Motion and Design

By Chris Gosek

In accordance with the State of North Carolina Science Competency Goals, Ms. Wilson’s fifth graders at Knightdale Elementary are hard at work building their very own, functional vehicles to display their knowledge of motion and design.

Each child built their vehicles using 100 percent recycled materials from around their homes, as they were not allowed to purchase anything to be used in their construction. To go along with their creations, each child made a poster board for display, detailing the different points they were to address, per the state competency goals. The assignment asked that the kids determine the motion of an object by following and measuring its position over time. They also were to evaluate how forces that push or pull change the position and motion of the vehicles and how energy is needed to make the machine move. Each completed presentation also touched on force, friction, inertia, and motion. The poster boards showed the students using the scientific method to explain the different points of their project.