Fantastic Elastic
Fantastic Elastic develops concepts of energy, friction, troubleshooting and redesign through design, construction and testing of two kinds of elastic powered vehicles: wind-ups and balloon cars. Students store potential energy in a rubber band or balloon, and then release it, converting the energy to kinetic form, and thereby powering the vehicle. In the wind-up sequence, Lessons 1 - 6, students create wind-ups, record issues that arise, learn about troubleshooting, and write their own troubleshooting guides. Next they develop instruction manuals and descriptions of how a wind-up works, and finally apply what they have learned to redesign wind-ups to make them work the way they want. The balloon-car sequence, Lessons 7 - 11, follows a similar pattern. Students begin by imagining what it would take to make a balloon power a car, and use these ideas as the basis for creating their own balloon cars. Again, they write troubleshooting guides and instruction manuals.