About This Lesson
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Materials
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Match Box Cars
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Track
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Books
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Clay
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Meter Stick
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Students use the materials above to design a system in which they release their car down the track so that it stops at exactly one meter past the end of the track (or as close as they can get it.)
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Students should be given a certain amount of time to test and revise their systems.
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The purpose of this activity is two-fold: discover and identify what it is that engineers do, and begin to explore concepts of energy and speed
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Have students visit Answer Garden (link below) or similar website or a Google Doc and add their thoughts to the following question. "What steps did you take to complete this engineering challenge?"
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Lead them in a discussion to discover the steps that engineers take when solving a problem. Make an Anchor Chart or a Word Wall displaying these steps. (list of engineering steps below)
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Ask students to answer this prompt in the link below that will lead to a discussion about the laws of motion.
