PVSTEM9 Slow Car Challenge - How Slow Can You Go?

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by Rob Webb

How Slow Can you Go?

Time Frame: 5 weeks

Stage 1 - Desired Results

Big Idea(s)
  1. Build the slowest moving LEGO car (or other vehicle dependent on gears and moves at a constant velocity), predict exactly when and where that will crash into another one a set distance apart
  2. Work, Power, & Simple Machines
  3. Engineering Process
  4. Linear Motion
  5. Systems of Equations
  6. Proportions and Gear Ratios


PA Core Standards / Next Generation Science Standards
T & E EducationScience EducationMathematics EducationComputer ScienceCEW
3.2.10.B Apply process knowledge and organize scientific and technological phenomena in varied ways3.2.10.D Identify and Apply the technological design process to solve problems.3.6.10.C Apply Physical technologies of structural design, analysis and engineering, personnel relations, financial affairs, structural production, research and design to real world problems. 3.7.10.A Identify and safely use a variety of tools, basic machines, materials, and techniques to solve problems and answer questions3.1.12.A Apply concepts of systems, subsystems, feedback and control to solve complex technological problems.3.1.12.B Apply concepts of models as a method to predict and understand science and technology.3.1.12.C Assess and apply patterns in science and technology.3.4.10.C Distinguish among the principles of force and motion A1.1.1.4.1 Use estimation to solve problems.A1.1.2.1.1 Write, solve, and/or apply a linear equation (including problem situations).A1.1.2.1.3 Interpret solutions to problems in the context of the problem situation. Note: Linear equations only.A1.1.2.2.1 Write and/or solve a system of linear equations (including problem situations) using graphing, substitution, and/or elimination. Note: Limit systems to two linear equations. A1.2.1.1.1 Analyze a set of data for the existence of a pattern and represent the pattern algebraically and/or graphically.A1.2.1.1.3 Identify the domain or range of a relation (may be presented as ordered pairs, a graph, or a table).A1.2.1.2.1 Create, interpret, and/or use the equation, graph, or table of a linear function.A1.2.2.1.1 Identify, describe, and/or use


Essential Questions
  • How are simple machines used to create a mechanical advantage?
  • How do safety engineers use systems of equations in their tests?
  • How do simple machines make our lives easier?
  • How can we use data to make predictions?


Students Will KnowStudents Will Be Doing
  • Content specific vocab
  • Tech Ed: Fixed pulley, movable pulley, compound pulley, input force, output force, mechanical advantage, direct variation, box and whisker plot, quartile, mean, Drive gear, follower gear, idle gear, spur gear, worm gear, RPM, gearing up, gearing down, gear train, torque, speed, input, output
  • Science: work, power, Joule, Watt, machine, mechanical advantage, effort arm, effort force, fulcrum, resistance arm, resistance force efficiency, compound machine, pulley, wheel and axle, inclined plane, screw, wedge, lever, horsepower, kilowatt-hour, rate, speed, velocity, distance, displacement, time, instantaneous speed, average speed, constant speed, relative and slope.
  • Math: Slope, Ratio, Slope-Intercept Form, Intersection, linear, system of equations, graph, domain, range, line of best fit
Tech Ed
  • Mechanical advantage
  • How to calculate mechanical advantage using proportions
  • How to read a spring scale
  • Types of gears and gearing systems
  • Types of pulleys
  • How to use gears to create speed or torque
  • How pulleys can be used to create a mechanical advantage
Physics
  • The conditions necessary for work to be done
  • How to calculate work
  • The six simple machines
  • How to calculate mechanical advantage
  • How power is calculated
  • How to find the efficiency of a machine
  • The difference between work and power
  • The applications and uses of power
  • How simple machines are used to make work easier
  • The difference between speed and velocity
Math
  • How math can be applied to a physical situation in order to make predictions
  • How the slope and y-intercept of a graph relate to the motion of an object  
  • Learners will measure and calculate their work and power in climbing a set of stairs.
  • Learners will setup and test the mechanical advantage of pulley systems. They will complete a pulley lab that requires learners to measure input and output forces, calculate mechanical advantage, design their own pulley system.
  • Learners will use gears and legos to construct a car that moves the slowest. They will calculate the gear ratio, motor rpm, and distance of their car and test them to check for accuracy  
  • Learners will complete a slow car collision lab. Students will collect data to determine the speed of their car. This info is placed on a graph and then solved using a systems of equations to determine the collision time and location.
  • Learners will evaluate the efficiency of a machine.

Stage 2 - Evidence of Understanding

Assessments (Formative and Summative):Performance Task(s)
  • Gear calculations Quiz
  • Work and Power Quiz
  • Stairs Lab Data Analysis
  • Lever & Inclined Plane Lab Data Analysis
  • Work, Power, and Simple Machines Exam
  • Speed Quiz
  • Slow Car Collision Data Analysis
  • Stairs Work & Power Lab
  • Pulley Lab
  • Lever & Inclined Plane Lab
  • Slow Car Construction
  • Slow Car Collision Lab

Stage 3 - Lesson Learning Targets

Learning Activities: I can…
  • Predict and Calculate Mechanical Advantage
  • Engineer a slow-moving machine using LEGOS
  • Predict when two objects will meet using a system of equations

RESOURCES / LINKS

Activities(in Google Drive Folder)PresentationsAssessments (in Google Drive Folder)
Videos for Packet Notes (in order of use in Science):


Return to top