Testing Vehicles

After building the new vehicles by following the technical design, the students' got to test the amount of weight needed to put their vehicles in motion! We used bookend, string, two paperclips, our vehicles, and washers. Students started with one washer, and then they gradually added more. I walked around to gather predictions and observations. They recorded their findings in their science journals. After they recorded their findings, they were able to experiment with adding more weight. Some students' even thought about Newton's second law when they tried adding weight to their vehicle because that resulted them in needing more weight to move it!

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Motion and Design

I have never seen the students' more excited about science because this week we are building vehicles! Last week we learned about Sir Isaac Newton and his three laws of motion. We went outside and took turns being unbalanced forces and putting beach balls in motion. This week we are covering motion and design. First, the students' got to freely explore the different parts in their buckets. Each group got to design their own vehicle without a technical design guide. Today, they got to draw the design of the vehicle they actually built. Then we timed our vehicles to see which ones were the fastest. We made predictions based on mass and weight. Students' even connected it to Newton's first law because they had to used their force to put the vehicles in motion. Tomorrow we will be building new vehicles by following a technical design blueprint. Stay tuned!