The Story: A German car company, Speedy Spinners, designs
and builds race cars. The engineers at Speedy Spinners are STUCK! They want to
create a safe air-powered car so that it is better for the environment, but
they still want it to travel far and fast!
The Challenge: YOU ARE AN ENGINEER! Your challenge is to
use a limited amount of materials, time, and money to design and build a wind-powered
car that will travel the farthest distance. Use what you have learned about
severe weather and the power of wind!
Limitations:
- It must carry 2 passengers (washers)
- You may use tape and scissors for FREE
- A fan on medium speed will provide the car’s wind
- It is powered by air/air-pressure
- It must travel in a straight line
- It must cost $20 or less to make.
In collaborative groups, the girls brainstormed by drawing and labeling their car design with the materials they wanted to use. The girls had to plan a shopping list of materials according to their $20 budget.
They made a claim/prediction about how far their car would travel and which materials would work the best.
After careful planning and building, it was time to test!! Most of the original designs only traveled a couple of inches if anything.
Guess what that means?? We "FAILED" but it was great because we could learn from our mistakes and redesign our cars using what we learned-just like real engineers do! The girls then compared their prediction to their test results and came back to the room to reflect on the STEM process (challenges, successes, etc.)
One very important skill that this activity taught was PERSEVERANCE and not giving up when things get hard so that we can learn.
"If I had given up, then I would not learn from this mistake." -Hannah Dunn
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