Cannot wait to try this next year!

This article describes how to create a lab where the students create cars out of pasta utilizing their knowledge of Newton's Laws and friction. I have done a lab where the students create c... See More

This article describes how to create a lab where the students create cars out of pasta utilizing their knowledge of Newton's Laws and friction. I have done a lab where the students create cars out of two index cards and a straw but this is a huge improvement. The hitch is that the students need glue guns and that will be a small investment and also having enough power outlets close to where they are working is a challenge in some classrooms. This lab can also include speed, distance and time info. Have prizes for the car that goes the fastest, longest and so forth. The students will definitely be engaged and challenged with their designs.

Mario Andretti, Drive Your Pasta!

With a glue gun and some pasta, this teacher turns spaghetti into a pasta pod hot rod for an inexpensive stock car prototype to help students investigate force and motion concepts. If you a... See More

With a glue gun and some pasta, this teacher turns spaghetti into a pasta pod hot rod for an inexpensive stock car prototype to help students investigate force and motion concepts. If you are looking for a new way to engage students in engineering activities that can strengthen their understanding of Newton’s Laws of Motion, then you will find it in this article. There is a design technology component that comes from students designing, testing, and redesigning their pasta pods as they collect data, make interpretations, defend their designs, and retest them. A historical perspective of stock car racing is included in the article. The author mentions that the pasta pod lesson has been used with students in grades 3 through 12, as well as with preservice teachers. So pasta drivers, roll out your manicotti cars!