Waterloo Elementary Gifted and Talented Program
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March 20th, 2015

3/20/2015

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Information for this Saturday’s Safe Racer Challenge.
  1. The Challenge will be held on Saturday, March 21. Doors will open to teams at 9:00 a.m. to begin check-in; we are unable to allow teams in before then. Please plan your travel accordingly.
  2. You will be able to purchase coffee in the morning and a great variety of lunch and snack foods from our  local food vendor, Tim’s Treats! Tim has all the fun festival food that helps make the day special, so please plan to purchase lunch or a snack from him; you will be supporting a local business AND making the day a little more fun for you and your family
  3. We will have our famous Rocket Activity available!Students can make paper rockets and shoot them “to the moon” for a chance to win a prize! Just twenty-five cents gets you two shots, so be ready to watch some rockets soar.
  4. Students must be accompanied by an adult to travel through our museum or outside the building.
  5. Our address for directions is below. We have our own free parking lot and admission to the museum is free for all Challenge guests.

Baltimore Museum of Industry
1415 Key Highway, Baltimore MD 21230

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January 30th, 2015

1/30/2015

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I met with the B group today. We looked at how different things such as mass and angle of ramp affect potential and kinetic energy.

potential energy - energy at rest
kinetic energy - energy in motion
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January 22nd, 2015

1/22/2015

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I met with both the A and B groups today. The concept we covered was a car's center of gravity. I showed them how to roughly identify the COG and where the ideal location for the COG should be. We looked at Safe Racer cars from last year, and noticed that the car that had the 4th longest distance in the entire competition last year was also the car that had a COG near the ideal spot. I used this website for background information. I reminded them that placing the COG in the ideal spot would help increase speed which would then increase momentum which would then overcome friction for a longer period of time.

Here's how I put a few concepts into kids terms.
  • I asked students whether they would like to be given 5 min. or 30 min. to take a test. They all said 30 min. because you wouldn't have enough time to do your work in 5 min. I used this to show them how having the weight in the back allows the weight to push the car for a longer stretch than if it were in the front.
  • I asked them how it felt to walk with a heavy backpack. They said it slowed them down. I used that to explain what happens when the car leaves the ramp and starts cruising on the floor. The weight begins to take a toll. That's why you need to create as much momentum as you can before leaving the ramp.





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December 19th, 2014

12/19/2014

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This was supposed to be an A week for Safe Racer. However, I had to cancel the seminar today. I will try and make up this session on Tue. so that we can stick to our schedule.

It seems like a lot of teams are starting to ramp up their car construction. I'm looking forward to seeing them. Just don't forget to test, test, test when designing. The judges will love to hear how you improved your design through trial and error.
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December 12th, 2014

12/12/2014

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Here are some pictures of the cars built last year.
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December 12th, 2014

12/12/2014

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The axles were handed out at the end of the day today. The following coaches should check with their child(ren) to get the back of 4 wheels and 2 metal axles:
  • Mr. Blair
  • Mr. Twambly
  • Mr. Paul
  • Mr. Weidemann
  • Mr./Ms. Devale
  • Mrs. Hauk
  • Mr./Ms. Odogun
  • Ms. Conrad
  • Ms. Seth
Please let me know if you did not receive them. Happy car construction.


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December 12th, 2014

12/12/2014

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This was a B Week.

  • We talked about how momentum helps to overcome friction.
  • We defined momentum as how hard it is to stop something.
  • We learned that momentum is mass x velocity and we defined both words.
  • We demonstrated momentum using a tennis ball and a sponge ball.
  • We watched a video of a bullet going through different objects and discussed why an object with such a small mass can go through objects. (It has a tremendous velocity.)
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December 08th, 2014

12/8/2014

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I spoke to the coordinator at B.M.I. and they will be sending out the wheels and axles tomorrow. I had put my request in some time ago. However, due to a few issues they did not get packaged until today.
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December 05th, 2014

12/5/2014

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This was an A Week.

  • We talked about how momentum helps to overcome friction.
  • We defined momentum as how hard it is to stop something.
  • We learned that momentum is mass x velocity and we defined both words.
  • We demonstrated momentum using a tennis ball and a sponge ball.
  • We watched a video of a bullet going through different objects and discussed why an object with such a small mass can go through objects. (It has a tremendous velocity.)

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December 02nd, 2014

12/2/2014

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A couple of pieces of information to pass along.
  • Wheels and axles should be delivered to you by next week.
  • A coach noticed that the packet provided to you indicates that "Eggbert" is to be a LARGE egg as opposed to medium ones they have required in the past. I am checking on this information and will post shortly.
  • At our last meetings with students we discussed the importance of reducing friction. Here is a video from the pinewood derby that give some suggestions. (Obviously, there are some we can't utilize because we are also doing a crash test.) Feel free to search for other Pinewood Derby videos. Just be sure to adhere to the specifications and rules of the Safe Racer competition.
  • Shortly, I will be posting pictures of last year's cars to help you come up with ideas.
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