TBIS-Build A Soft Landing for Renee Rover
LESSON OVERVIEW ( Grades K-5)
In this NASA Inspired, STEM challenge students will use what they learn about current space missions to Mars, gravity, force, and shock absorbers to design and build a shock-absorbing system that will provide a safe landing for Renee the rover when she lands on Mars . The the bold inventors team spent months building the rover that would explore Mars but they have a problem - They still haven't figured out how to land Renee safely on Mars , given that she would be traveling at a very high speed as she approached the planet for landing.
Students will deep dive into the engineering design process to ASK ->BRAINSTORM ->PLAN ->BUILD -> TEST and IMPROVE their designs . They will end with a SHARING session to talk about their creation , ask questions and take feedback from each other .
Students build the shock-absorbing system out of index cards, straws, and cotton balls ; attach their shock absorber to a cardboard platform; and improve their design based on testing results.
The lesson uses an inquiry based discussion centered around understanding how shock absorbers work in our daily lives and how the air resistance works against the force of gravity when an object moves through the atmosphere of the planet .
This lesson is created on PADLET , an online collaboration tool that allows students to post answers in a flexible format and engage with the lesson in a flow thats easy to follow .
MATERIALS
Materials needed for the lesson include everyday art materials that are cheap and easily available.Please refer to the lesson's main page for the suggested list of materials.
DURATION : 75 mins ( recommended)
SCIENCE STANDARDS:
The lesson is aligned to the following Next generation Science standards:
NGSSK-2-ETS1-1 NGSSK-2-ETS1-3 NGSSK-2-ETS1-2
NGSS3-5-ETS1-2 NGSS3-5-ETS1-1 NGSS3-5-ETS1-3
DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS
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