with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union.
| General information |
Title of the activity
Car Models that Zoom |
Subject
Physics (Mechanics), engineering, scientific methods |
Keywords
quick development of prototypes, testing, advancement |
Learning outcomes
Teacher learning outcomes:
- Will be able to motivate their students to find creative solutions
- Will be able to promote basic scientific concepts like: to set up experimental series, control of variable, data analysis
- Will get better insight in many different solutions and creative approaches for a given problem
Student learning outcomes:
- Will get a better understanding of the development and testing of prototypes
- Will experience that there is often not only one solution to a given problem
- Will be able to develop their creative and engineering skills
|
Transversal skills (max 3 transversal skills)
Creativity, Application skills, Reasoned decision-making |
Number of participants and target age group
For 1 to 25 participants;
Age: starting from 8, depending on the given level of difficulty. |
| Duration
60-90min |
| Short activity description |
| This proposal is one of many versions of this activity. It focuses less on the Tinkering more on the development, testing and advancement of prototypes. However, it covers as well some elements of Tinkering as it asking for creative and engineering skills at the same time. But in this case the activity is more structured by the limitation of material and a very clear task.
It adresses problem-oriented thinking as well as team-working and some hand-crafting. Precision and patience are certainly a virtue to be exersiced with this task.
Step 1:
Introduction and Task: Build a car with the given materials that travels a maximum distance starting from a ramp.
Step 2: Building and first trial – measure the distance and document it
Step 3: Change one thing/variable only to improve the car; second trial – measure the distance and document it
Step 4: Change antother thing/variable to improve the car; third trial measure the distance and document it.
Depending on the time available you can carry out several trials.
Step 5: Last improvements and race
Step 6: Learning outcomes and Reflection
During the building process the participants get to test their car multiple times and improve it. With each test they are asked to identify one problem, focus only on it and change one thing, so they can control the impact and the given variable. They are testing within a limited number of rounds, gaining data and build an experimental series to have better overview on their improvement. They also learn how important it is to document data. This are basic concepts of science they learn in a fun and motivational way. |
| Preparation |
| Materials |
List of materials:
-
plastic straw (as friction bearing)
-
wooden sticks (for wheel-axis)
-
wheels
-
cardboard
-
corks
-
balloons
-
cutters
-
cutting boards
-
lots of tape (also for the race track)
-
ramp
-
measuring tape
-
stopwatch
|
Technical backline:
-
working tables
-
10-20m long race track with a slight slope
-
Flipchart and markers
|
Car Models that Zoom – creativity in motion, Ed Sobey, Ph.D. |
Additional preparation instruction:
- 30min might be needed for preparation depending on the venue.
- 30-45min to wrap up
|
| Announcement |
| Announcement for teacher trainings:
Friction, statics, kinetic energy etc. – all everyday concepts which are all around us, ready to be used in class: whether is the slippery floor or the flying tennisball or the ground cover on the playground. However, there is seldom something as fun as the good old care race! Whilst trying to make a simple cardboard-car as swift as possible, participants get to work together, be innovative but also precise. Stealing ideas from the opposite team is OK, as long as they can be improved. Making mistakes however is key, as here is where the though learning by doing happens. The participants surely will never forget how much better their car went, as the friction between the revolving axis and the car was brought to a minimum! As a teacher, here you get to learn how and have some fun yourself! |
| Announcement for students:
What about a good old care race?! However, this time whilst trying to make your cardboard-car as swift as possible, you get to work together, be innovative but also precise! Stealing ideas from the opposite team is OK, as long as you get to improve them! How – you work together, use different materials, but mostly play around and try things out! Making mistakes is key, as this is how you get better! In the meanwhile – without noticing you’ve learned so much about friction, kinetics and other useful things. |
| Hook |
| Building a car-model that can roll on 3-4 wheels doesn’t seem like a difficult thing to do. You find a piece of cardboard, get a short stick and some circles for wheels and attach everything together. And off your car goes! There are few details, however, which you can discover in this workshop, which can help your car get much further. Let’s give it a go and see if 10m or even 20m is far enough! |
| Activity type/strategy |
|
Lower order thinking |
Higher order thinking |
| Knowing / remembering |
Comprehending / understanding |
Analysing |
Synthesizing / evaluating |
Creating |
|
|
-
Evoking Questions
-
Discussion
-
Practice
-
Inquiry based Learning
|
-
Critical Review of Media
-
Problem-Solving
-
Goal-oriented / Challenge
|
-
Case studies: Trial and Error
-
Simulation
|
-
Simulations
-
Construction
-
Hands-on / minds-on
-
Design/development
-
Product generation and producing
-
Competition and Team-work
|
| Delivery sequence |
| Epidemiological suitability |
| Is the activity suitable for execution in stricter epidemiological restrictions?
☐ Yes ☐No ☒ Partly
As with every hands-on-experiment there is the question of disinfection, social distance etc. |
| Is the activity suitable for execution in an online setting?
☒ Yes ☐ No ☐ Partly
If changes should be made, please state them here:
The participants should be able to acquire all the materials by themselves. This should be possible as most of them are easy to find – sometimes even around the house. |
| Can the activity be sequenced? I. e. divided into smaller parts which could function as standalone parts which could maybe even be integrated into other activities.
☐ Yes ☒ No ☐ Partly |
| Step 1 |
| Step type/strategy: |
Introduction |
Step duration
(minutes): |
5min |
| Step title:
(if applicable) |
What does a car need? |
| Keywords: |
Transport, Car, Distance, Trajectory, mobility, Challenge |
| Subaims:
What teaching aims are you fulfilling with this part of the sequence? |
Set clear goals and introduce an engaging challenge.
Engage. |
| Step by step description: |
|
Tell the group they will be building cardboard cars and give some time to set the teams and make sure everyone is comfortable with their partner. Working alone or joining a team and uneven teams should be an option if no other way.
Set the challenge for the day: Build a car with the given materials that travels a maximum distance starting from a ramp.
Then give some time for the participants to explore the available materials. |
| Interpretation & analysis
(for teachers) |
Restricting the challenge to „given materials“ and setting a specific goal like „a maximum“ distance are essential to build a clear frame of work and create a challenge which is realistic and interesting. |
| Interpretation & analysis
(for students) |
Depending on the group dynamics, participants can work alone or in teams of two, max. three people. |
| Step 2 |
| Step type/strategy: |
Construction and 1st trial |
Step duration
(minutes): |
30 |
| Step title:
(if applicable) |
First experiences |
| Keywords: |
Learning from experience, trials, simplicity |
| Subaims:
What teaching aims are you fulfilling with this part of the sequence? |
Enhance planning and technological skills
Set realistic goals
Exploration. |
| Step by step description: |
 Give the construction and builind phase a kick-off by letting the participants know, there will be more phases to the task and that in the first phase they should focus on only building a car that can roll on wheels on ist own!
Encourage them to keep it simple.
When they are ready allow them their 1st trail, measure the distance and document it in the car’s column on the flipchart! At this point they can choose a name for their car.
Reflect on the results. Are they satisfied or is there anything that didn’t go as expected?
Tell them, they need to choose only ONE thing (variable) to work on in the next step of the challenge. |
| Interpretation & analysis
(for teachers) |
The enthusiasm for complex ideas in the beginning might quickly burn out if the time is not enough or after an eventual failure in the 1st trials.
Give some reflection time after the first trial – this will deepen the process and lead to more satisfaction at the end. |
| Interpretation & analysis
(for students) |
If the following issue is raised by the students it provides an interesting discussion: Does a car need to go in a straight line to have gone the most distance? How do we measure distance? What is the distance between two points? Is a curved line a „distance“?
In that case, it should be cleared out early, so that there aren’t discussions on this point at the final race. However, no need to complicate the process with that question yourself, as it might disrupt the flow of the activity. It could also be added at the end. |
| Step 3 |
| Step type/strategy: |
Improvement and 2nd trial |
Step duration
(minutes): |
20 |
| Step title:
(if applicable) |
I can do better! |
| Keywords: |
Friction, Weight, Gravity, Speed/Velocity, Distance, Trajectory |
| Subaims:
What teaching aims are you fulfilling with this part of the sequence? |
Motivation to work on an (achievable) goal and improve engineering skills. Enhance goal-oriented team-work and analytical skills and planning.
Learning by hands-on: explanation of some physics-content through hands-on experience. |
| Connected to: |
|
| Step by step description: |
| After Step 2, the participants should have decided among themselves on which variable they’d like to focus their common efforts. Now they have to figure out a way how to improve that particular variable.
The following guideline could be added:
-
Get inspirations from others, but always try to advance the idea.
Again, all the teams get to do another trail, measure, document and reflect on their results. |
| Interpretation & analysis
(for teachers) |
Here it is important to focus the work on the one thing to be changed – make sure you are aware of which that things is for each team and that the team follows through with the task.
To much time might give opportunity to „cheat“ and improve more than allowed in this step.
Interpretation of the results of the one improvement will be difficult then. |
| Interpretation & analysis
(for students) |
Creativity is an important skill in engineering, but so are the application skills. |
| Step 4 (optional) |
| Step type/strategy: |
Repeat Step 3 |
Step duration
(minutes): |
20+ |
| Subaims:
What teaching aims are you fulfilling with this part of the sequence? |
Dig deeper into problems.
Persistence and deeper exploration.
Create awareness of experience as an outcome of an activity.
Elaboration. |
| Step by step description: |
 Repeat Step 3.
Cars can undergo more trials (depending on time-limitations and motivation).
Eventually a chart is built on which the progress of each car can be obsrved and discussed: Which change had which effect?
Suggestion:
- If needed, allow and even suggest starting a new car still applyind the experiences earned!
|
| Interpretation & analysis
(for teachers) |
Here you get to test and train the persistence and motivation of the participants. Make sure the process doesn’t lead to frustration. |
| Step 5 (optional) |
| Step type/strategy: |
Race and final results |
Step duration
(minutes): |
20 |
| Step title:
(if applicable) |
The Race! |
| Subaims:
What teaching aims are you fulfilling with this part of the sequence? |
Competition and team-work skills.
Sportsmanship. |
| Step by step description: |
| After all the last improvements are done, give some time for all the building materials to be cleared and stored away.
Prepare another chart to document the results. Clear the ramp and runway.
Every team gets three runs on the runway, out of which the best result is being recorded on the board.
Every team gets recognition for additional recognition, like ingenuity, creativity and technical skills. |
| Interpretation & analysis
(for teachers) |
This Step is ony optional in case it is considered motivational for the group. It is, however, not essential for the activity. |
| Interpretation & analysis
(for students) |
Why do we do three and not just one run at the race? Is it like this in real-life sports as well? |
| Step 6 |
| Step type/strategy: |
Reflection |
Step duration
(minutes): |
10 minimum |
| Step title:
(if applicable) |
What do I think about this?
How did it make me feel? |
| Keywords: |
Reflection, enthusiasm, stress, competion, team, learning outcomes, satisfacion, success, skill |
| Subaims:
What teaching aims are you fulfilling with this part of the sequence? |
Evaluation & Assessment |
| Step by step description: |
| Taking turns around the group, ask the participants to give a short presentation on what they changed and what did they learn by those changes. Let them also reflect on the overall process until the race: what difficulties and successes did they experience? How did they feel at the beginning, during and end of the class/workshop. |
| Interpretation & analysis
(for teachers) |
Reflection round on:
difficulty levels; emotional and motivational impact of the activity; connection to school curriculum; discussion on hands-on activities/team work/problem solving and engineering/innovative and creative working as learning methods. |
| Interpretation & analysis
(for students) |
Summarize and collect the opinions of your students and the results of the discussion. |
