Activity

Exploring Variables While Testing and Improving Mint-Mobiles (for High School)

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet
This Exploring Variables While Testing and Improving Mint-Mobiles (for High School) activity also includes:

Mint candies are good for more than just one's breath. Using basic materials such as mint candies, straws, index cards, and Popsicle sticks, scholars create race cars that meet a given budget as well as design constraints. They perform an experiment to measure the distance the car travels down a ramp based on its mass, graph the data as a scatter plot, and analyze a line of best fit.

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CCSS: Designed
Instructional Ideas
  • Use the activity extensions as extra credit assignments
Classroom Considerations
  • Pupils should be familiar with how to create a scatter plot and line of best fit
  • A middle school version of the activity is available as a separate resource
  • Requires a variety of materials; see the resource for a complete list
Pros
  • Lists some questions to use as part of a discussion session
  • Provides definitions for relevant vocabulary terms
Cons
  • None
Common Core