Video
Supplements: Land
Watch Out, NASCAR — Here Comes Our Car!
Overview
Students have a competition with cars that they build.
They measure the distance that their car travels using
balloon power and find the area and perimeter of the body
of their car, plus the weight of the whole car. Older students
compute speed.
Outcome
Students will gain a greater understanding of area,
perimeter, distance and estimation.
Standards Addressed
Grade 4
Use Measurement Techniques and Tools, Benchmark B
05. Make simple unit conversions within a measurement
system; e.g., inches to feet, kilograms to
grams, quarts to gallons.
Use Measurement Techniques
and Tools, Benchmark D
04. Develop and use strategies to find perimeter
using string or links, area using tiles
or a grid and volume
using cubes; e.g., count squares to find
area of regular or irregular shapes on a grid,
layer cubes
in a box to
find its volume.
Grade 6
Use Measurement Techniques and Tools, Benchmark
C
03. Estimate perimeter or circumference and
area for circles, triangles and quadrilaterals,
and
surface area
and volume
for prisms and cylinders by the following
methods:
estimating lengths using string or
links, areas using tiles or grid and volumes using cubes
measuring
attributes (diameter, side lengths or heights) and
using established formulas
for circles, triangles,
rectangles, parallelograms and rectangular
prisms
Materials
Procedure
-
Divide the students into
groups of two or three.
-
Introduce the concept of
building a car using Styrofoam and other
materials.
-
Have students collect materials
including a Styrofoam block,
a straw, balloons,
tape and materials for
wheels such as bobbins, thread
holders, Styrofoam, etc.
-
The
students start building their cars by cutting the
body from a piece
of Styrofoam.
They can then
trace the
bottom of the car onto
centimeter graph paper and estimate
the area. If the
car is rectangular,
triangular
or circular,
students can simply use
the measurements and
apply the formula to find
the area of the car.
-
Students
can use a piece of string to measure the
perimeter
of the car
in centimeters.
-
Next the
students should record the area
and perimeter
of their
car on the
handout.
They should
be sure
to measure in square
centimeters.
-
Ask the
students to cut a piece of heavier
paper
in the same shape
as the
car body and
attach it to
the top
of the car. Tape
will not easily stick to
the
Styrofoam,
so the
paper is needed
to
attach
the straw to the
car.
-
Now they can
attach the wheels to their
car. This
will vary depending
on the type
of wheel
used.
-
Have the students
tape a balloon
to the short
end of a flexible
straw. They
should
then attach
the straw
and
balloon to the
paper covering
on the top
of the car.
-
Using
the straw, a student blows
up the balloon
and
tapes the open
end of the straw
closed until
they are
ready to release
the car.
-
Have
the students release
their car
from the start
line and measure
the distance
it
travels. (This
could
also be done
as a race with
all
the
cars lined
up and
released
at the same
time. Sometimes, however,
the cars do
not go in straight
lines, so students
must
be very
clear
on the
rules that
you set up for a
winner.)
-
Students
should take
at least two
test runs
to determine
what modifications
they
need to
make to
their car.
-
Have
the students do
three trials
with their
car and find
the mean
distance in centimeters
of the three
attempts.
Then have
them convert the
figure
to meters.
-
You
can create a
chart
where students
can
post
their
distance — either
their
mean distance
or their
longest
distance.
-
Students
should
write
a summary
of how
they
built
the car, what
changes
they
made and their
overall
results
on the
back
of the
student
sheet.
-
Extension
#1: Advanced students
can
compute speed
(rate).
Distance
divided
by
time equals
rate.
-
Extension
#2: Students
could
add
weights
to
their
cars
(pennies
work
well)
to
see
if
that
affects
the
distance
that
their
car
travels.
A
graph can
be
made
to
compare
the
weight
of
the
car
and
the
distance
traveled.
-
Extension
#3: Students
could measure
the circumference
of the
balloon and
the distance
traveled, and
make a
scatter plot
to show
comparison or
to make
a prediction.
Background
Information
Newton’s first law states, “An object at
rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside
force.” Releasing
the air from the balloon becomes
the outside force that causes the
movement of the car.
Newton’s
third law states, “For every
action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction.” Basically
this means that when you sit down,
your body exerts a downward force on your chair. The
chair, in turn, exerts an upward
force on your body. There are two
forces — on
the chair and on the body. These
forces are called action and
reaction.
The motion of the car
shows the action-reaction forces in practical
terms.
Evaluation
| Building the car |
Up to 25 points |
| Performing the trials |
Up to 25 points |
| Filling out handout |
Up to 25 points |
| Writing assignment |
Up to 25 points |
Below is a checklist that
students can use to check
their writing.
| Category |
Responsibilities |
| Ideas |
____ |
Ideas are written in my own words. |
| |
____ |
I understand my topic. |
| |
____ |
My report is clear and focused. I stayed on topic. |
| |
|
|
| Conventions |
____ |
I use correct grammar. |
| |
____ |
I use commas, periods, question marks and exclamation
points correctly. |
| |
____ |
My handwriting is legible. |
| |
____ |
My printout contains no typos. |
| |
|
|
| Organization |
____ |
My report is sequenced in a logical order. |
| |
____ |
My ideas flow well and are clearly connected to one
another. |
(Source:
ALTEC© 2006,2005,
2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000. All Rights Reserved) |
