Project: Build A Better Mouse Trap... Car!
Resources Needed: 13 Mousetrap Car Kits
School Poverty Level: High
Location: Southwestern High School, Detroit, Michigan
Total Cost: $530.08
Still Needed: $83.32 Completed!
Expires: Feb 18, 2012
Teacher's Comments from Mr. TenBrink:
My Students: Watching a car roll across the table, dull. Racing cars down the hall that you designed, awesome! We an imaginative, hands on way to get excited about motion.
Our students come from an economically depressed area, with high crime, strong gang activity, and a lot of urban blight. Students travel down dangerous streets every day. They resist the easy answers of the streets to challenge themselves to learn. Even with this desire, it is not easy to get excited about every topic. My students are active learners. They learn best by doing activities. Experiments and projects lead to better understanding.
My Project: Mouse trap cars provide students a chance to design and build their own cars. Building these cars allows students to learn about speed, distance, velocity, and acceleration. They will get excited about math, science, and engineering with the competitive nature of the project. Students love to feel success, and these cars will be my physics students first taste of success in the year. They will develop confidence in their abilities, open themselves up to chances, and push themselves to learn more.
Everyone has a science lab or project that they remember. Maybe it was designing a container for an egg drop. Maybe building your own telescope. Projects make connections and get us excited about learning. Mousetrap cars can be that first project that shows students what they can be. They can be engineers, designers, architects, and so much more. The first step is getting them to see it!
Completed
Please move on to the bonus project!