Students will investigate how forces affect acceleration by designing, testing, and refining a self-propelled car within defined criteria and constraints. Teams will measure forces, draw force diagrams, calculate net force and acceleration, average repeated trials, and graph data to analyze Newton’s first and second laws. Students will use peer feedback and evidence to improve their designs, document individual learning in portfolios, and communicate findings at a school showcase. The experience develops collaborative problem-solving, self-direction, scientific reasoning, and effective communication through an authentic engineering challenge.

Students will measure forces, construct force diagrams, and add signed values to determine net force and predict whether motion remains constant or accelerates. They will conduct repeated car trials, calculate averages, apply Fnet = ma, and graph force versus acceleration or mass versus acceleration to analyze slope and support Newton’s second law. Students will collaboratively design, test, critique, and refine a self-propelled car, then communicate evidence-based explanations connecting its forces, mass, and acceleration.

Teams will design, test, and refine a self-propelled car that meets agreed-upon size, material, and performance constraints. Each student will create a portfolio containing design sketches, observations, post-it feedback, proposed revisions, force diagrams, net-force calculations, trial averages, and Newton’s second law calculations. Teams will produce a final data display with force-versus-acceleration or mass-versus-acceleration graphs, slopes, and an evidence-based claim explaining how forces affect acceleration. Students will present their cars and findings to other classes and teachers in a school showcase, then complete an individual self-assessment.

Stage a short “Mystery Car Challenge” using two identical self-propelled cars with different masses, and ask students to predict which will accelerate faster and why. Teams observe several runs, measure force and motion, sketch initial force diagrams, and record questions or surprising results. Reveal the design challenge: build and refine a self-propelled car that meets specified force, acceleration, and distance criteria. Conclude with the essential question, “How do forces affect acceleration?” and create a shared list of what students need to learn.

Host a school “Physics on Wheels” showcase where teams demonstrate their self-propelled cars on a marked test track for other classes, teachers, and families. Each team displays force diagrams, averaged trial data, acceleration graphs with slopes, Newton’s second law calculations, and evidence of design revisions. Students explain how net force and mass affected acceleration, then answer audience questions. Visitors provide brief feedback or vote for evidence-based awards such as “Strongest Data Analysis,” “Most Effective Revision,” and “Clearest Physics Explanation.”