Elementary+engineering

=**Elementary Engineering Activity: Crash Protected Vehicle**=

**Lesson Objective:**
Students will work with simple engineering techniques to construct a vehicle that will carry and protect an egg as it crashes into a barrier at high speed.

Working with a partner, students will be given the following directions:
 * Research vehicles and crash protection.
 * Design a vehicle that meets the following criteria:
 * use all four wheels provided along with axles and platform


 * Egg must be seated and restrained in the car in a maximum of 5 seconds.


 * must be removed from car in 5 seconds or less.


 * egg must have clear vision of “road” in front of car.

My Construction:
I constructed my own vehicle to see how it works. First, I screwed axels into the base wood that was given to connect the wheels to. Next, I formed modeling clay as a seat for the egg. I then added two Popsicle sticks to the sides and front. Lastly, I added a Styrofoam ball to the front of the car in order to lessen the impact of the hit. On the first try the egg did fall out, however did not break I had to design an extra way to keep the egg from falling out. I decided to use more Popsicle sticks to line the sides, front, and back of the car. I also added cotton balls to the front of the car to keep it from bouncingas hard when hitting the barrier at the end of the ramp. I then tested it with a plastic egg and found that the car was too heavy making it go fast and hit hard so I took the modeling clay out and replaced it with Play Doh, it was less dense than the clay, this was successful so I decided to try a real egg and it was successful as well.



I plan on using this activity in a classroom lesson in the future. Thus, I planned a lesson that would incorporate the activity with second grade science concepts. The lesson I created goes along with the following second grade Georgia Performance standard:
 * Future Lesson Plan:**

Students will use tools and instruments for observing, measuring, and manipulating objects in scientific activities. . a. Use ordinary hand tools and instruments to construct, measure, and look at objects. b. Make something that can actually be used to perform a task, using paper, cardboard, wood, plastic, metal, or existing objects.

The concepts of my lesson are to teach students about energy, motion, and forces. (Below is a link to my lesson plan)