RAcer Lesson
The class endeavored to make Car Racers (as a Maker Project) that would be designed and built by a team of three. They would then test their cars, releasing them down a ramp, measuring the distance the car traveled from the ramp, record the data, make observations to make a revision, then repeat the process of testing and measuring. Students weighed their car before each test run in grams.
Lesson 1: Ramps with store bought cars.... Kids used store bought toy cars and released them down the wooden ramps and practiced measuring their distance using a variety of measuring devices --they practiced with inches and cm.
Lesson 2: Teams of 6 tackled the question of accuracy. We asked what exactly were we trying to measure: 1) as the crow flies 2) the path the car traveled 3) or the straight distance the car traveled away from the end of the ramp. Kids had to show how they could prove that a meter stick lining up to a tape measure was perpendicular (when they measure out to the right or left of their tape measure).
Lesson 3: The day before the "Build and Test" day, the students got into their teams of three and planned their build, being allowed the opportunity to see, handle and lightly throw together a design plan. We called it Proto-storming (prototype brainstorming). Students had to write down and keep track of their materials used and then draw a sketch of what they planned to build the following day (from scratch). Students' cars look remarkably like their sketches the following day.
Lesson 4 (The Target Lesson): Studetns got into their groups of 3 to make their racer cars in the Multi-purpose room, using data sheets to track distance and weight (they weighed each iteration of their car to coincide with their test runs). After each iteration, along with their data, they photographed their car. They also recorded observations and plans to revise between each iteration. All students completed 2 iterations and two rounds of tests. Some groups completed 3 iterations. (3 adults circulated with cameras).
Lesson 5 (post lesson): Students got into their groups of three to build, weigh, test, revise, re-test and collect data about their cars. All students made 2 iterations and in some cases 3. They took pictures and documented observations and changes made between iterations.
Lesson 6 (post lesson): Students debriefed their previous lesson (the day before) then returned to the Multipurpose room to take 7 test runs each. They collected their data then found the average distance of their 7 runs. For homework, they looked at the average dist. and the weight of each car. They ranked the cars from "most efficient" (based on weight to distance) to "least efficient".
Lesson 7 (post lesson): Students were given two cars of similar weights (in grams) but with different distance outcomes. Students made observations as to why the results differed, focusing on design.
If two cars weigh virtually the same, why did one outperform the other. They needed to record 2-3 claims as to why one's design outperformed the other. Students also made and viewed slow motion videos of their cars leaving the ramps, observing structural strengths and weaknesses of the cars leaving the ramp. |
Full Discussion in video below...
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