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“SECME: Igniting Minds Through STEM Education”

“SECME: Igniting Minds Through STEM Education”. Basic Instructions For the Mousetrap Car Competition. Team entry: 3 students required Design Mousetrap car construction and run Communication Technical report writing Design drawings Team interview with Judges.

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“SECME: Igniting Minds Through STEM Education”

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  1. “SECME: Igniting Minds Through STEM Education”

  2. Basic Instructions For the Mousetrap Car Competition • Team entry: 3 students required • Design Mousetrap car construction and run • Communication Technical report writing Design drawings Team interview with Judges

  3. Mousetrap Event Final Scoring • Total of the following scores Mousetrap car performance (100 pts max) Design drawing (50 pts max) Technical report (50 pts max) Team interview (50 pts max) Total Max = 250 pts

  4. Design Drawing • Paper Size (18” X 24”), 1” Margins, (plain, non-grid, 17 pound vellum sheet) No mounting or framing/ Laminating is okay • Must Show Scale and Units (use 1:1 and centimeters if possible) • Name and Label all parts of the car • Required three views (front, side, and top views) • Dimensions are required to be illustrated • Accuracy and Resemblance between car and drawing • Neatness (Ink pens, pencils, or markers may be used) • A 4" x 6" Title Legend is to be drawn in the bottom left corner of the drawing inside the 1” border with the following information: • Team name • School name and address • Team members names, addresses and grade levels • School coordinator’s name • Date of Competition

  5. Technical Report Writing • White, 8.5” X 11” paper, 1” margins • Computer Printed, 12 pt. Type, Standard Font, Double-spaced • The Main Body of the Report (Introduction, Design, Construction Procedure, and Operation) should be a Maximum of 5 Pages • Graded on Outline Organization Precision Sentence formation Mechanics

  6. Technical Report Organization • Cover page (required to contain) • Title • Name, addresses and grade of team members • Team’s school name and address • School system name • School Coordinator’s name • Date • Abstract (1/2 page summary) • Table of contents (1 page) • Introduction • Design • Construction procedure • Operation of the mousetrap car • Conclusions / Recommendations • Acknowledgements • Appendix (sketches, tables, charts etc.) 5 page maximum

  7. Team Interview • Requirements • All three members must be present. Team Members are interviewed as a group. • Each member responds to questions • Work is students’ own • True team effort is evident

  8. Team Interview • Evaluation Categories • Teamwork • Application of Technical Principles • Knowledge of Design • Oral Communication Skills

  9. Mousetrap Race Scoring 2 Weight of Mousetrap (25 grams)_______________ Weight of Car Distance _______ Longest Dimension Goal: Minimize Weight of Car Minimize Longest Dimension Maximize Distance

  10. Selection of Materials (Limited only by Your Imagination) • Mousetrap • Chassis: wood, foam board, craft sticks, stiff wire, etc. • Axles: wooden dowels, metal tubes, stiff wire, axles from old toys, etc. • Wheels: CDs, wood, foam board, wheels from old toys, Metal lids, other disk-shaped objects • Pull Cord: string, fishing line, etc. • Adhesives: glue, tape, screws, nails • Tools: compass, ruler, scissors, glue gun, pliers, cable cutters, screwdrivers, hammers, saws, drills, vice, sandpaper, files, etc.

  11. Physics Concepts

  12. Physics Concepts • Friction (Traction/ Air Resistance)

  13. Physics Concepts • Newton’s Laws (Law of Inertia)

  14. Physics Concepts • Rotational Inertia

  15. Physics Concepts • Torque (Lever Arm and Pulling Force) Speed Placement Distance placement Drive axle

  16. Physics Concepts • Wheel-to-Axle Ratio Distance Cars (Large Wheel-to-Axle Ratio) Speed Cars (Small Wheel-to-Axle Ratio)

  17. Tips • Weight of the Car: For all cars, you want to build the lightest possible vehicle. However, if your car is too light, it will not have enough traction. • Wheels: Old CDs make great wheels, but have very little traction. Stretch a wide rubber band or a balloon cut out around each wheel. • Glue: Use a quick drying hobby glue. Pay attention to the drying time specified on the bottle. Some glues will permanently set in as little as five seconds, giving you very little time to position the pieces. If you glue your fingers together (or to the car!) use acetone or nail polish remover to dissolve the glue. You may want to keep some extremely fast drying glue at hand during race day! • Pull Cord: Winding the pull cord in the wrong direction makes the car go backwards. Wind the wheels in the direction opposite to the motion you want the mouse trap car to travel, this will wind the string around the axle. you want the string to be tight so let it pull the lever arm over by itself as you wind the wheels. • Alignment: A mousetrap car that always steers to one side will not be good for competition. Use spacers and washers to help align the car. • Aerodynamics: Keep the number of flat surfaces facing the front of the car down to a minimum. Sanding the body of the car smooth also helps cut down drag.

  18. Remember • Your final score is the total of the following scores: Score on technical report Score on car design drawing Score on the team interview Mousetrap car race score Don’t focus on the car race and forget the others!

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