More than 100 kids spent the morning at the Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit last Thursday as they participated in the First Annual District Gravity Car Challenge.
This challenge was about more than just fun and games. Grades 6 and 7 students from across the district had to use physics concepts, design, and other skills to figure out how to build the fastest car… propelled only by gravity.
The winning team was 4DuhBoys from Alex Aitken who took home gold, with Mount Prevost Crushers from Ecole Mount Prevost taking silver, and Alex Aitken’s Tridents picking up the bronze.
Raiden Nagasaki from the district’s Distributed Learning Program who won best decorated car, and Olivia Youmans from Lake Cowichan School won fastest car, according to organizers.
It didn’t take long before a few favourites emerged as good designs pulled ahead.
It’s been an adventure over the past few weeks, as Grade 6 and 7 students at every elementary school in the Cowichan Valley School District learned about the process of design, tried their hand at woodworking and building, and used traditional physics concepts like potential energy and friction as they built their own gravity cars and raced for top spots in their school.
More than 1,200 cars were built by students since the end of January.
“It is really exciting to see so many children across the district trying their hand at something creative and thought-provoking like building a car propelled by gravity,” said Candace Spilsbury. “Our children are learning wonderful skills, including refining and redesigning their project, which will serve them well in their future.”
In this challenge, students were required to build a vehicle weighing no more than 600 grams using wood, nails and screws, with the only energy source for the car being potential energy from gravity.
Only the top eight from each school went head to head at the district challenge, which took place at the Vancouver Island Motorsport Circuit.
While this challenge might just seem like fun and games, gravity cars—and similar activities like the building of spaghetti bridges—are actually aligned with the new Applied Design, Skills and Technology (ADST) curriculum in B.C. and are designed to allow students the opportunity to explore trades and technology careers. This activity in particular introduced students to some important hands-on and practical application of skills in the areas of drafting and design, physics, and woodwork.
“Engaging students in their learning is a priority for us in the Cowichan Valley, and we achieve that by providing students with unique, hands-on and place-based learning opportunities,” said SD79 Superintendent Rod Allen. “Walking into the gym while kids were building and racing their cars was brilliant. They were excited, engaged, and even if they lost their race they were immediately thinking of how they could refine their vehicle to win the next one. There was no disengaged child in those gyms, and that is exactly what we’re trying to do here in the Cowichan Valley — engage every single one of our kids in their learning.”
Now the top four racers from each elementary school will move to the regional Skills Canada British Columbia (SkillsBC) competition in Nanaimo on March 2. Winners from that competition will head to provincials in April.