Using Technology to Teach Technology

Egg Automobile Construction
This is the event of the week. We were given parameters to work within like wheel type, body length, body width, etc., and charged with designing and constructing a 4 wheel derby car. Our mission, to build a Styrofoam launch vehicle that will protect a raw egg (accelerated by a surgical tubing slingshot) from breaking after careening directly into solid wall. This project required extensive planning, simulated testing, patent design, and final construction of the car. Here Yvonne shows one model which utilizes a roll bar cage, seat belts, doors, and a compressionable front bumper. Only time will tell if our design ideas were correct.
What interested me, was the interactive physics software that provided a repeatable simulation of the car into the wall. This appears an effective, authentic, and practical use of computer technology. I would even take it a step further, and see if we could quantify the force arrow in the simulation to represent the a force of a magnitude similar to that provided by the surgical tubing slingshot.
Another effective use of computer technology involved Clarisworks drawing tools. We were able to create a scale template diagram for our car, which was then attached to the Styrofoam as a guide for the actual body shape of our car. This too provides an authentic, and valuable learning tool which integrates science, mathematics, and technology.


Below Al created a backup Egg Crash car model which employed a collapsible front bumper system, and horizontal placement compartment for the egg along its strongest axis. A rubber band was used for the seat belt, and space was left in front of the egg compartment to pack in an air bag system (bubble wrap). Holes were drilled down through the triangular front bumper system, to allow it's ease of collapse upon impact.























Sail Away/ Rocketteers/ Shake it up Baby