The Mousetrap Racer Challenge!
***Check out the story in The Current of EHT!
Before they raced, students were asked to predict how far their car would travel, what they based this prediction on, how they built their car, what materials they used and why, and how Newton’s Laws would be demonstrated by their racer. On race day, students set off their racers in the school’s hallways, vying for the school record of 102 feet, nine inches set by Mikki Pomatto during the 2012-2013 school year. After day one, all racers were given tips and advice from Miss Hunt as to how to make their car better. They were then permitted to rebuild or adjust their car and race it again during the next class. Though many students found varying degrees of success, the ultimate winner was Ryan Griffin with a distance of 137 feet, shattering the school record! Leana Amezquita had the second place car, traveling a distance of 91 feet. Congratulations to Ryan and all of his classmates for a job well done! ***Click on the photos below for full size. |
Miller Students Learn How to Build a Better Mousetrap-Powered Vehicle!
Recently, the students in Miss Kelly Hunt’s 5th grade Gifted and Talented class were tasked with designing and building a race car. The hitch: it had to be powered solely by a single mousetrap. After utilizing Miss Hunt’s webpage to research similar vehicles, building tips, etc., students created a design and materials list and began to build. Besides using a regular mousetrap, students were also told to utilize as many recycled materials that they could find from around the house, keeping in mind that they were building for distance, not speed. This yielded many interesting accessories such as CDs, ballpoint pens, milk cartons, scrap wood, Lego/K’NEX parts and the like. One student, Matthew DiTizio, even used a broken cell phone to provide music while his car raced! He later removed it, though, because he discovered that it added too much weight to his car. Students were also allowed to get help from their family during the building process. |