Posted on February 8th, 2018 by Mary Lord
Students in grades 3 to 12 explore the effects of gravity, friction, and air resistance upon acceleration by using the engineering design process to design, build, and test their own bobsleds with the aim of reducing run times with each attempt.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5 | Comment »
Tags: 2018 winter Olympics, Aerodynamics, Bobsled, Class Activities, Engineering Design Process, forces and motion, friction, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12, Grades K-5
Posted on May 20th, 2014 by Mary Lord

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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5 | Comment »
Tags: bicycle, Class Activities, Design, Energy, Engineering Design, friction, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Lesson Plan, motions and forces
Posted on January 20th, 2014 by Mary Lord
Teams of students in grades 3 to 8 learn about friction, forces, and the engineering design process by building and testing miniature bobsleds to see which can race down an icy slope either the fastest or slowest.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades 6-8, Grades 6-8, Grades K-5, Grades K-5, Lesson Plans | Comment »
Tags: Aerodynamics, Bobsled, Boston Museum of Science, Energy, Engineering Design Process, friction, glide, kinetic energy, Olympics
Posted on July 3rd, 2011 by Mary Lord
Understanding how friction works helps engineers design moving objects so they can be controlled. In this activity, students in grades 7 – 9 gain first-hand experience on how friction affects motion by building a hovercraft that uses air from a balloon to levitate a craft made from a compact disc (CD).
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Filed under: Grades 6-8, Lesson Plans | Comment »
Tags: Class Activities, friction, hovercraft, Lesson Plan, Physics
Posted on December 1st, 2008 by ASEE
In this activity, late-elementary school students work in small groups to build a roller coaster with at least one loop and one jump, demonstrating how potential energy transforms into kinetic energy. Students observe the relationship of height to potential energy and the resulting kinetic energy.
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Filed under: Class Activities, Grades K-5 | Comment »
Tags: Class Activities, forces and motion, friction, Grades 3-6, Grades K-5, kinetic energy, Mechanical engineering, roller coaster