4th graders in iTEAMS classrooms will be working on a gravity car design challenge this Spring using the Sonoma Raceway Race Car Challenge curriculum. Included below are links to videos used by various 4th grade teachers. Lesson 1: 4th graders at San Pedro School... parachutes! To introduce the concepts and vocabulary of gravity and air resistance or drag. Other resources
Lesson 2: The students looked at how toy cars, balls, and marbles roll on different surfaces and inclines. What made a difference? How much the incline? How much the car weighed? What types of surfaces worked better? The students used surfaces around the playground (slides, blacktop, inclined cement surfaces, grass, inclined grass, flat cement, etc) to test out their theories. Discussion about friction and aerodynamics followed. Lesson 3: Aerodynamics and drag. Students did a close reading with the passages from Sonoma Raceway. The took a field trip to the parking lot to discover cars that were more and less aerodynamic. They drew pictures of the most aerodynamic cars and included airflow with arrows. Lesson 4: Since the class is still collecting materials for their cars, a lesson was needed to "fill in." This lesson was a perfect fit. It gave the students an opprotunity to design and re-deisgn on a smaller scale and learn more about cars and another aspect that effects their movement: wheels. (This came from the Engineering is Elementary (EiE) free resource "Go Green! Recycled Racers"). Lesson 5: Building a racer. The students created a racer from a set of directions. This gave them the a certain understanding of some of the things they need to consider when they build their own car. It helps to give some common ground for all students to start with. Build their OWN racers! Students use all they have learned in the previous lesson to build, test, redesign, build, test, redesign until race day. Picture below are from Manor School and San Pedro.
Design Day Mary E. Silveira with Gina Tanner and Ed Malaret More pictures form Manor School in Ross Valley with Mary Accord as they build and test! Building Day at Wade Thomas in Ross Valley with Jenny Cavanna's class! Race Day at Ross Valley Schools! 4th grade students from three elementary schools, Wade Thomas, Brookside, and Manor, come together for a final race! Wade Thomas come out as champions! Molly O'Donoghue used another unit to start of her racers, "I started off my racers unit with a simple design challenge to build a mover that could carry a match box 5 feet. Groups had to work together."
13 Comments
Angela Hood
2/10/2016 02:31:14 pm
I always like to intro an activity like gravity cars with a review of the 6 simple machines. To the tune of London Bridge we sing "Lever, wedge, and inclined plane, inclined plane, inclined plane. Lever, wedge, and inclined plane, wheel, axle, screw and pulley" I bring in my kitchen tools (i.e. egg slicer, pineapple corer, apple peeler/corer, potato peeler, etc) and kids analyze which simple machines are in the more complex incarnation.
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ED Malaret
2/22/2016 11:50:40 am
I liked the question sheet that has students think about gravity and friction. The students are excited these cars. I will rethink about presenting the parachutes activity as it does provide a real world opportunity to see the physical force.
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Megan Liebman
2/25/2016 11:38:46 am
We just introduced this project and already the students are extremely excited! We have loosened up some of the rules for building the cars that are required by the Sonoma Raceway's contest, hoping to allow for some more creativity or variation. I have added the step of individual brainstorming before they meet with their group, which I think is valuable for students to explore their own ideas before being persuaded or bombarded by others. I'll let you know how the lessons continue to go.
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Hannah Dye
3/1/2016 04:06:08 pm
My class is very excited about the 4th grade racecar challenge. Yesterday we went outside to test the effects of friction when rolling a tennis ball on a variety of surfaces. The students are thinking about drag and gravity and how they can design a car that will use these to the best benefit. Many of the 4th graders have shared about their experiences in a Pinecar Derby and how they can use their knowledge of gravity racing in this activity.
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3/1/2016 09:08:41 pm
This looks like a great unit. I am doing something similar with my 8th graders, as the first part of a challenge to build a self-powered "newton scooter." It's great to know the 4th graders grapple with friction and gravity, as they will encounter this again in 8th grade. I also like how aerodynamics are added to the unit - something that I'd like to add to the work we do.
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3/7/2016 04:24:30 pm
It's been really engaging for my students to examine these science concepts using hands on materials. The emphasis in unit 1 on drag and the lack of a hands on activity from Sonoma Raceway encouraged us to bring in the parachutes activity from last year. Students were eager to go home and design a parachute that would support the weight of their WWE wresting figures.
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Sarah Zykanov
3/7/2016 04:28:01 pm
I really enjoyed how easy the wheels and axles lesson was, my students were ready and eager to choose a style of wheel/axle and find the materials they needed to build them.
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5/31/2016 04:53:49 am
Sarah, 3/11/2016 08:40:18 pm
I have been nervous to introduce this to my class. I am inspired by the entries and feel motivated to get it going. The conflict is how to manage our Energy unit and Trout in the Classroom. Time management!
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Nate MacDonald
3/14/2016 10:01:31 am
Great maker / engineering project for all grade levels. So many ways to extend this lesson!
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Sarah Zykanov
3/26/2016 02:45:01 pm
Wow! It is so great to see the learning and problem solving with my students. They are eagerly building and racing cars now that they understand the basics.
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5/16/2016 02:11:38 pm
This was a great unit overall. We used the Sonoma Raceway Lessons as a base, but made sure there was some kind of hands on activity to build conceptual understanding in each lesson. It was important to me that we build academic language for my ELL students. We used a journal with sketches and writing. Some of our writing was guided to ensure students had all elements of the concepts in their writing.
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8/23/2016 11:53:29 pm
4th graders at San Pedro School... parachutes! To introduce the concepts and vocabulary of gravity and air resistance or drag.
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iTEAMS is a professional development research project designed to provide teachers with support to deepen their content knowledge and pedagogy to promote STEM education aligned to the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSS) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
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