Engineering a Safe Car

This is an excellent detailed article that has students use engineering design to create a safe car. First students make a car and then get a chance to play with it. This allows them a lot... See More

This is an excellent detailed article that has students use engineering design to create a safe car. First students make a car and then get a chance to play with it. This allows them a lot of creativity. Next they use the engineering design process to make their car safe for a driver. They followed the method used by the Engineering is Elementary curriculum: Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Improve. This article goes into great detail and makes the activity easy to replicate in any classroom.

Building Model Cars

The title of this article is somewhat deceiving. It is really about having students design and build a car from simple materials that will move down ramps of different height and of differe... See More

The title of this article is somewhat deceiving. It is really about having students design and build a car from simple materials that will move down ramps of different height and of different lengths. Safety is not really emphasized. The author takes the reader through observing, designing and planning phase of the process to engineer the cars. The reflection piece is very important. In reading this article students learn about the materials aspect of building something and how that can influence performance.