Technology Education Project
The F1 Race car has been one of my favorite technology projects over the years and cost under $2.00 each. It has evolved several times over the years, in fact it started out as a solar powered car. The solar car was fun but being downwind from Lake Ontario caused to many issues and planning problems. To overcome the battles of lake effect clouds I started using batteries instead of the panels. At first I tried having the students making their own battery packs, let's just say that is not advised. So after 8 years of changes this is what the refined product is (not painted in this picture). I must say it's pretty easy to build and the kids love the instructional videos as it allows them to work at their own pace. It is great for the teacher too because you don't have to reteach the same lesson over, when kids are out sick or missed your class for whatever reason. Best of all the videos free you up to help when needed and keep a better eye on the machinery. This project is great for tech class because it uses basic machines like the drill press and the scroll saw. The F1 race car project also teaches soldering, basic circuitry, and many other useful skills.
Once the cars are built the students need to problem solve in order to make their car do well in the final class competition. The students will need to align their cars, adjust the tension of the rubber band, check for any wiring problems, and reduce friction as much as possible. I do have the students take the cars home to be painted and decal-ed if they choose to do so. Once the cars are running good I have them run a double elimination tournament. You could use a digital timer or just run them side by side. I have five classes so at the end I take the top two out of each class and run a final competition in the technology lab along with a pizza party.
This tech project takes about 5 weeks to complete, and my end of the year class survey says it is the favorite project that we do in class. One of the advantages of the F1 car in comparison to the CO2 Dragsters, and MagLev is that the students can take them home and use them because you don't need a specialized track to run on. Plus they are less expensive.
On the www.techedlearning.com site there are step by step video instructions on how to build the car, you can see them here. The F1 webpage will continue to grow and improve over the next year as more educational items are added to it. If you have anything to add please comment. I will be adding some more information on the jigs used to make the wheels.
Below is a video that our class made. As you can see this is an older car with the handmade battery packs. The updated design cars are much more reliable, easier to build, and faster too.
Once the cars are built the students need to problem solve in order to make their car do well in the final class competition. The students will need to align their cars, adjust the tension of the rubber band, check for any wiring problems, and reduce friction as much as possible. I do have the students take the cars home to be painted and decal-ed if they choose to do so. Once the cars are running good I have them run a double elimination tournament. You could use a digital timer or just run them side by side. I have five classes so at the end I take the top two out of each class and run a final competition in the technology lab along with a pizza party.
This tech project takes about 5 weeks to complete, and my end of the year class survey says it is the favorite project that we do in class. One of the advantages of the F1 car in comparison to the CO2 Dragsters, and MagLev is that the students can take them home and use them because you don't need a specialized track to run on. Plus they are less expensive.
On the www.techedlearning.com site there are step by step video instructions on how to build the car, you can see them here. The F1 webpage will continue to grow and improve over the next year as more educational items are added to it. If you have anything to add please comment. I will be adding some more information on the jigs used to make the wheels.
Below is a video that our class made. As you can see this is an older car with the handmade battery packs. The updated design cars are much more reliable, easier to build, and faster too.
If you have anything to add or have questions please comment below. Please don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. Thanks
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