Ready for action?
Resources
Web links
Tangible Resources
Materials: balloons, skewers, straws, rubber bands, cardboard (lots of it and different types), paper, craft materials, etc. (optional: nozzle, Knexx sprockets, Knexx axles, bottle caps, anything round, etc.) Equipment: scissors, glue, tape, ruler, pencil, painter's tape, duct tape, camera (optional: craft knife, glue gun, drawing compass)
Preparation
Build examples to improve your own understanding of potential issues for the students, prepare materials, adjust the classroom layout so that there are workspaces for 3/4 students per group, space to test cars (e.g., hallway), table with materials, supervised table for glue gun/craft knife. Put basic materials kit together (one for each group).
Goals, messages & concepts
Specific goals
- To learn about wheels and motion by building a car.
- To reflect on their builds and those of others.
- To analyse what they see and draw conclusions.
Specific messages
- Trial and error is a good way of understanding phenomena.
- Analysis and evaluation deepens understanding.
- Failure is a valuable part of the experimentation process and improves understanding.
Main terms
- Forward motion
- Friction
- Resistance
- Stability
- Iterative design
Practices & skills
STEM practices
- Analysing and interpreting data
- Constructing explanations and designing solutions
- Engaging in argument from evidence
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
- Asking questions and defining problems
- Planning and carrying out investigations
Soft skills
- Dealing with uncertainty
- Learning failure is a part of learning
- Teamwork and collaboration
Management skills
- Planning
- Use of resources
Course of activity
step 1
Discuss learning and progress in the previous lesson:
- What went well?
- What could be improved?
- What do the students like to share?
- What do the students like to research/investigate?
- Option: how do you increase the power of the motor?
- Option: test what will happen if the car rides on a different surface(type)?
step 2
Work in different groups to make a new design, starting on paper then building with materials.
- Give students the space to explore the topic, carry out their own research, and choose their own direction for the assignment based on their particular interests.
- The aim is to build the ultimate prototype using prior and new knowledge.
- Students should test their prototypes in groups, then analyse the results in order to finalise the design.
- Recap health and safety considerations for equipment such as hot glue and craft knives.
step 3
Start experimenting with the wheels, big, small, smooth, crude, with ridges, etc. What does it do and why? The challenge is to design the most successful set of wheels.
- Predict what will happen.
- Test the design, note what actually happened and analyse – why did this happen? Did it perform as predicted?
- Continue to adjust the design to improve it as a result of testing, test again and improve (iterative design).
- Plenary: each group shows where they are in the process and share their design. They will teach each other what they have learnt and provide feedback for improvement.
step 4
Carry out final adjustments, then present the final designs with a demonstration or race. Each group should show how it’s made, how it works, what materials they used, what choices they made, what problems they had to solve. As students don’t always understand all the skills they have used to accomplish the assignment, name the skills they used explicitly and give positive feedback.
step 5
Document the results by taking pictures of the cars, wheels and designs that were made.
step 6
In preparation for the next lesson (consisting of a trip to a neighbouring secondary school to hear from a science teacher), ask students what questions they wish to ask and discuss how this relates to upcoming activities.