Newton's Racetrack

Student Challenge:

Small groups of students will get a kit that contains a flat car base, axles, a wide variety of wheel choices, and weighted bricks. In teams, they will work together to customize a Lego Duplo© car. Each car will then be tested through a series of challenges focused on momentum, gravity, and friction. Students will collect data during each trial run, and they will use those results to modify their design. The Lab ends with an ultimate transfer of energy test – crashing their cars into each other!

Learning Outcomes:

Build and modify a vehicle to complete different challenges.
Understand different elements of Newton’s Laws of Physics.
Test the effects of gravity, friction, energy transfer, and momentum.

NGSS Connections:

3-PS2-2 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions. Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

4-PS3-3 Energy: Ask questions and predict outcomes about the changes in energy that occur when objects collide.

5-PS1-3 Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions. Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.

Cross-Curricular Connections:

Common Core Math — 4.MD.4: Represent and interpret data
Social Emotional Learning — 2B.2b: Demonstrate how to work effectively with those who are different from oneself.

Materials:

DCM Educators will bring kits to build customizable Lego Duplo© cars, several ramps for testing, and graphic organizers for recording data.