Project 3: Impact Control

1.What is the engineering principle that the children will learn? 

Engineering is about designing and applying scientific knowledge to solve problems in real-life. In this problem, the children have to complete building the vehicle and think of ways to increase the friction or drag on the vehicle so that it slows down sufficiently and hits the stopper with minimal force, without breaking the egg. 

When the egg car is at the top of the ramp, it has a specific amount of potential energy depending on the height of the ramp and the mass of the egg car. One of two things can happen to this energy, it can turn into kinetic energy or heat energy as the car is released. If there is very little friction between the ramp and the egg car, very little energy will be converted into heat and the egg car will have too much kinetic energy, travel too fast, and the egg will break.

2.What is the activity? 

Given a frame with an egg mounted at the front, the students will add axles and wheels to it to create some type of car to go down a ramp. The egg itself must touch a cement stopper at the bottom of the ramp. The goal is for the egg to hit the stopper without breaking.

3.What age group is the activity designed for? 

Children of ages 8 and up.

4.What will the children do and how will they learn by doing your activity? 

1. Divide the children into teams of 3-4; designate work area for each team.
   
2. Explain the project to the children, highlighting the key points.
   
3. Have the materials that will be available to children laid out on a table; allow time for children to examine materials. Maybe we can have less of one material than the number of groups in order to encourage diverse car designs (i.e. 4 toilet paper rolls available for 8 groups).
   
4. Facilitate creative problem-solving process; allow children to experiment with materials; encourage children to design their egg cars on paper first.
   
5. Before testing the vehicle with the real egg, encourage children to explain how their design works, including how they plan to transform some of their potential energy into heat energy (friction).
   
6. When testing the egg cars, ensure that the egg is secure. The stopper may be placed directly at the bottom of the ramp, or up to one foot away.
   
7. One at a time, have each team place their egg car at the top of the ramp and let it go!
   
8. If the egg remains intact, that team has accomplished the goal.
   
9. Distribute judging forms to each group and have each group evaluate their own product and the process that they just went through.

5.What will be in the activity box?

A frame with the egg mounted will be provided.

Materials provided:

6.How does your activity meet the requirements given above? 

The children are presented with an engineering problem to solve using only the materials provided. The problem is simple yet interesting for the kids. Teamwork is required, in particular combining design and construction techniques together. The activity is safe, can be conducted indoors and can involve a large group of children at one time. All the required materials for the final project can easily fit inside a compact vehicle.