ePortfolio Assignment 5

Although there were times the classes were in quads A-D most of our time was spent in quad B and D.  We have been studying Newton’s Laws of Motion which is not a new concept for my students. We related the laws to something we have all had experience with- cars. 

In ninth grade students need to be able to state Newton’s Laws and then actually apply those laws by experimentally obtaining data, graphing the data and using mathematical models to quantify Newton’s Laws of Motion. Students are required to apply the mathematical equations for potential energy, kinetic energy, velocity, acceleration, force and momentum. To achieve this, I asked the students to build a car that was designed to protect its passengers (an egg) while compensating for Newton’s Laws. The car had to travel a certain distance, reach a specific velocity and the passengers had to survive a head on collision with a concrete wall. 

Students brought materials from home. We would consider most of the “construction materials” to be trash. We turned that trash into cars. Items such as bottle caps, baby food lids or CD’s where used as wheels. Tissue boxes, coffee cans, soda bottles and oatmeal containers were used as cabs for the vehicles. Strings, rubber bands, and small strips of duct tape were used as seat belts.  By allowing students to be creative with their materials everyone had the opportunity to contribute and be successful with this project. 

After the construction of their vehicles students calculated the potential energy, kinetic energy, velocity, acceleration, force and momentum of their cars. Students also crash tested the car and checked on the “passengers’. There were fatalities, head injuries and passengers who escaped the crash without a scratch or crack.  Last students constructed essays evaluating how their car demonstrated Newton’s Laws, how well their car design compensated for Newton’s Laws to protect the egg and reflected on how the car could be improved in future.

Given that my students are just reaching driving age they are thinking of their first car. It would be extremely relevant to them to select five cars they could realistically purchase as their first vehicle and investigate those cars’ safety ratings. They could then determine what aspects of the cars improve the safety of vehicles and present that information to their peers. Last they would be asked to look up on their top car choice and apply the Newton’s Laws to a hypothetical crash involving that specific car.