A place for Montessori Physics students to reflect and write about what they are learning.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Mousetrap Car Refections
Here is a chance to reflect on your latest project. What was good about the project? What could be improved? Please also share your thoughts with us about what you learned while builkding your car. Have a good weekend!
57 comments:
Anonymous
said...
i think that this project was a perfect introduction to energy. i also had a lot of fun building this car with crystal. My car broke several times, but it taught me to be more responsible with my responsibilities. It was frustrating but i would love to do something like this again! -deepika
This project was fun but really hard at the same time. I enjoyed making it but i got frustrated when the car wouldn't move. When we did get it to move it made me excited to try it out in school. At one point I was like I don't care how far it foes as long as it moved but then we found out ways to improve it. My car had a lot of improve meets from changing the wheels, to extending the string, to attaching a stick to the mouse trap, and to oiling the axel to move easier. For now the only thing I would improve is the base so the wheel would be under it. My wheels are kind of too heavy so it doesn't travel as far and the base is leaning down on it as well. Well....ummmm thats about it so bye!!!
hey ms. o'neill for the lab report due on monday, we needed class results and our class didnt get a chance to jot them down, is it okay if we don't have the class results or just add them to our lab report after we hand them in? -deepika
Hi Deepika, The report for this activity is not due yet. I know that the due date is the 17th but i want to go over a few things first so we are clear about what the report should include. Enjoy your weekend.
It was really a hard project. At first, I had no ideas about the mousetrap car.I didn't know what to do or what materials I need.I was confused and helpless. I totally made three cars.Actually, I didn't find the worked method until I made the second car.When I watched my car began to move, I was so excited,although it just moved less than one meter.It was not only a project to learn energy but also a opportunity to creat our own products. ---> Xue
i think this project was fun but at first i was very confused because i have never heard of a mouse trap car and i didnt know how to construct one. i like the way my car turned out but was disappointed when it didnt move. i had to make a few adjustments to my car for it to work. the wheels were to smooth and needed frition and my string wasnt stong enough to pull my axil. i think this was a good way to start learning about energy.
It was fun making the car. But at first I was so confused and i didn't know what to do. I thought I would fail this project because there was no one helping me and honestly I did it in the last moment. Finally my father and my sister agreed to help me in the last day. I did couple of free runs, but the string kept on breaking when we snaped the mousetrap. So we used a strong string and it ran almost 4m. I am so happy that my car ran 597cm and over 2 meter sticks. My father was more happy than me, that my car went up to 597cm. I didn't know that I had a building skills sleeping in me, until I used it for the project.
This project was a lot fun and at the same time very frustrating. I built 2 cars before I found out how it will move. then in school ms. O'Neill told me to put balloons on the CD so it will create friction. this made my car move. when it did move i was so happy. I would love to do this kind of projects again, it was fun.
uqh this project! =D was cool at first i was excited to do this project but when i started doing it i thought it was confusing and it needed alot of time work and effort ; however when i went to school to test my car out i didnt care how long it moved as long it actually DID MOVE but like deepika said it really is a great way of introducing energy -Saara!
i don't know why, but this project was unbelievably difficult. I had an idea of how the mousetrap car was suppose to be built because I researched it but it was still hard and getting it to move; not to even speak of making it go 2 meters. the first mousetrap car that I created “crappy” was exactly what it was crap! it hardly moved and it was just yucky.well now I’m trying to construct another mouse trap car it still hard but I think I’m getting it. [adetayO o.]
i don't know why, but this project was unbelievably difficult. I had an idea of how the mousetrap car was suppose to be built because I researched it but it was still hard and getting it to move; not to even speak of making it go 2 meters. the first mousetrap car that I created “crappy” was exactly what it was crap! it hardly moved and it was just yucky.well now I’m trying to construct another mouse trap car it still hard but I think I’m getting it. [adetayO o.]
I think that this project was a comination of both fun and a whole bunch of physics cramed together. Even though my car does still not move i am not giving up and still trying it to move as much as possible. I hope in the future we do more projects like these.
i really enjoyed this project. it was a lot of fun building the car. at first me and Antonella had no idea how we were going to build it, but it ended up working good. at first the car moved, but not 7 tiles, so we tried fixing it and it wouldn't move at all. Which got us frustrated. Then we placed rubber bands around the tires, and put a pencil on the mousetrap we got our car to move more then the 7 tiles needed.
ight. ms. oneil. um. the project was a great challenge and a great way for groups to come togetther and exploit new things, energy was a big factor i guess you can say we all learned. one thing that could have been improved was maybe just a little more time, and if we could arrange like a period before hand to had brainstorm and create our cars. other than that the mouse trap project was a great succes and hopefully we can do more acticiys like this again!
Hey Ms.ONeill My reflection about the Mouse Trap Car would be: I really enjoyed working on this project because at first me and my partner had built 2 different cars. In the end it turned out mine couldnt move because the car was too heavy. My partner Christina had moved because it was a lot lighter. This project was a great introduction to energy because after you explained it to us how the car started moving it was very intresting to know that we could transfer energy that way. I am also excited to see what else you have in store for this unit. ~Jocelyn =]♥~
In my opinion, I think that the mousetrap car project was fun and frustrating. It taught me to have more patience and it really did get me thinking, 'How am I going to make a car out of a mousetrap?' and how is it going to travel 2 meters?” I had some what an idea at first but then it took a lot of research for me to realize what works and what doesn’t work, and also what could be more helpful. In the beginning I just cared about constructing the car and making it move. I wasn’t concerned with how far it would go because I thought I just needed a car that moves and a lot of creativity. My dad helped us use the tools and the drill and also gave us some ideas on how to build the car. We didn’t want to use cd because we thought that it wouldn’t be as sturdy as wooden wheels, but looking at other student’s projects that proved me wrong... Through my observations, I saw that cd’s had a better chance of going further because it has less weight than the wooden wheels. We also saw that students put balloons on their wheels and so we decided to put rubber bands on the wheels so they would have better traction which would make it go further. Overall I think this was a fun project and I hope we get to do this again. As for what I would do differently I think that I would make holes in the wheels so it would have less weight and that way it could go further. -Jessica
I think this project took a lot of time and effort. Each time I had to adjust a little bit here and there but when my car went past the 2 meters, i think that the effort was worth it. the inventor of the moose track Mustafha Karim
This project was easy but very time consuming. I felt that there was a need for more time because if working in pairs , especially when all the projects were due , it was hard to meet up and finish the cars ....to be honest ..after the race was over, it was a relief.
It's beyond question that this project was a great introduction to the new topic we are covering in the class. I hope to see other new projects awaiting for us with more given time.
The mousetrap car lab was fun. It was confusing at times but then it started to get better. This lab also helped with my understanding of energy. I liked the fact that we could work with a partner too. This project also helped me with time mangement and staying on task. It was an interesting lab and I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime.
Move that car with a mousetrap. Oh wow! I got nervous that this was the end for me! It's exciting,if a little hard,to get a project like this to work. I love the ideas that were online - a lot of the world record mousetrap cars were impressive. More awesome was the cars in class. Has everyone seen Adam's and Tehan's car? It's worth the check out. I wish my car could fly like that! Let's do this again sometime!
The good thing about this projest was that we actually got to built own our cars. on ething that could have benn imporoved was that if miss.o'neill had let us use the toy cars motor. it was fun doing this project. i would like to do it again. -Gagandeep SIngh
i think the project was fun once you knew what to do. i had fun making the car and had even more fun when it actually worked.but when the car didn't work i got frustraed and wanted to break it.but ovarall this was fun and would to again............................Brandon Neal
i think this project was fun and allowed me to really think about how something can be done andallowed me to work with people better. As u already know i hate group work because it doesn't end up as a GROUP WORK, but when i was working with liz, we were able to put are ideas 2gether and make the mouse trap car work. I like that we had the race after everyone built their cars because it was......FUN! i this project helped as an individual to be more responsible because wen we get to college that's wat i need to be.-Danielle Beckford
I think this project was really hard but somewhat fun. It was very frustrating because it took a lot of time, effort and I wasn't so sure if it was going to work. It took a few days for me to get my car to actually move and I was excited once it did. It was frustrating but it was all worth it in the end because my car was a success.
I think this project was a great way to explain energy. The project itself wasnt hard it was just tricky to build a car and for it to go two or more meters. I really had no problems with my mouse trap car, but I do admit I built it at last minute so for the mouse trap car to go more then two meters was a great excitment. Building the car and setting it off was fun. I liked building this car to show an example to energy. I would like to do somthing like this later on in the year. -- Christina Allyn --
When you first gave out this project i searched it online and thought it would be pretty easy but it turned out to be harder then i though. At first my car didn't work i did not know what i was doing wrong, with help from a few students in class i learned that our car needs to have weight on it. I put weight on it and my car worked. My car did not go over the obstacles because the car was to low. I know that next time wen i build my car i should not make it low and a little bit higher. I enjoyed doing this project it was a fun way to learn more about physics.
Of all the projects I've done this year this had to be the most challenging. I had fun creating a design for my car but when it actually came time to build I was going nuts! A bunch of my trails failed so i kept having to fix my car but once it worked i felt so proud i had done this with only a few tips and guidelines. In conclusion my car went 509 meters! -Bria Scott
hmm.. nadia thought this project was .. original. i never knew you could create a car that could be motored by a mousetrap. that was coool! :) .. although this project was cool, i kept getting frustrated building the car.. i was so worried it wouldn't go the 2 meters, but in the end everything worked out perfectly!
although working on this project was aggravating my brain, i would definitely work on one of these projects again
Tatiana said... i thought the project was fun but at the same time very hard.I thought my car would work but it turned out that it did not work.i was highly mad but at least i had fun while doing the project.i dont think i would want to do this again.!
I felt the project required thought and time. I'm glad we were given the option of working with a partner. I probably would have confused myself had I worked independantly. I thought the freedom we had was a good thing. Our requirements were flexible enough for us to use our imaginations. We didn't have much time to complete the project but maybe that kept usmotivated and on track. Building was frustrating but eventually, rewarding for most. I learned about where energy is stored. Overall, I agree with Deepika, and think this project was a great introduction to our next unit.
i really enjoyed this project, not only was it fun to do, it also got a little irritating at times, but overall i liked it, and it also made an educational purpose also, for example, you needed to know about momentum, force, traction, and even friction, because that is what helped you with your car, if you paid attention to those 4 words and knew that you had to use the mousetrap as a main power or energy source, then you were good to go, but even then it would still be a little tricky. even thought i built multiple cars, and got frustrated, i refused to give up, and i would enjoy doing something like this again, maybe where the car has to go downhill, or uphill, or maybe do a spin before it takes off? i thought it was a very interesting project and would very much like to do it again
hey ms. oneill this amelbi. this project/ lab was very hard for me when i was creating the car it self but it demonstratred energy so well. i wish we had a little bit more time to pick who are partners were because some took more credit than others and as well to have made this project. the mouse trap was purely the source of energry i hope to look forward to another lab just as good as this one. thanks ~amelbi tejada~
i believe that this was a very frustrating project, yet enjoyable and educational too! i would look forward to doing the same project again, but maybe this time you have to make the car go downhill? or uphill? or maybe the car has to spin around before it goes forward? i had a difficult time with this, but it was entertaining and you really had to think about momentum, force and friction, without those words, you would probably have a harder time building the car, also you needed to use the mousetrap as a main power source so it can make the car accelarate, overall i enjoyed this project very much and would look forward to doing it again
I thought this project was pretty interesting but very hard. i had to do my mousetrap over 3 times. and the second time i got really frustrated. i couldn't stand it. and i didn't really understand the point and concept of this project. i had gotten up to the point where i thought i just wanted to give up. i was wishing that it went the 2meters and thats it, that would have had me satisfied, but hey not only did it go 2meters it went over the first challenge it went almost over the second challenge. at this point i was so happy. in conclusion even thought i thought this project was hard, i thought it was worth it and i learned that i just need to be patient and not give up, because in the end it will be worth it completely = ]
I did this project with Deepika. We thought we had everything under control in the beginning but then we ran into some errors. Meaning that our string wasn't the right one to make the car move. Another error was the length of the string. We had it very short so therefore it went a short distance. We then took these errors in mind and change the string to dental floss and connected a long medal from the spring of the mousetrap. Finally, when we got the trap ready, it went a good amount of distance for us to get a 90. It was hard at first but we caught onto it. and i guess thatss it....soo... buhbyee ;]].
Hey =] I really liked this project. It was very interesting to make Å car out of Å mousetrap. Me and zebi won so that made me happy. I thonk wewould have went fauther if ower car was lighter and smaller.
I love reading your comments and am thrilled that while most of you had some difficulty with building your car you persevered and came through. I am proud to call you my students! Please keep sharing your reflections.
This project was fun. I enjoyed working with Sahiba and trying to fiqure out different ways for the car to work and run at least two meters. You need patience for this project. It took us 3 days, even after seeing all those videos about the mousetrap cars and going online, for our car to move and have speed, but in the end it was all worth it because we passed the challenge and the car ran over two meters. =]
I felt the project was a great experience. It was a great way to have us teach our self something new. I felt it really help me understand how energy works and what works mean. It was really fun. I will admit when you first gave us this project I thought I couldn't do it. But then I did some research and found out it wasn't hard at all. I also liked how everyone had a different car and you got to learn something from every car.
This project was fun and fustrating at the same time. I took me 2 cars and 3 broken moustraps before I made one that worked. After I figured out how to get it to move, it became very easy.My bigggest problem was that my car kept braking and I couldnt figure out why and still dont know why!This project was a good way to review friction and force and start learning about energy.
This project was a lot of fun, but my car did frustrate me a couple of times. Building the car at first seemed impossible to do, but once i figured out how to get the car to move it became easier. I enojoyed building the car, but i didn't like getting my fingers stuck in the mouse-trap. I was suprised that my car went more than 2 meters on the first try, but it ended up breaking after going over the bumps =/. If i could do this project over I would not have used CD's for wheels. They make the car move, but they aren't that sturdy.
The mouse trap car project was something i enjoyed very much because i like to construct object but it got very frustrating when it didn't go as far as i wanted it to or when it could not complete the obstacle course ~Jethro A.~
This projet was very intoresting. At first I was really annoyed with it because my car would not even move because of the wheels. but then I fixed it and now i love my car. My partner who shall remain nameless =) was a good helper but he had trouble building too. The other thing i got made about was that when i tested my car it went about 8 or 9 tiles and then when i did it in school when the class was there it didnt go that far. Oh wellit went far enough. I liked this project a lot. I like hands on things.
Hey Ms.Oneill, ummm where should i start? Well just to sum it up, this project was really interesting,it was easy to build the car but very hard to make it move, but it eventually worked and move, but before it finally moved it broka at the last min and i bought another one but it wasnt the right one so i had to make it over and when i did it started moving just a little bit but not as fast or long. Then my little sister decided to cut my string so i was pretty upset and ready to just give up, but at the last min it decided to move and give me a 90...but this was a good way to introduce energy to the class..
At first when we got the project I was sort of freaked out because I thought that it would be impossible for me to acutally build a 'car' out of a mousetrap that would actually work. Once I started thinking about what to do and talking to my freinds in my class it became a little more easier than i thought it would acutally be. I liked how we used the cars we built and competed within the class. I thought it was a nice way to challenge ourselves to actually make the mousetrap car go. I thought that this project was fun and was a great way to start the new topic on 'energy'. -jacqueline
The mousetrap project was pretty fun. It seemed intimidating at first and I didn't think that we could build a car using a mousetrap. It was an interesting experience because you felt really proud when you actually built a car. I'm also really glad that we were able to work in groups because I don't think I could've done it by myself. This project was a great way for us to study energy. We learned that all the energy is stored in spring.
The mousetrap project was fustrating BOTH times around, but when you finally build it and it moves, you wanna keep on fixing it to make it move further. This was a fun challenge. -Chris H.
The mousetrap car competition was one of the exciting event and a thrilling experience. We were so excited to race our mousetrap car. Especially making the mousetrap car was the most challenging part of the competition. For certain reasons I had to dismantle some parts of the mousetrap car and refix those parts. There was a problem with the axle that made the car to turn. I spend most of the time fixing the axle of the car. Then I had to make sure that the wheels are attached firmly to the car, so that it won't loosen and come out. I would never forget when I cut my finger while winding the string around the pointy hook. I trully loved building the mouse trap car. I wish I would have many more challenging projects in the future similar to mouse trap car project. - Jeffy John
Making this mousetrap-powered car was fun. At first, i thought it was impossible. But after Jessica and i built it, and i actually saw it working, i was shocked. i was glad that we used the rubber bands on our wheels on the second day, it made the difference of 200. We originally had used a rubber band to make our car go instead of srting but it still worked out the same as with the string. We should have had an extra day or two to work on our cars, though. i would have liked to have had this project done like the egg-catcher project, and done it with all three classes. But, yea, it was nice, i liked it. \*\Zuheidy/*/
the project was fun. The only problem i had doing it was making the car go a far distance. When it was built, it was too late to change the design to make the car go a farther distance. At first, i thought making the car would be nearly impossible, but was time passed, it got easier.
I think that this project was really fun with a little of competition too. The fact that it was an introduction to a new topic (energy) was also pretty cool. At first I had no idea of what to do, but then when i saw some different models i wanted to try to do something different. Didn't work out so well though....
This was a very "seesaw" type of project, meaning it had its many ups and down. it was difficult yet hands-on & fun at the same time. i'm the type of peron who doesnt like to fail or be wrong at all. When i did my project i didnt succeeed in passing the 2 meter mark, actually i didnt pass any mark since it hadnt moved an inch and i was unpleasantly unhappy since i had put alot of work into my first attempt. My 2nd attempt was bettter, since it actually moved atleast a meter after i added a couple rubber bands onto the wheel, but it still didnt reach the expectations. So Ms. Oneil advised me to change my front wheel, so that was my 3rd attempt to fix my car, btu unfortuantely that only made it worst by bringing me back to square one and doing it over was not an option since i didnt have any patience left and this project took so much of me, so i simply gave up and i hope that my grade doesnt show that, but indstead show my hard work and dedication to try to make a successful mousetrap racecar
57 comments:
i think that this project was a perfect introduction to energy. i also had a lot of fun building this car with crystal. My car broke several times, but it taught me to be more responsible with my responsibilities. It was frustrating but i would love to do something like this again!
-deepika
This project was fun but really hard at the same time. I enjoyed making it but i got frustrated when the car wouldn't move. When we did get it to move it made me excited to try it out in school. At one point I was like I don't care how far it foes as long as it moved but then we found out ways to improve it. My car had a lot of improve meets from changing the wheels, to extending the string, to attaching a stick to the mouse trap, and to oiling the axel to move easier. For now the only thing I would improve is the base so the wheel would be under it. My wheels are kind of too heavy so it doesn't travel as far and the base is leaning down on it as well. Well....ummmm thats about it so bye!!!
<<-- Elizabeth Pritchett-->>
hey ms. o'neill
for the lab report due on monday, we needed class results and our class didnt get a chance to jot them down, is it okay if we don't have the class results or just add them to our lab report after we hand them in?
-deepika
Hi Deepika,
The report for this activity is not due yet. I know that the due date is the 17th but i want to go over a few things first so we are clear about what the report should include. Enjoy your weekend.
It was really a hard project. At first, I had no ideas about the mousetrap car.I didn't know what to do or what materials I need.I was confused and helpless. I totally made three cars.Actually, I didn't find the worked method until I made the second car.When I watched my car began to move, I was so excited,although it just moved less than one meter.It was not only a project to learn energy but also a opportunity to creat our own products.
---> Xue
i think this project was fun but at first i was very confused because i have never heard of a mouse trap car and i didnt know how to construct one. i like the way my car turned out but was disappointed when it didnt move. i had to make a few adjustments to my car for it to work. the wheels were to smooth and needed frition and my string wasnt stong enough to pull my axil. i think this was a good way to start learning about energy.
It was fun making the car. But at first I was so confused and i didn't know what to do. I thought I would fail this project because there was no one helping me and honestly I did it in the last moment. Finally my father and my sister agreed to help me in the last day. I did couple of free runs, but the string kept on breaking when we snaped the mousetrap. So we used a strong string and it ran almost 4m. I am so happy that my car ran 597cm and over 2 meter sticks. My father was more happy than me, that my car went up to 597cm. I didn't know that I had a building skills sleeping in me, until I used it for the project.
-Jeena J.-
This project was a lot fun and at the same time very frustrating. I built 2 cars before I found out how it will move. then in school ms. O'Neill told me to put balloons on the CD so it will create friction. this made my car move. when it did move i was so happy. I would love to do this kind of projects again, it was fun.
Lovepreet Kaur=]
uqh this project! =D was cool at first i was excited to do this project but when i started doing it i thought it was confusing and it needed alot of time work and effort ; however when i went to school to test my car out i didnt care how long it moved as long it actually DID MOVE
but like deepika said it really is a great way of introducing energy
-Saara!
i don't know why, but this project was unbelievably difficult. I had an idea of how the mousetrap car was suppose to be built because I researched it but it was still hard and getting it to move; not to even speak of making it go 2 meters. the first mousetrap car that I created “crappy” was exactly what it was crap! it hardly moved and it was just yucky.well now I’m trying to construct another mouse trap car it still hard but I think I’m getting it.
[adetayO o.]
i don't know why, but this project was unbelievably difficult. I had an idea of how the mousetrap car was suppose to be built because I researched it but it was still hard and getting it to move; not to even speak of making it go 2 meters. the first mousetrap car that I created “crappy” was exactly what it was crap! it hardly moved and it was just yucky.well now I’m trying to construct another mouse trap car it still hard but I think I’m getting it.
[adetayO o.]
I think that this project was a comination of both fun and a whole bunch of physics cramed together. Even though my car does still not move i am not giving up and still trying it to move as much as possible. I hope in the future we do more projects like these.
i really enjoyed this project. it was a lot of fun building the car. at first me and Antonella had no idea how we were going to build it, but it ended up working good. at first the car moved, but not 7 tiles, so we tried fixing it and it wouldn't move at all. Which got us frustrated. Then we placed rubber bands around the tires, and put a pencil on the mousetrap we got our car to move more then the 7 tiles needed.
-Daniella
ight. ms. oneil. um. the project was a great challenge and a great way for groups to come togetther and exploit new things, energy was a big factor i guess you can say we all learned. one thing that could have been improved was maybe just a little more time, and if we could arrange like a period before hand to had brainstorm and create our cars. other than that the mouse trap project was a great succes and hopefully we can do more acticiys like this again!
~michael anthony rivera~ pieCe!
Hey Ms.ONeill
My reflection about the Mouse Trap Car would be: I really enjoyed working on this project because at first me and my partner had built 2 different cars. In the end it turned out mine couldnt move because the car was too heavy. My partner Christina had moved because it was a lot lighter. This project was a great introduction to energy because after you explained it to us how the car started moving it was very intresting to know that we could transfer energy that way. I am also excited to see what else you have in store for this unit.
~Jocelyn =]♥~
In my opinion, I think that the mousetrap car project was fun and frustrating. It taught me to have more patience and it really did get me thinking, 'How am I going to make a car out of a mousetrap?' and how is it going to travel 2 meters?” I had some what an idea at first but then it took a lot of research for me to realize what works and what doesn’t work, and also what could be more helpful. In the beginning I just cared about constructing the car and making it move. I wasn’t concerned with how far it would go because I thought I just needed a car that moves and a lot of creativity. My dad helped us use the tools and the drill and also gave us some ideas on how to build the car. We didn’t want to use cd because we thought that it wouldn’t be as sturdy as wooden wheels, but looking at other student’s projects that proved me wrong... Through my observations, I saw that cd’s had a better chance of going further because it has less weight than the wooden wheels. We also saw that students put balloons on their wheels and so we decided to put rubber bands on the wheels so they would have better traction which would make it go further. Overall I think this was a fun project and I hope we get to do this again. As for what I would do differently I think that I would make holes in the wheels so it would have less weight and that way it could go further.
-Jessica
I think this project took a lot of time and effort. Each time I had to adjust a little bit here and there but when my car went past the 2 meters, i think that the effort was worth it.
the inventor of the moose track
Mustafha Karim
This project was easy but very time consuming. I felt that there was a need for more time because if working in pairs , especially when all the projects were due , it was hard to meet up and finish the cars ....to be honest ..after the race was over, it was a relief.
It's beyond question that this project was a great introduction to the new topic we are covering in the class. I hope to see other new projects awaiting for us with more given time.
- Sahiba Reen
The mousetrap car lab was fun. It was confusing at times but then it started to get better. This lab also helped with my understanding of energy. I liked the fact that we could work with a partner too. This project also helped me with time mangement and staying on task. It was an interesting lab and I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime.
{Sean Hawkins}
Ms.Oneill ~
Move that car with a mousetrap. Oh wow! I got nervous that this was the end for me! It's exciting,if a little hard,to get a project like this to work. I love the ideas that were online - a lot of the world record mousetrap cars were impressive. More awesome was the cars in class. Has everyone seen Adam's and Tehan's car? It's worth the check out. I wish my car could fly like that! Let's do this again sometime!
~ Anthony Herrero
The good thing about this projest was that we actually got to built own our cars. on ething that could have benn imporoved was that if miss.o'neill had let us use the toy cars motor. it was fun doing this project. i would like to do it again.
-Gagandeep SIngh
i think the project was fun once you knew what to do. i had fun making the car and had even more fun when it actually worked.but when the car didn't work i got frustraed and wanted to break it.but ovarall this was fun and would to again............................Brandon Neal
i think this project was fun and allowed me to really think about how something can be done andallowed me to work with people better. As u already know i hate group work because it doesn't end up as a GROUP WORK, but when i was working with liz, we were able to put are ideas 2gether and make the mouse trap car work. I like that we had the race after everyone built their cars because it was......FUN! i this project helped as an individual to be more responsible because wen we get to college that's wat i need to be.-Danielle Beckford
I think this project was really hard but somewhat fun. It was very frustrating because it took a lot of time, effort and I wasn't so sure if it was going to work. It took a few days for me to get my car to actually move and I was excited once it did. It was frustrating but it was all worth it in the end because my car was a success.
*Jennifer Parbhudial*
I think this project was a great way to explain energy. The project itself wasnt hard it was just tricky to build a car and for it to go two or more meters. I really had no problems with my mouse trap car, but I do admit I built it at last minute so for the mouse trap car to go more then two meters was a great excitment. Building the car and setting it off was fun. I liked building this car to show an example to energy. I would like to do somthing like this later on in the year.
-- Christina Allyn --
When you first gave out this project i searched it online and thought it would be pretty easy but it turned out to be harder then i though. At first my car didn't work i did not know what i was doing wrong, with help from a few students in class i learned that our car needs to have weight on it. I put weight on it and my car worked. My car did not go over the obstacles because the car was to low. I know that next time wen i build my car i should not make it low and a little bit higher. I enjoyed doing this project it was a fun way to learn more about physics.
-Supreet Singh
Of all the projects I've done this year this had to be the most challenging. I had fun creating a design for my car but when it actually came time to build I was going nuts! A bunch of my trails failed so i kept having to fix my car but once it worked i felt so proud i had done this with only a few tips and guidelines. In conclusion my car went 509 meters!
-Bria Scott
hmm.. nadia thought this project was .. original. i never knew you could create a car that could be motored by a mousetrap. that was coool! :) .. although this project was cool, i kept getting frustrated building the car.. i was so worried it wouldn't go the 2 meters, but in the end everything worked out perfectly!
although working on this project was aggravating my brain, i would definitely work on one of these projects again
-nadiaa was here! :]
Tatiana said...
i thought the project was fun but at the same time very hard.I thought my car would work but it turned out that it did not work.i was highly mad but at least i had fun while doing the project.i dont think i would want to do this again.!
I felt the project required thought and time. I'm glad we were given the option of working with a partner. I probably would have confused myself had I worked independantly. I thought the freedom we had was a good thing. Our requirements were flexible enough for us to use our imaginations. We didn't have much time to complete the project but maybe that kept usmotivated and on track. Building was frustrating but eventually, rewarding for most. I learned about where energy is stored. Overall, I agree with Deepika, and think this project was a great introduction to our next unit.
- alexa d. =]
i really enjoyed this project, not only was it fun to do, it also got a little irritating at times, but overall i liked it, and it also made an educational purpose also, for example, you needed to know about momentum, force, traction, and even friction, because that is what helped you with your car, if you paid attention to those 4 words and knew that you had to use the mousetrap as a main power or energy source, then you were good to go, but even then it would still be a little tricky. even thought i built multiple cars, and got frustrated, i refused to give up, and i would enjoy doing something like this again, maybe where the car has to go downhill, or uphill, or maybe do a spin before it takes off? i thought it was a very interesting project and would very much like to do it again
------> Bryant S.
hey ms. oneill this amelbi. this project/ lab was very hard for me when i was creating the car it self but it demonstratred energy so well. i wish we had a little bit more time to pick who are partners were because some took more credit than others and as well to have made this project. the mouse trap was purely the source of energry i hope to look forward to another lab just as good as this one. thanks ~amelbi tejada~
i believe that this was a very frustrating project, yet enjoyable and educational too! i would look forward to doing the same project again, but maybe this time you have to make the car go downhill? or uphill? or maybe the car has to spin around before it goes forward? i had a difficult time with this, but it was entertaining and you really had to think about momentum, force and friction, without those words, you would probably have a harder time building the car, also you needed to use the mousetrap as a main power source so it can make the car accelarate, overall i enjoyed this project very much and would look forward to doing it again
---- bryant
I thought this project was pretty interesting but very hard.
i had to do my mousetrap over 3 times.
and the second time i got really frustrated. i couldn't stand it. and i didn't really understand the point and concept of this project. i had gotten up to the point where i thought i just wanted to give up. i was wishing that it went the 2meters and thats it, that would have had me satisfied, but hey not only did it go 2meters it went over the first challenge it went almost over the second challenge. at this point i was so happy. in conclusion even thought i thought this project was hard, i thought it was worth it and i learned that i just need to be patient and not give up, because in the end it will be worth it completely = ]
Minoli Shah.
I did this project with Deepika. We thought we had everything under control in the beginning but then we ran into some errors. Meaning that our string wasn't the right one to make the car move. Another error was the length of the string. We had it very short so therefore it went a short distance. We then took these errors in mind and change the string to dental floss and connected a long medal from the spring of the mousetrap. Finally, when we got the trap ready, it went a good amount of distance for us to get a 90. It was hard at first but we caught onto it. and i guess thatss it....soo... buhbyee ;]].
::Crystal Elizabeth Ahamad::
Hey =] I really liked this project. It was very interesting to make Å car out of Å mousetrap. Me and zebi won so that made me happy. I thonk wewould have went fauther if ower car was lighter and smaller.
I love reading your comments and am thrilled that while most of you had some difficulty with building your car you persevered and came through. I am proud to call you my students!
Please keep sharing your reflections.
This project was fun. I enjoyed working with Sahiba and trying to fiqure out different ways for the car to work and run at least two meters. You need patience for this project. It took us 3 days, even after seeing all those videos about the mousetrap cars and going online, for our car to move and have speed, but in the end it was all worth it because we passed the challenge and the car ran over two meters. =]
-Vanitha
Ms.O'Neil
I felt the project was a great experience. It was a great way to have us teach our self something new. I felt it really help me understand how energy works and what works mean. It was really fun. I will admit when you first gave us this project I thought I couldn't do it. But then I did some research and found out it wasn't hard at all. I also liked how everyone had a different car and you got to learn something from every car.
This project was fun and fustrating at the same time. I took me 2 cars and 3 broken moustraps before I made one that worked. After I figured out how to get it to move, it became very easy.My bigggest problem was that my car kept braking and I couldnt figure out why and still dont know why!This project was a good way to review friction and force and start learning about energy.
--Ashley A
This project was a lot of fun, but my car did frustrate me a couple of times. Building the car at first seemed impossible to do, but once i figured out how to get the car to move it became easier. I enojoyed building the car, but i didn't like getting my fingers stuck in the mouse-trap. I was suprised that my car went more than 2 meters on the first try, but it ended up breaking after going over the bumps =/. If i could do this project over I would not have used CD's for wheels. They make the car move, but they aren't that sturdy.
-ARiANNA ;]
The mouse trap car project was something i enjoyed very much because i like to construct object but it got very frustrating when it didn't go as far as i wanted it to or when it could not complete the obstacle course
~Jethro A.~
This projet was very intoresting. At first I was really annoyed with it because my car would not even move because of the wheels. but then I fixed it and now i love my car. My partner who shall remain nameless =) was a good helper but he had trouble building too. The other thing i got made about was that when i tested my car it went about 8 or 9 tiles and then when i did it in school when the class was there it didnt go that far. Oh wellit went far enough. I liked this project a lot. I like hands on things.
.:Christine:.
Hey Ms.Oneill, ummm where should i start? Well just to sum it up, this project was really interesting,it was easy to build the car but very hard to make it move, but it eventually worked and move, but before it finally moved it broka at the last min and i bought another one but it wasnt the right one so i had to make it over and when i did it started moving just a little bit but not as fast or long. Then my little sister decided to cut my string so i was pretty upset and ready to just give up, but at the last min it decided to move and give me a 90...but this was a good way to introduce energy to the class..
Shaniqua Bingham
At first when we got the project I was sort of freaked out because I thought that it would be impossible for me to acutally build a 'car' out of a mousetrap that would actually work. Once I started thinking about what to do and talking to my freinds in my class it became a little more easier than i thought it would acutally be. I liked how we used the cars we built and competed within the class. I thought it was a nice way to challenge ourselves to actually make the mousetrap car go. I thought that this project was fun and was a great way to start the new topic on 'energy'.
-jacqueline
The mousetrap project was pretty fun. It seemed intimidating at first and I didn't think that we could build a car using a mousetrap. It was an interesting experience because you felt really proud when you actually built a car. I'm also really glad that we were able to work in groups because I don't think I could've done it by myself. This project was a great way for us to study energy. We learned that all the energy is stored in spring.
The mousetrap project was fustrating BOTH times around, but when you finally build it and it moves, you wanna keep on fixing it to make it move further. This was a fun challenge.
-Chris H.
The mousetrap car competition was one of the exciting event and a thrilling experience. We were so excited to race our mousetrap car. Especially making the mousetrap car was the most challenging part of the competition. For certain reasons I had to dismantle some parts of the mousetrap car and refix those parts. There was a problem with the axle that made the car to turn. I spend most of the time fixing the axle of the car. Then I had to make sure that the wheels are attached firmly to the car, so that it won't loosen and come out. I would never forget when I cut my finger while winding the string around the pointy hook. I trully loved building the mouse trap car. I wish I would have many more challenging projects in the future similar to mouse trap car project.
- Jeffy John
Making this mousetrap-powered car was fun. At first, i thought it was impossible. But after Jessica and i built it, and i actually saw it working, i was shocked. i was glad that we used the rubber bands on our wheels on the second day, it made the difference of 200. We originally had used a rubber band to make our car go instead of srting but it still worked out the same as with the string. We should have had an extra day or two to work on our cars, though. i would have liked to have had this project done like the egg-catcher project, and done it with all three classes. But, yea, it was nice, i liked it.
\*\Zuheidy/*/
the project was fun. The only problem i had doing it was making the car go a far distance. When it was built, it was too late to change the design to make the car go a farther distance. At first, i thought making the car would be nearly impossible, but was time passed, it got easier.
-Philip M.
sophomores are the best=]
I think that this project was really fun with a little of competition too. The fact that it was an introduction to a new topic (energy) was also pretty cool. At first I had no idea of what to do, but then when i saw some different models i wanted to try to do something different. Didn't work out so well though....
^YuNg RaM(Ramesh)^
This was a very "seesaw" type of project, meaning it had its many ups and down. it was difficult yet hands-on & fun at the same time. i'm the type of peron who doesnt like to fail or be wrong at all. When i did my project i didnt succeeed in passing the 2 meter mark, actually i didnt pass any mark since it hadnt moved an inch and i was unpleasantly unhappy since i had put alot of work into my first attempt. My 2nd attempt was bettter, since it actually moved atleast a meter after i added a couple rubber bands onto the wheel, but it still didnt reach the expectations. So Ms. Oneil advised me to change my front wheel, so that was my 3rd attempt to fix my car, btu unfortuantely that only made it worst by bringing me back to square one and doing it over was not an option since i didnt have any patience left and this project took so much of me, so i simply gave up and i hope that my grade doesnt show that, but indstead show my hard work and dedication to try to make a successful mousetrap racecar
oOo YeaH SrY ThaT ^^^^CoMMeNt^^^^^ Signature is
Your Devoted Pyhsics Student
~Tatiana Cadet~
Ms O'NEIL~ Ms O'NEIL~ Ms O'NEIL~
I am so sad no datas here......
waiting for you~~~~
------->XUE
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