JEMS students build rubber band powered vehicles during STEM activity

On a recent March afternoon, the seventh grade students in Leo McCormick and Amy Giannettino's Eagle Mod class filed into the hallway to test out rubber band powered racers they built. Some students were surprised how fast and far their racers traveled; others were a little disappointed.

No matter what the results were, all of the students looked to improve and modify their cars.

The Rubber Band Racer Challenge was part of a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) activity where students were given a basic car and then charged to modify the design to achieve the greatest speed. All of the parts of the racer also came with a cost, and students began with a $1 budget.

“With their budget, students could buy add-ons such as additional rubber bands, wheels, gears or other parts to increase the speed of their vehicle. The price of the add-ons ranged up to 25 cents, and competitors could sell back or exchange pieces as long as they stayed under budget,” McCormick said.

Once students built their cars, they needed to test its speed at least five times. The data was then used to calculate an average speed.

“Students needed to keep track of the parts they used, the cost, and journal about their experience as they went along,” McCormick said.

“Not only did the activity teach students about the relationship between designs and testing, they also learned to cooperate with teammates and manage the
tradeoffs that come from working with a limited budget.”

Julian Baker-Flagg said he likes hands-on projects because they help him learn more efficiently. He called the project challenging, but fun.

“I’m thinking this is a great way to show how well we pay attention to motion and physics in science class,” he said. “It’s fun to engineer things and then make them better.”