K'Nex Car Racing-STEM Activity

My class is into cars, this STEM project is perfect. The DK series offers a huge selection of children’s science books including this one called “Car”. As the title suggests, the nonfiction book walks kids through the ins and outs of car design.After reading a few key pages of the book together, I divided my class of students into teams and invited them to start building their own race cars. After 30 minutes of designing and testing, they were ready to start RACING. I’d made two ramps out of a wide piece of cardboard. Each one a little different dimensions. One ramp for distance which is a flatter surface and another for speed which is a downhill slope. Two teams raced each other at a time, competing for speed and then for distance. You can imagine the squeals of laughter {and sometimes disappointment} after each competition. The kids are surprised to find that their design made a huge impact on the car’s performance. One car might win for speed but fail miserably in the distance competition. My class loves this activity!