Hands-on Activity Ready, Set, Solar!
Design a Solar Powered Car

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students are expected to:

• Work through the Engineering Design Process.
• Investigate energy in everyday life.
• Explore solutions to real-world problems.

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards - Science

State Standards

Materials List

Each student group needs:

• Solar Rover Kit-1 kit per each student pair or 1 kit for classroom demonstration of activity
• aluminum cans, small milk cartons, small milk cartons typically available in school cafeterias, plastic water bottles, or any variety of recyclable materials to use as the base of the solar car
• Data Collection Worksheet for each student group
• Exit Ticket for each student group
• science notebooks for each student group (can be made by students)

Class Needs:

• copy of Rosie Revere, Engineer, by Andera Beaty, or the video
• large chart tablet for brainstorming
• recycled materials
• scissors
• tape
• screwdriver (5)
• construction paper & items to decorate car
• glue

Worksheets and Attachments

Pre-Req Knowledge

Students should have a basic understanding of the concept that energy comes from the sun. 

Students should understand that light from the sun is light energy.

Students should have an understanding of the cost associated with using gasoline and environmental impacts compared to solar/electric powered cars.

Introduction/Motivation

I’ve got a few questions to get us started today: Have you traveled anywhere in a car or bus recently? What have you heard adults say about putting gas in the car? If you know about or have an electric car, what problems have you heard adults discuss about that source of power?  

The boy in the story I’m going to read you had a big imagination and used it to plan and design a fantasy car. I’d like you to use your imagination while we’re reading the story to think about a more realistic power source for a car. (Read aloud Rosie Revere, Engineer, by Andrea Beaty, to help students think imaginatively and as problem solvers. After reading the book, ask students to turn and talk with a partner about powering a car if they built one.)

Mechanical engineers plan, design, and build cars while keeping many factors in mind, such as power source, weight of the vehicle, and shape of the vehicle to use as little energy (from any source) as possible. They also have to keep in mind the cost of these sources of energy for the car owners. Engineers ask themselves what the problems are and then imagine solutions to those problems. They also research current power sources and the problems they create before working together to design, create, and test a possible solution.

Next, we’re going to watch a couple of videos about solar energy and light energy.

(Watch What is Solar Energy? (5:07 minutes) and What is Light Energy? (3:40 minutes).

Then talk through renewable and nonrenewable resources, and create a chart with the positive and negative aspects of each. What makes a good power source?) 

Procedure

Before the Activity

• Find a sidewalk or similar surface outside that has both shady and sunny areas. Note that this activity is weather-dependent, requiring sunshine for students to test their cars.
• Gather materials; arrange the recyclable materials on a table in a central area in the room so that students can see them.
• Optional: A week before the activity, ask students to search for and bring in a variety of recyclable materials such as aluminum cans, small milk cartons, small milk cartons typically available in school cafeterias, plastic water bottles, etc.
• Divide the class into groups (suggested to be groups of 2, but the activity could be done with groups of 3-4 or the whole class).
• If using the Rover kit from Amazon, put together the frames for each group; the screws are too small for 3rd graders to do this during the activity.
• Ensure that each student has a science notebook (distribute before class, if needed).
• Print out explanations of each step from the video of the Engineering Design Process to post around the room for students to reference during the lesson.
• Set up a “finish line” outside for students to race their cars to during the activity. This can be a line of chalk on the sidewalk or something similar.

During the Activity

Ask/Imagine/Research

1. Introduce students to the activity using the resources in the Introduction/Motivation section.
2. Use this video to introduce the Engineering Design Process and talk about each team using the EDP to plan, create, and test a model car using recycled materials.
3. Have each team turn and talk to brainstorm ideas for renewable energy sources for a car. Ask students what powers their family car or cars they’ve seen. Have students ponder the following questions: Is this a good source of energy? Why or why not?
4. Have students imagine different renewable energy sources. As needed, encourage them to draw from what they learned in the videos about solar and light energy.
5. Share and record answers on a large sheet of paper or on the whiteboard in front of the entire class.

Plan

1. Ask student groups to sketch a plan for a car powered by renewable energy. Point out the “recycling table” (i.e., the table with recycled materials on it they can use to build the base of their car).

   

2. Walk around to check on their progress and ask groups the following questions:

1. What factors should be considered?
1. Is the weight of the car important? Why or why not?
2. What recycled materials will you use?

3. Have each group share their ideas with the class.
4. Allow student groups to make adjustments to their plan after listening to each group talk.

1. As students adjust their plan, walk around and ask groups: Is there a factor that your group didn’t consider? Why might this be important?

Create

1. Assign the following roles for better use of time, if necessary. Roles might include the following:

• Supply Collector
• Time Keeper
• Recorder
• Task Manager

2. Set a time limit of 15 minutes to keep students focused on their plan. Keep the timer on countdown at the front of the room.
3. Have students collect supplies from the recycling table and a Solar Rover Kit to create their car and follow their plan to begin building their car. 

Test

1. Distribute the Data Collection Worksheet to groups.
2. Have student teams carry the car outside to the sidewalk to test it in the shade and in the sun, once with the panel facing the sun and the other with the panel facing away from the sun. Have them record their findings on the Data Collection Worksheet. 

   

3. After the shade and sun test, students will race their cars using start and finish lines created by the teacher. Students observe and record which cars made it to the finish line first. Ask students: What was different about the cars that finished first? 

   

4. Ask students: What changes could be made to their design to make it finish faster? Students record their answers on the Data Collection Worksheet.

Improve/Retest

1. Have students come back inside and make adjustments to their design based on the data recorded on the Data Collection Worksheet.

2. Discuss the adjustments with each group. Ask students: Why do you think this change would improve the speed of your car?
3. Go back outside to have students retest the adjusted designs and record any changes in the speeds of their cars.
4. After retesting, discuss as a class:

• What did you notice after the changes were made?
• Did the changes improve the distance your car traveled? Why or why not?

Post Activity:

1. Encourage students to think about the future of car designs. Ask students: What part of this lesson do you think might be important three years from now? Why?
2. Have students complete the Exit Ticket.

Vocabulary/Definitions

light energy: An energy beam that moves in wavelengths.

nonrenewable resource: Natural resources that cannot easily be replaced.

renewable resource: Made from resources that nature will replace.

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment

Introduction and Motivation: Read aloud Rosie Revere, Engineer. Have students watch videos about renewable resources and light energy: What is Solar Energy? (5:07 minutes) and What is Light Energy? (3:40 minutes). Have students brainstorm what makes a good power source together with a partner. As students share out, record ideas on a whiteboard.

Activity Embedded (Formative) Assessment

Working through the EDP: Students follow the EDP to plan and build a car out of recycled materials, including a solar panel kit. As they test their cars, ensure that students are recording their observations on the Data Collection Worksheet.

Post-Activity (Summative) Assessment

Review, Rebuild, and Retest: After students have tested their cars, ask them to reflect on the experience: What did you notice? Are there any changes you want to make? Students will record their reasons on the Data Collection Worksheet, make the changes, and take the car back outside and retest and record results.

Exit Ticket: At the end of the activity, students will complete an Exit Ticket naming three things they learned, two skills they used, and one idea they’d like to explore further.

Troubleshooting Tips

• To keep costs down, you could very easily do this as a whole class or make the teams larger. There are also many other kits like this now available that cost less.
• Make sure the recycled materials offered are easy for students to cut or bend. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation having to use a knife.
• Be prepared for cloudy or rainy days; the experiment cannot be successful unless it is sunny.

Activity Scaling

This activity could be used with 4th and 5th graders as well. Because the rovers are reusable, you could do this over and over with different grades/classes.

For older students:

• You could extend into reflection and refraction and how that affects the solar panel.
• Mass could be considered as a variable to performance as well.

References

Copyright

Contributors

Supporting Program

Acknowledgements

This curriculum was developed under National Science Foundation RET grant no. DMR-1720595— Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials at the University of Texas at Austin. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.