Advance Preparation

• Photo copy the student rubrics (download at bottom of this page)

Materials

• Wind-ups and/or balloon cars to be presented
• Student final reports

Procedure

Student presentations.  Structure the presentations so students know clearly what should be included.

1. What materials were used
2. How the wind-up or balloon car was constructed, step by step
3. The issues that emerged and how they were fixed: troubleshooting
4. How the wind-up or balloon car was redesigned
5. An opportunity to see how the wind-up / balloon car works
6. An explanation of the energy transfers and transformations from the initial input of student energy until the wind-up or balloon car stops.

The presentations may be oral presentations to the student’s class, another class, or a parent group.  They may be a combination of an oral and written presentation as in a science fair.  Or the presentation may be written together with the actual vehicle(s) that was made.

Assessments: There are balloon car and wind-up rubrics which may be downloaded at the bottom of the page.  The Teacher Rubrics include more ideas about assessing student presentations.  The Student Rubrics may be distributed to students to give them guidance in preparing their reports.

Assessment