1 On your mark

By Roxanne Moses

Provided by Kenan Fellows Program.

In this lesson, students will get organized for the rest of the lessons in the On Track Learning unit. They will learn about the requirements for the car design, form into teams, and decide on member roles.

Learning outcomes

Students will:

• Be introduced to concepts in car and road safety
• Start to consider how to apply safety and performance objectives to a car design
• Begin working as a design team and work with one another to share responsibilities and decisions

Teacher planning

Time required

One class period

Materials needed

For the construction of the car:

• springs
• rubber bands
• carbon dioxide
• water bottles
• balsa wood
• wheels
• axles
• eye screws
• thin braided rope
• coping saw
• glue
• sanding block
• measuring tape

For the egg safety device:

• bubble wrap
• rubber bands
• yarn, cut into one-foot lengths
• egg cartons
• 18 eggs
• fabric
• staplers
• washers
• protractors
• pipe cleaners
• tongue depressors
• string, cut into three-foot lengths
• plastic wrap, cut into six-inch squares
• felt squares

Student handouts

Each group receives an expert interview to reenact on a specified day.

Pre-activities

Assemble the materials for the car construction and the egg safety device. Put these items on display. The students won’t actually use them for this lesson but will need to see what they have to work with as they contemplate their designs. Adjust the materials list as you see fit.

Activities

1. Begin the lesson by engaging students with this teaser:

   According to Liz Allison, author of Girl’s Guide to NASCAR, “The force at which Dale Earnhardt, Sr., hit the wall was the worst type of hit a driver can take. A car that takes a direct hit and then tumbles or moves back down the track is far worse than a car that tumbles and the hits the wall. Think of it this way: if you throw a rubber ball at a wall, it comes back hard; but if the ball bounces, then hits the wall, it doesn’t hit as hard because it absorbs a little of the energy with each bounce, rather than taking the full impact at once.”

2. Show students the video from NASCAR of Earnhardt’s fatal crash.
3. Ask questions related to driver safety to assess students’ current knowledge. Some items might include:
   • What do you know about car accidents?
   • What have you read about accident statistics related to racing and non-racing venues?
   • What do you do for safety when you’re in a car?
   • Describe the seat and restraint system on a car seat for infants, toddlers, and race drivers.
4. Explain to the class that in this unit they will be divided into six groups and each group will design and construct a self-propelled car. There will be two primary objectives for the car design.
   1. Performance (speed and distance): The vehicle will be tested to see how fast it can cover a designated distance and also how far it can travel.
   2. Safety: The vehicle must contain a safety device or compartment that will protect the passenger — an egg — from breaking or even cracking during a crash.
5. Show students the materials on display. Explain that one set of materials is for the car construction and one set is for the egg safety device. Emphasize that they will only be able to use the materials provided for their design but they don’t have to use all the materials. If you think it will be helpful, you may want to provide a printout of the materials.
6. Students should form six teams of about four to five members. The teacher can assign students to teams or let them group up on their own. Assign each group a number between one and six. Each member of the group will take leadership in some aspect of the project and be responsible for communicating their responsibility and how it contributed to the overall experience.
7. Explain to students that each team will also present an expert interview. Two members of the group will enact an interview between Dr. Rolin E. Barrett, a consulting engineer and accident reconstruction specialist with Barrett Engineering, and Dr. Eric Klang, an engineering professor at North Carolina State University. The topics covered in the interviews will help them as they progress on their designs. The transcripts of these interviews are provided in the handout section. Pass out each transcript to the appropriate group.
8. Hand out one design packet to each group. Students should use the remaining portion of class to meet with their groups to decide member roles, figure out who will present the expert interviews, and begin brainstorming design ideas.

Assessment

Informally assess students based on their participation in the opening discussion and their interaction with group members.

• Next: Egg transport vehicle

Contents: On track learning

• Next: Egg transport vehicle

Learn more

• North Carolina Department of Transportation: Crash reports The Traffic Crash Facts for 2008 contain various statistical data for crashes that have occurred in North Carolina.
• Putting up barriers to make NASCAR that much safer Supplement this lesson with information from NASCAR about its safety procedures.

Related topics

• Search LEARN NC for more resources on cars, design, engineering, safety, and science.

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