Junk Box Wars:Revisited

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of

junk." Thomas Edison

Presented at CSTA ConferenceOctober 13, 2012

byLaura Rodriguez

Hall Memorial SchoolWillington, CT

THE ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS

Three phases of solving problems:

Defining and delimiting engineering problems involves stating the problem to be solved as clearly as possible in terms of criteria for success and constraints, or limits.

Designing solutions to engineering problems begins with generating a number of different possible solutions, evaluating potential solutions to see which ones best meet the criteria and constraints of the problem, then testing and revising the best designs.

Optimizing the design solution involves a process of tradeoffs, in which the final design is improved by trading off less important features for those that are more important. This may require a number of iterations before arriving at the best possible design.

Engineering Design Essential Questions at each Grade Level

K–2: What are different ways to solve problems and meet challenges?

3–5: How can people work together to create better designs?

6–8: How can different solutions to problems be compared, tested, and refined to arrive at the best design?

9–12: How are quantitative investigations, analyses, and simulations used to define problems, and develop and refine solutions?

Each episode takes place in a huge, specially constructed junkyard, where two teams of engineers and mechanics get ten hours to build machines scrounged from junk. Later, the teams put their contraptions to the test in a competition

5 Episodes on http://app.discoveryeducation.com

Mechanical Monsters - Students drive remote control vehicles up steep ramps covered in different substances such as mud and sandpaper to determine the fastest surface. Then, teams compete to build and race monster trucks and climbing cars

Cool Cars: Teams build drag racers and all-terrain vehicles

Wild Watercraft: Teams build power boats and power rafts

Wind Machines: This episode consists of two competitions. In one, teams build working gliders and in the other, they build sand yachts and sailboats with wheels that are designed to race on land

Air Movers: Teams build hovercraft and street sweepers.

Junkyard Wars

Junkyard Wars for the Classroom Science Spot Junk Box Wars Science Rocks 8

Think about it? – Planning page Wrapping it Up – Reflection Rubric

JUNK BOX WARS

Junk Boxes: Forces – Tension, compression, gravity, weight

The Weakest Link- Build the longest chain that will hold the most weight

Bridge Challenge – Build a bridge that will support the most weight

Super Structures – Build a structure that will hold the most pennies

Junk Box: Motion - Speed acceleration, Newton’s Laws

Zoom Machines – Create a “Zoom machine” that will travel a distance of 4 meters in the shortest amount of time

Battle of the Boats – Create a boat that will travel a specified distance in the shortest amount of time

Magnificent Marble Maze – Create a marble maze that will take the longest time for a marble to complete

Junk Box: Energy Conversion, Work

Whirling Wonders – Create a wheel powered by water that will pull the greatest amount of string

And buoyancy Super Subs – Create a submarine that

will sink and come to the surface in the shortest amount of time

CHALLENGE TIMELNEDay 1 ( 20 MIN): • Introduce and Explain Challenge• Students Brainstorm ideas• Complete “Think It” overnight

Day 2 (80 MIN): • Students choose design • Students build it, test it, modify design

Day 3 (40 MIN): • Final fixes and competition• Students complete “Wrap it Up”

http://sciencespot.net/Pages/junkboxprojects.html

http://sciencespot.net/Pages/junkboxprojects.html

http://teachers.egfi-k12.org/design-process/

http://www.nextgenscience.org

References