Time required: 20+ minutes
Description: The main purpose of this lab is to understand how working together affects the time it takes to complete a large task.
The purpose of this lab is to investigate work rates. The groups will time a “fast” worker, a “slow” worker, and will calculate the time it will take these two workers to complete the job together. Groups will then compare their calculated estimate to the actual time.

- Each group needs 2 movers. One mover should be “quick” and one should be “slow.” It is important that the workers are consistent about their pace throughout the job.
- Each mover will individually complete the task of moving the 12 objects (one by one) from one desk to the other. The timekeepers will measure the time to complete the job in seconds. The movers then work together to complete the job.
- Each group will perform calculations to see how long it should take the two workers to complete the task working together and compare to the trial value.

Implementation notes (follow up/discussion questions, pedagogical recommendations, etc.):

- Emphasize that the workers need to complete the task in a repetitive/ consistent way. When the team works together, make sure they are setup so they are not interfering with or running into one another.
- 12 objects and 8 to 10 feet are arbitrary choices. Just make sure that, if you change either, the task takes between 30 and 70 seconds for each worker.
- After the lab: There should be a discussion on sources of error in the computed versus observed times for the team effort. Other topics to discuss would be ranges of sensible answers for this problem and how to extend the idea to more than two people working together.

Downloads

Rational Equations