11. Improve Your Ride

Overview

Students discuss ways they would like to make their cars work better, and/or look better, and then redesign their cars.

Better cars: Meet with the class briefly to explore ways in which their cars could be improved. Introduce the word redesign: changing something you’ve already made so it will work better, or look better, or both. Ask for suggestions about why they might want to redesign their cars. They might want to make their cars:
- go straight, when previously they went in curves
- go further
- look better, etc.
Redesign your car: Provide car parts, foam blocks, art supplies and craft materials. Students will spend most of the period redoing their cars, or making new ones.
Science Notebook:
- Draw and write about how you redesigned your car.
- How was your new car different from your old one?
Outcomes
- Students identify things they would like to change.
- Students find ways to address problems they have identified.