups completes drawing their,straws.
• Carry out the procedure in the following order.
• First, place a "Mr. Good Egg farmer who drew a short straw on the seat of a model tractor without a ROPS and seat belt Then run the tractor across the cardboard bridge placed on the top of a large table. As the tractor runs onto the flap, have one of the participants pull the block out after the right rear wheel of the tractor has run out onto the flap. The flap will drop and the tractor will overturn sideways: (Tell the participants that the flap represents the bank along a stream or gully giving way under the weight of the tractor. The overturn almost always results in the Mr. Good Egg farmer being crushed. Repeat the procedure for any other groups who drew a short straw.
• Then, retrofit the tractor with the ROPS you constructed (or use a second similar model tractor equipped with a ROPS). The Mr. Good Egg farmers who drew a middle length straw are placed on this tractor, but are not belted in place on the seat.Then run the tractor across the cardboard bridge. When the "bank" gives way, a sideways overturn results. The ROPS keeps the tractor from rolling on top of and crushing the Mr. Good Egg farmer. however, the egg usually falls from the tractor seat during the overturn and usually breaks during its impact with the surface of the floor or desk.
• The Mr. Good Egg farmers who drew the long straw get the ROPS-equipped tractor and a simulated seat belt. Two Velcro squares of sticky backed fasteners are first attached to the tractor seat bottom and back Two matching squares of Velcro fasteners are then stuck to the Mr. Good Egg's bottom and back. When the egg is pressed into place on the tractor seat,the Velcro acts like a seat belt. It holds the egg firmly in place on the tractor seat even when the tractor is turned upside down and shaken. Next, the tractor is run across the cardboard bridge, the "bank"fails, and a sideways overturn results. But this Mr. Good Egg farmer is almost always undamaged because it stays in me tractor seat and within the frame of safety provided by the ROPS.
• Appoint a helper or two from each group to assist you with each demonstration. These include a person to push the tractor slowly across the bridge, a person to pull the support block, and a person to clean up the mess (after first letting everyone get a good look at it). You may also want to appoint a photographer or two so that close up color print photos of the tractors, ROPS, and results can be captured. These can be blown up to 8 x 10inch prints and used as part of poster displays and demonstrations for school and community projects.

After the Demonstration

• It is important to allow the participants to discuss the activity. The question sand activities that are included in the discussion notes can assist this process. More ideas,information, and discussion topics are included in the Notes than can be used in one session. Use those that you feel are most appropriate to the group you are working with. Consider using some of the other activities and materials at other sessions with the same group of participants. Don't read the Notes to the participants. Rather, u e materials in the notes in the discussion of the activity. Have the participants read portions of the Notes as appropriate.
• When you have completed the entire activity, give each participant a copy of the one-page evaluation form. Ask each participant to complete all the items on the form and then return the completed forms to you.
• Please also complete the instructor's evaluation form. Put this on top of the participants' evaluation forms and bundle the whole set together with a rubber band or large envelope.
• Then return the forms to Vickie Brandt (Barren County) or Joan Muehlbauer(FlemingCounty) or mail the materials directly to: