Our JetToy Challenge is multifaceted, but ultimately helps expose students to the many foundational pieces of 6th-grade science: science notebooking, creating, experimenting, designing, collaborating, teamwork, and more. Through the engineering design process, students build and create a self-propelled car with small collaborative groups we call Design Teams. Below, I outline each step of the 5E process during this challenge as students discover how to best solve the focus question we present to them as:

How can we make a self-propelled car that travels the farthest?

In this phase, we will start students out by viewing the link below as a way to capture interest (and spark a few laughs). Students will start out by recording questions and observations in their composition notebooks or digital interactive science notebooks using Google Slides. In addition to student's science notebooks, we could also gather student ideas using Padlet, a digital display board of ideas and thoughts.

Boy on a Sled Phenomenon

In this phase, students are tasked with a hands-on activity to help them break down the proposed phenomena in the engage phase. Students will record their own first focus question answer (a hypothesis) in their composition notebooks or digital interactive science notebooks using Google Slides. Students will answer this question initially to gather predictions and initial thoughts:

How can we make a self-propelled car travel the farthest?

This focus question and student responses will help drive student thinking and learning as we move forward through the remainder of the 5 E steps. Students will compare answers with other members of the class and we will ultimately form their JetToy Design Teams after a small classroom discussion. As students begin with their Design Team groups, students will watch a video on EdPuzzle that walks them through the process of building a JetToy Chassis and JetToy Motor. As they begin to test and collect their group data, they will use Google Sheets to record distance measurements in data tables.

In this phase, students will meet with other Design Teams in the classroom and compare their designs with other groups. By comparing designs, students begin to see how other groups are both similar and different compared to their own. Students should have a discussion with other groups by focusing their talk with each other on:

• The group’s design and the purpose/thinking behind it.

• How far the car traveled.

• What the group learned and struggled with.

• What questions the group has.

Students will also log any changes they will now make to their JetToy in their science composition or digital interactive science notebooks using Google Slides. At this time, students will also have a sense-making reflection with the teacher where they will have the opportunity to speak out their thinking with additional groups around the classroom. Instead of a sense-making reflection discussion in-person, this same reflection could also be done in a Schoology Discussion Board or FlipGrid Video. A Schoology Discussion Board would allow students to write, post audio, or post a short video reflecting on the changes they would make after speaking with other groups. FlipGrid would also allow groups to make a short video reflecting on the changes they would make.

In this phase, and after reflection during the explanation phase, Design Teams will decide as a class how they will modify their JetToy prototypes into one design that is the same across all teams. Doing this helps isolate variables to test so that groups can test other variables to determine which conditions will yield the longest distance traveled. Design Teams will first modify their prototypes accordingly and then test one of the two variables:

• Balloon Size

• Nozzle Size

Students will record their data once more in Google Sheets after they test the two variables above.

In the last phase, students will use their collected data in the elaboration phase to make a final conclusion in the form of a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning) statement as they answer the original focus question once more (How can we make a self-propelled car that travels the farthest?). Students will use the following criteria to answer their focus question in the CER format:

C: Claim - What is your claim? How did your thinking change?

E: Evidence - What is your evidence? (Use your data)

R: Reasoning - What are the science concepts that back-up your data?

Students would record their answers in their science composition books or digital science interactive notebook using Google Slides. To gather student ideas in one location outside of science notebooks, the teacher could also consider having students create a WeVideo or Adobe Spark Page that summarizes their final JetToy design from start to finish, but it would be important for students to also discuss as a class in one final reflection opportunity. If students created some type of WeVideo or Spark Page, they would have to embed their shared link in a Schoology Discussion Board for our final class reflection to happen together.