RUBBER BAND RACERS Challenge to design a rubber

RUBBER BAND RACERS Challenge: to design a rubber band car out of simple materials that will travel a distance of at least 3 meters within a 1 meter wide track § § § § Piece of corrugated cardboard 4 plastic plates 4 rubber bands 3 unsharpened pencils 4 metal paperclips 16 thumbtacks Scissors Masking tape No sling-shot cars!

RUBBER BAND RACERS – DAY 1 Partner-read “Student Reference Sheets” In groups, meet and develop a plan for your car § One “Student Worksheet” per group § Use plain white paper to doodle/make sketches § Draw agreed-upon design on “Student Worksheet”, determine materials needed Be prepared to present your initial design to class on Friday

RUBBER BAND RACERS – DAY 2 Each team presents initial design to class § Feedback: Begin with “What I like about your design is…” § Pay attention to and learn from other teams to inform your redesign Teams redesign to incorporate feedback Journal Entry § Sketch of your revised initial design, including labels for parts

RUBBER BAND RACERS – DAY 3 Reconvene your group § Share additional design ideas, research with your teammates § Decide on revised design Journal entry § Prompt: “What I am curious about this week in science is how my team’s design for a rubber band racer will perform…” § Title: Rubber Band Racer Design § Describe the design § Sketch the diagram, label parts Gallery Walk § One member of each team remains at table § Others visit other teams to learn from their design ideas § Reconvene your group to share what you learned from other teams

RUBBER BAND RACERS – DAY 4 – CONSTRUCTION! Only “A-seat” students get materials for their groups Fulfill your trading obligations – give away what you promised you would give away, request the materials you were promised on Wednesday during ‘trading’ activity § Notice variation in rubber bands; another opportunity to trade? Build your rubber band racer as designed You will be reusing as much of the materials in your redesign, so do not destroy your materials in this construction phase ! During construction you may decide you need additional materials or that your design needs to change § Designate 1 person in your group who will circulate amongst other groups to see if he/she can locate and procure that additional material § In journals, make sure every one in group makes a new sketch and revises their materials list Write your names somewhere on your car, put it in the area designated by block; write team initials on cups of extras Finalizing construction tomorrow!

RUBBER BAND RACERS – DAY 5 COMPLETE CONSTRUCTION & TEST 15 minutes: Final construction of racers Test it! § Must travel 3 m within a 1 m wide track § Collect data (yes, use the stop watch on your phone), calculate car’s speed (distance traveled per unit of time, or S=d/t) § Observe tests of other teams and how their different designs worked Rubber band car data Distance traveled within track (m) Time traveled within track (S) Speed (m/S) Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Average Reconvene your team; evaluate your team’s results; redesign your racer; record it in each journal

RUBBER BAND RACERS – DAY 6 EVALUATE & REDESIGN Reconvene your group Evaluate your initial design by answering these questions as a group § Did you succeed in creating a rubber band car that traveled 3 m within the track? If so, how far did it travel, and what made it succeed? If not, why did it fail? § What designs or methods did you see other teams try that you thought worked well? To do it over again, how would your planned design change? Why? What would it look like? What materials would you use? In your journals, write an entry responding to the “What I learned this week in science is…” using your answers to the above questions. Make a sketch.

RUBBER BAND RACERS – DAY 7 Take 15 minutes: § To make final decisions with your group about your FINAL design § Write down those decisions and sketch of final design in your journal Build your racers! Round 2 § Feel free to trade materials § In Journals, make sure you have written down your final list of materials § If you have made any last-minute tweaks to your design as you construct, be sure to document those changes in your journal

RUBBER BAND RACERS – DAY 8 Build your racers! Round 2 § Feel free to trade materials § In Journals, make sure you have written down your final list of materials § If you have made any last-minute tweaks to your design as you construct, be sure to document those changes in your journal

RUBBER BAND RACERS – DAY 9 TEST! 10 minutes: Final construction of racers Test it! § Must travel 3 m within a 1 m wide track § Collect data (yes, use the stop watch on your phone), calculate car’s speed (distance traveled per unit of time, or S=d/t) § Observe tests of other teams and how their different designs worked Rubber band car data Distance traveled within track (m) Time traveled within track (S) Speed (m/S) Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Average Reconvene your team; begin to evaluate your team’s results

RUBBER BAND RACERS – DAY 10 EVALUATE & COMMUNICATE In groups, evaluate your team’s results by discussing answers to specific prompts Proceed prompt by prompt § First discuss your response with your group § Write your response in your journal § Number your response based on the Prompt number § Use complete sentences so the reader does not need to look up the original prompts § See handout for the prompts (page 16 of your science binder) § Decide who on your team will present each prompt – make it as evenly distributed as possible Pick some on your team to serve as the official artist; this person will draw a diagram of your final tested design Be prepared to present the evaluation on Monday!

RUBBER BAND RACERS EVALUATE & COMMUNICATE Using prompts on Evaluation handout (page 16 of your science binder), prepare a formal report that communicates your evaluation § Times New Roman, 12 point font § 1 -inch margins, double-spaced Be sure to use the rubric to guide your writing of each response § § Focus/topic sentence Specific examples Detailed explanations Concluding sentence Work on this today and tomorrow in lab, due next Wed 10/29 Save on your Google Drive or on Copper Drive

RUBBER BAND RACERS COMMUNICATE Final report due Wed 10/29 at beginning of class. § Five (5) points deducted from earned grade for every day late Before turning it in, be sure you… § Look again at rubric and evaluate your draft; revise it! § Proofread for spelling and grammar § Include non-text requirements § Data tables (one for first model, one for second model) § Plot graph § Two diagrams (one of your final design, one of your ideal design) To turn it in: § Print it and bring it with you no later than 10/29; OR § “Share it” through Google: lisa. milligan@weymouthschools. org § Separately, turn in your data tables, graph, and diagrams by due date