All Year 7 recently took part in Race To The Line, a STEM project and competition developed by The Learning Partnership, who kindly provided all resources for free using a partnered business to sponsor and fund it.
Students were split into teams of 4 in their tutor groups to make a rocket powered car. This fantastic STEM project that took into account Science, Maths and Technology to develop and build their cars.
Firstly, in the planning and design stage they had to consider Newtons Laws of Motion and factors that could affect the speed of their car. Students used a wind tunnel app on their iPads to identify the most aerodynamic shape for their car and how to reduce drag. Their optimum design was then drawn onto the blocks to be cut into the shapes of their cars.
The second lesson allowed them to be creative and show their artistic side as they got to decorate their cars however they wanted, as well as finishing off the engineering, adding the wheels and hooks underneath (these allowed it to connect to the track).
The third and final lesson on this was to race the cars. Students were buzzing with excitement as we gathered in the sports hall in tutor groups to launch our CO2 powered cars. The races were done in groups of 4, pitting teams from different tutor groups against each other.
A number of year 11 prefects were on hand to help with launching the cars and timing them.
The results showed that it was 7E who accumulated the highest number of wins overall.
This was a great project that brought all of Year 7 together to showcase their STEM skills. They were excited, enthusiastic and engaged in the whole project with students reporting they had ‘an amazing time designing the car’. For staff the chance to collaborate across the STEM subjects and see the application of knowledge in both an academic and practical way was a great insight into future aspirations that were sparked based on developing understanding and collaboration.
