In Motion and Design, students explore the physics of motion and apply these concepts to technological design. Using plastic construction materials, weights, rubber bands, and propellers, students design and build vehicles.

Students record their designs using technical two-view and three-view drawings. They test how fast the vehicles move and use their findings to redesign the vehicles to move more efficiently. Cost analysis is one of the students’ design requirements. As students design their vehicles, they intuitively apply concepts such as friction and kinetic and potential energy. They also explore the effect of gravity on motion.

The unit concludes by challenging students to solve a design challenge and to present their findings to the class.

 

 

This is an adaptation of lessons found in the STC Motion & Design kit. This version reframes this physics kit around an event of a skateboarder who experiences a “successful” jump and an “epic fail” jump. To explain this phenomenon, students gather evidence about force, motion, speed, balanced/unbalanced forces, and transfer of energy to develop an explanation around how and why this phenomenon occurs.  Students engage in the NGSS practices as they develop a "model-based explanation".