Fast Cars!
This week we took what we learned about building, gears, and programming to build "fast cars," which we raced on our track. Our "race track" had two different starting lines, one for a standing start and one for a running start. It also has a short course and a long course. The students designed 3 different cars that they timed on both the short course and long course with the two different kinds of starts. As always, recording what they build and any adjustments that are made is a very important part of our process. The students wrote a description and took pictures of each car design. They also recorded their car's times on a sheet that looks like this: Fast Car Recording Sheet.pdf
Before we started designing we came up with some ideas and questions test out. Here is the original list in bold and then what we found out after testing our fast car designs.
Will a longer car be faster because it covers more distance?
- It doesn't matter if it's longer or shorter.
Will using big to small gears make your car faster?
- If you put the gears too tight the car won't go as fast as you think it would.
- If the small gear is too small, it doesn't have enough force to drive the car.
- It depends on how heavy your car is.
- With gears the running start is better.
Are lighter cars faster?
- Light cars go faster, but if it doesn't have enough support it will fall apart.
- It helps to build your car hollow.
Is it faster to put more weight in front?
Do bigger wheels in the back and smaller wheels in the front make a difference?
- Yes, it works, but it doesn't really matter.
Tracks will be slower?
Is it better to have more gears or less gears?
- It doesn't really matter if they all fit together well.
Is it better to set the wheels wider in the back?
- It doesn't really matter.
What happens if you add a lot of extra stuff on your car?
- The weight slows down the car because it makes it heavier.
Something else we learned:
- a way to make it aerodynamic is to make it slant, make it flat on the sides, and slanted on the bottom.
One of our continuing themes this summer has been collaboration. As you can probably imagine, collaboration skills are very important when 3 people are trying to build Lego structures together! After working together to build a Lego set, we brainstormed a list of what works well when collaborating and what doesn't work well. We revisit this list every week before we start a new project with a new group.
What Works Well:
- sorting legos out before you start
- talking to each other
- taking turns
- deciding before when you're going to switch
- if you make a mistake everyone takes it apart and starts again
- not arguing
- sharing pieces
- making sure everyone has an equal amount of time to build
- getting to know each other first
- talking nicely
- listen to each other's ideas and add on or give suggestions
- respecting groupmates' ideas
What Doesn't Work:
- arguing
- doing someone else's work
- playing with pieces when you should be working
- blaming each other
- using harsh words or yelling
- ignoring groupmates
- not trying each other's ideas
- taking credit for someone else's ideas
- undoing groupmates' work
- using sarcasm
- rolling your eyes
Thank you for a great summer! Today is my last day because I will be going on vacation with my family. Leah Lorenzana (llorenzana@midpac.edu) will be taking over the class. Check back in next week for information and pictures about ramp cars!
