Looking at the Work
Task
How assessment was used
to strengthen the work.
Evidence of Discipline Based Inquiry
1. Oral Storytelling
2. Goal Setting
3. Mousetrap Cars
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Suggestions or
considerations for
improvement
Mousetrap Cars
Task:
Students will be tasked to design, build,
troubleshoot, and refine a vehicle that can be
powered solely by a mousetrap. The car will be
competing in a contest to determine the vehicle
that travels the furthest distance (this is not a
speed race, but a distance race).
Subtask 1
Subtask 2
Subtask 3
2
Hook:
The teacher will construct their own mousetrap car and
demonstrate to students the vehicle, and discuss generally
how it moves down the hallway of the school. The teacher
will then challenge the students to build their own car that
could beat the distance of the teacher’s car, and also compete
for top distance car in the class. ***If possible, indicate that
professional engineers are also interested in the designs that
they come up with and will be coming in to give the students
feedback and look for innovative ideas from the students.
Subtasks/ Feedback Loops (Assessment For Learning)
Show them a car that you have already made- ask them “Why/How does this car go?”
“Where are the simple machines in the car?”
 Show them other youtube clips of other cars to get them generating ideas. Here
are some that might work:
1. Simple Mousetrap Car that goes 138 feet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ23q0QXPx0
2. Science Olympiad Car: In this case the car had to stop and reverse (not a
requirement of the students’ car rally) but another interesting perspective on the
design:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJqnyo6_Vog
 Pitch that you are going to have a car rally in a few weeks, they need to build a car
powered by 1 mousetrap that will go the furthest distance possible
 Engineers from somewhere will be coming in to give students feedback on their
designs, and to watch the final rally
Playing with various components: set up small centers with challenge questions for the
students to quickly experiment with various car components:
 How does the length of string length and the size of axle influence how far the car
will go?
 How does the size of wheel and the size of axle influence how far the car will go?
 How does weight affect how far the car will go?
 How does friction affect how the car will go?
 How would wobbly wheels or wheels that are not attached “straightly” impact car
travel?
Dodge Car commercial and generate assessment process criteria (just generate the two
extremes of the rubric for the categories) Rubric for your reference is attached at the
bottom of this document:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY3SKGyeH7g
 After generating the two extremes of the rubric (Professional and Beginning)
using student input, the teacher will take the rubric away and fill in the remainder
of the rubric (developing, proficient) and bring it back to the students for their
feedback the following day. Continue to use student + teacher input on the rubric
as it develops
 Students start on their blueprints- have them design 2 possibilities
 Indicate that they will not be allowed to commence construction until they have
“board approval” ie. Teacher thinks the students has thought through their design
carefully. This does not mean that they cannot deviate from their design once
they start construction, but should have thought through as much as possible
before they begin.
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Subtask 4
Subtask 5
Subtask 6
Subtask 7
Subtask 8
3
Bring their blueprints to a partner to get feedback- have a few people bring theirs up to
the front for feedback – model giving feedback with the rubric
 With remainder of class, get them to give feedback to each other while you
circulate
 Have kids use the feedback and modify their designs if they think the feedback
will improve their ideas
 Take the final blueprint in for teacher feedback.
Start building
 Ask them to keep track of any problems they have and how they fix them (simple
table “Problem” and “How I fixed it”)
 Document a picture each day of their progress
Engineers arrive at some point to give them feedback
Trials: each student need to gather data before the rally as to how accurate and reliable
their car is:
 How far off 90 degrees their car goes?
 How often their car goes the same distance?
 Can they increase the distance their car travels? How?
They can keep track of this on a table with just “trial- one change made” and “1-2-3-4-5Average” Encourage the students to make only one change to their vehicle at a time so
they can say specifically how the change impacted the cars efficiency (if they change too
many things at one why won’t be able to tell what actually made a difference)
Car rally! Competition day! Ensure that each vehicle gets a chance to compete at least two
times in various heats.
Reflection commercial:
“What would the 2015 version of your mousetrap car look like?” Use images of your
current car and explain how a newer model would either keep the design choices you
made, or change them, and why.
 Use images of your construction and final model in your commercial
 Made sure you clearly show how your design was successful and how you would
improve it.
Idea: Could they model their commercial of their own vehicle off the Dodge Dart
commercial?
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Engineering Rubric
Keep Working
Focus


Doesn’t
understand task
requirements
Unable to stay on
task
Getting There



Design

Needs support
developing a
single design
possibility

Begins project
without a defined
goal for design
Needs support
defining
parameters
Difficulty managing
time and materials
(e.g. hyper-focuses
on sub-goals and
doesn’t complete
whole project)
Designs
impulsively; thinks
while building
Got It



In the Flow
Defines goal for
design
Works within
necessary
parameters


Fully develops a
single design
possibility




Trouble
shooting
Implications
of results
4


Needs support
identifying the
source of design
problems (“I’m
stuck.”)
Doesn’t consider
the implications
of results


Keeps repeating
solutions that didn’t
work the first time
Focuses on fixing
individual problems
without considering
how solutions
impact the overall
design; gives up
before final goal is
achieved.



Considers only
a few results.

Uses intentional /
focused
troubleshooting to
fix specific
problems (does not
consider impact on
overall design)
Troubleshoots until
the design works




Considers the
implications of all
results.


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Clearly defines goal for design
Identifies and works within
necessary parameters
Creates unique design OR
combines and/or modifies
elements of existing designs
Considers multiple design
possibilities before building
Conducts preliminary tests
before committing time and
resources to the full-scale
model (e.g. tests components,
tests a mini-model or
simulation, etc.)
Considers whether/how
preliminary tests might impact
the full-scale model
Troubleshoots effectively to
make design work (recognizes
need for reflection)
Modifies the overall design as
needed (e.g. sometimes it’s
better to start over rather than
to build on a bad idea)
Uses intentional / focused
troubleshooting; considers
impact on overall design
Thinks of more than one
solution to design problems
Considers the implications of
all results
Applies and makes
connections to other designs
Colleague Feedback
How assessment was used
to strengthen the work.
Task
Evidence of Discipline Based Inquiry
Suggestions or
considerations for
improvement
1.
2.
3.
5
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Colleague Feedback cont…
Task
How assessment was used
to strengthen the work.
Evidence of Discipline Based Inquiry
Suggestions or
considerations for
improvement
4.
5.
6.
6
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Task:
Subtask
1.
Hook:
Assessment Plan
Description and Feedback
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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Exploring Topic Possibilities For Designing Intellectually Engaging Tasks
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Establishing Worthwhile Learning Tasks
Use the ideas you explored in the concept-map to help you establish worthwhile learning goals for
your students.
1.
What is most important for students to understand about the topic and/or discipline? (NOTE:
these are often articulated in the front matters of your Programs of Study. What are the central
ideas or key understandings that students must acquire within this area of study?)
2.
What important competencies (ways of knowing, doing and being) reflective of the discipline or
field of study must students develop?
3.
How do experts who work in this field do their work? What is the learning culture of this
discipline field like? How do experts in this field bring forward evidence and present their work?
4.
In what ways is technology used within this discipline field to advance and document
knowledge? What technologies could students use to demonstrate understanding and/or that
mirror the ways technologies are used within the discipline?
Complete the following learning goal statements:
 Through this study I want my students to understand that…

And I want my students to be able to (identify 1 important competency)…
Generate ideas about task possibilities that would enable students to meet these learning
goals.
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Assessment For Learning
Develop an assessment plan for a task or series of activities that students will be completing between
now and our next session.
Brief description of task or learning activities:
1.
Establishing clear and specific criteria with students
 What real-world exemplars could you use as models to help students identify characteristics
of high quality work and to guide them as you generate assessment criteria together?
Anticipated criteria emerging from the exemplars:
Characteristic
2.
What kinds of feedback loops (suggestions for improvement and time for revision) will you
create to support student learning? When will these loops occur?
3.
What evidence of learning might you gather each day and throughout the study to help inform
your teaching?
4.
How might you use the evidence of learning you gather to inform student next learning step?
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