Students explore forces in motion as they work to design a solution that slows the fall of a washer in two different environments.
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NGSS Performance Expectations
Summary of Module Activities
Science Investigation: Classroom Activity #1: Parachutes
Students explore the rate of fall of parachutes of different sizes to develop an understanding of the relationship between surface area and the rate at which an object falls.
Engineering Design: Classroom Activity #2: Drop Vehicle
Students engage in a classroom science investigation to iteratively design and test a vehicle, constructed using only paper and tape, that slows the fall of a dropped metal washer.
MOXI Field Trip: Engineering Design Challenge: Hover Vehicle
Students are challenged to use simple materials to design and build a vehicle that can hover in the rising air while carrying a lightweight sensor the size and weight of a metal washer. Students use MOXI’s wind column exhibit to test their vehicles in a column of rising air.
Reflection: Classroom Activity #3: Adapting a Design
Students reconstruct a classmate’s field trip vehicle design and test that vehicle using the classroom drop vehicle criteria. They iteratively test and modify the design to optimize their solution. As a class, students then discuss and draw differences in how the vehicles performed under the different conditions in the wind columns and the classroom.