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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Building a Car: Mechanical Engineering

For Teachers K
Students use common materials to build a car. In this car building mechanical engineering lesson, students build a car using a milk cartoon and plastic wheels. They discuss what mechanical engineers do and what makes a car run.
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Lesson Plan
National Research Center for Career and Technical Education

STEM: Lou-Vee Air Car

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A comprehensive lesson on acceleration awaits your physicists and engineers! Two YouTube videos pique their interest, then sample F=ma problems are worked and graphed. The highlight of the lesson is the building of a Lou-Vee air car!...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Solar Car Races: Build and retrofit for speed

For Teachers 6th - 9th
If you have solar car kits for your junior high schoolers, they can experiment with photovoltaic cell angle, light intensity, and aerodynamic design to discover what makes their car move more quickly. This is a classic activity to use...
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Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Build a Fuel Cell

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Discover the connection between redox reactions and fuel cells. Collaborative groups build a Hoffmann Apparatus that demonstrates the electrolysis of water and then convert their models into a fuel cell. They use their fuel cells to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Build Your Own Car

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students design and build their own cars. In this physics lesson plan, students test their car's speed and make changes when necessary. They graph data and analyze results.
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Lesson Plan
Cornell University

Bridge Building

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Bridge the gaps in your knowledge of bridges. Individuals learn about bridge types by building models. The activity introduces beam bridges, arch bridges, truss bridges, and suspension bridges.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Go Car, Go!

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students design and build their own car. In this physics lesson, students collect data to determine the speed of the car. They plot the data on the graph analyze the relationship between variables.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Newton Rocket Car

For Teachers K - 5th
Students observe a demonstration of Newton's third law of motion using a small wooden car. They discuss Newton's third law of motion and what happens to motion if the mass or acceleration is increased, construct their car, and record...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Speedy Spaghetti

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students explore the principles of motion by constructing a car out of pasta that will carry a large marshmallow and travel down a ramp. They discuss the formula for calculating speed, design and build their cars, and calculate their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Build and Test Your Car Continued

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Learners create and build cars to race in class. In this physics lesson, students calculate the speed using distance and time information. They evaluate their design and make adjustments when needed.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Indianapolis 500 Unit-Science

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders access prior knowledge of simple machines to build a car. In this car design lesson, 4th graders create and race their cars.  Students evaluate what was good and bad about their designs. Each car will incorporate a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Building the Car (Mechanics and Motion)

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students design and begin building a car out of K'NEX parts after a class discussion on the components of the car, the constraints and goals of the design, the type of testing that will be performed, and a demonstration of a basic...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Build Your Own Car

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Students determine the factors that affect car speed. In this physics lesson, students design a car that can travel fast and far. They record test run data and use them to construct graphs.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Solar Powered Cars

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students build and race solar powered cars after a teacher lecture. They answer questions based on their experiences with the car they build.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rocket Car

For Teachers 4th - 10th
Students construct a balloon-powered rocket car from a Styrofoam tray, pins, tape, and a flexible straw, and test it along a measured track on the floor. They experiment with ways of increasing the distance the rocket car travels.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Car Engines

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Students create piston systems and explore the conversion of linear to rotary motion that propels a car. In this motion lesson, students build and test a model piston/crankshift system and discover why there is a maximum limit to how...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

So You Want To Be A Mythbuster?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students recognize the parts used to construct a car.  In this mythbuster lesson, students will use the scientific method to complete an experiment with student constructed cars to bust a myth. Students will reflect on what they...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Engineering: Lego Cars and Light Sensors

For Teachers 5th - 10th
Students build Lego cars with attached light sensors. They program the car to enter a tunnel and reverse out when it records a darker light reading.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Air Car

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students, in groups, design and construct an air car capable of acceleration. They view a video on acceleration, test their cars and make adjustments as desired.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Houses and Cars and Loans

For Teachers 8th - 10th
Students create a spreadsheet to track their spending. In this algebra lesson, students use loan formulas to calculate the payback amount plus interest on a loan. They calculate how much money they would need to buy a car and house.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

TE Activity: Racing with the Sun - Creating a Solar Car

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students use a purchased kit to build a solar powered car. They connect a solar photovoltaic panel to a motor which runs the car forward and backward. They determine how to wire the car to move in both directions.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Ramp Builder

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students plan and build a ramp designed for maximum distance a car can travel. In this physics and data collection math lesson, students work in groups to design a ramp using various household materials. Students test small cars on their...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Simple Machines I - Inclined Planes, Wedges, and Screws

For Teachers 4th
The principles and uses of inclined planes, screws, and wedges are the focus of a science lesson. In it, youngsters come up with every day examples of simple machines, and build an example of one in class. That project is then used to...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Allowing Students to Explore Simple Physics and Marketing in English Class

For Teachers 9th Standards
Scientific method, linear measurements, friction, inertia. Imagine learning scientific vocabulary in an ELA class. Before researching and developing a presentation about simple machines, class members build a common, but decidedly...

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