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DESSERT PROJECT: Balloon-Powered Vehicle

*As a side note: no teacher should ever assign a project or lab to students without first acting as
the student and running a trial of the project or lab. YOU have to know what youre doing and
what youre asking of students, if youre going to be able to successful facilitate student
learning. For that reason, for the purpose of this 2-week unit design, youll be engaging in the
dessert project with team members from around the globe. This way, youll be able to have a
better understanding of the standards alignment, driving question, workshops, DIYs, and
assessments youd need to craft to turn this from a dessert project into a multidisciplinary
project-based learning experience.

INTRODUCTION:

We are very pleased that Dr. Thalia Micklewhite and Ms. Tarah McDonald from the College of
the Bahamas, Dr. Kuen-Yi Lin from National Taiwan Normal University1 and Ms. M. Kate York
and Ms. Katie Donaldson from the University of Texas Dallas (referred to as UT-Dallas) have
arranged for students from our three countries to work together this semester. We hope all
students will have an opportunity to learn a bit about each others cultures while having fun
and learning about engineering problem solving as envisioned in things such as NGSSs
engineering standards and ITEEA and ISTE technology standards.

Not to the same scale.


1
Dr. Micklewhite was sort of a guinea pig for this assignment, course and Global PRiSE when she was a Tech doc
student for a while about eight years ago. Unfortunately we didnt offer sufficient online courses at the time, so she
transferred to another university to complete her doctorate; but Global PRiSE students, you can thank her for one
source of inspiration that led to Global PRiSE. Dr. Lin and I sat next to each other at a luncheon at the ITEEA
conference in March 2015. As youll hear me preach ad nauseam, network, network, network. We chatted and one
thing led to another . . . . and here we three are collaborating so yall can experience one example of global STEM
education. Tarah McDonald from Global PRiSEs Cohort Three also teaches at the College of the Bahamas and is a
fourth member of our team. Kate York from Global PRiSEs Cohort Two is collaborating with Tarah McDonalds
students and Kate is a fifth member of our team. Katie Donaldson is the co-instructor with Kate York, and makes up
the sixth member of the team.
Thirteen of the Texas Tech students live in various locations in the state of Texas in the southern
part of the United States, 13 live in California (3), Florida, Georgia, Hawaii (but now Connecticut),
Mississippi, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Virginia (2) plus Guam in the South Pacific (but
the state of Washington this semester), one lives in Japan, and one lives in Thailand. They all are
taking an on-line course at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. The Bahamian students are all
studying at the College of the Bahamas in Nassau to become elementary school teachers; and the
Taiwanese students are studying technology education at National Taiwan Normal University in
Taipei, Taiwans capital near the north end of their island nation. The University of Texas Dallas
students are also studying to become secondary STEM teachers.

We five instructors have assigned you to work in one of 28 different groups of about four each
with each group having members from at least two countries and at least three of the four
institutions. The communication within groups can take place only in the ways specified in the
directions on the next pages. (Texas Tech students: note that there are tighter boundaries on
how you communicate with your Bahamian, American and Taiwanese partners than with your
Chinese partners in the lesson planning assignment.)

DIRECTIONS:

Each Texas Tech/Bahamian/Taiwanese/UT-Dallas group will collaboratively design,


make, test and modify two vehicles that have the following design features:

1. Each vehicle must be at least 20 cm long and at least 10 cm wide.


2. Each vehicle must have at least four wheels that rotate. This requirement refers to the
four wheels on which the vehicle travels but doesn't refer to steering wheels or any other
wheels the group may decide to add.
3. Each vehicle must be able to travel at least 500 cm on a runway no wider than one meter,
powered only by two balloons per vehicle. (Not one or three or more; exactly two
balloons.) (Different balloons may be used for the two different vehicles.)
4. Each vehicles balloons must power the vehicle using a different mechanism of physics
than the other vehicles balloons. For example, if one of the vehicles balloons uses
Boyles Law to propel the vehicle at least 500 cm, then the other vehicle must be powered
by two balloons using a different mechanism of physics.
5. The force used to move the vehicle must be entirely generated by the balloons. That is,
you cannot attach the balloon to the vehicle and pull the vehicle along, for in that case the
force moving the vehicle comes originally from the person or other object doing the
pulling. (We understand energy transfer and the idea that energy can be neither created
nor destroyed, so even the balloons energy that they employ to move the vehicle comes
from somewhere else; but that somewhere else cannot be so immediate as in the
example of using the balloon as a string to pull the vehicle.)
6. The two vehicles must be planned by the Taiwanese/Bahamian/Texas Tech/UT-Dallas
team and then be built and tested by the students at each location. That is, two vehicles
in The Bahamas, two in Taiwan, two in Dallas, and two in the location of the Texas Tech
students. Each of the vehicles made by the first plan must be identical; and the vehicles
made by the second plan must be identical.
7. As long as you follow these rules, you can consult any resource you desire.

Your instructors anticipate you will search the Internet to learn how to build your vehicles; and
we also anticipate that all of the suggestions you find will apply one particular mechanism of
physics. The challenge we are presenting to you is to find two ways to power your car with two
balloons per vehicle with each way applying a different mechanism of physics. Remember that
you are working as a team. All members should be involved in the planning, building and
testing of your vehicle. We have put no limit on the expense you incur; but we strongly urge
you to build as cheaply as possible and waste as little as possible. These admonitions lead to a
strong suggestion that you plan, plan, plan, so your vehicle will be right the first time (or soon
thereafter). Another suggestion is that you take turns being your groups R&D center. That is,
when you team remember to plan together; dont go running off without your team agreeing
to the new direction.2

OTHER SPECIFICS:

Vehicle Name:
Various types of cars have been called Seneca, Land Rover, Torino and so forth. You need
to agree on a name for your vehicle that as far as you know has not already been taken.
Your vehicle name should be acceptable in countries on all continents. About 20-30 years
ago Chevrolet made a car they called Nova. It was a very good name for America but Nova
in Spanish speaking countries was heard as No va, and in Spanish No va means no go; so
Chevrolet decided to rename their vehicle in order to sell better in South and Central
America, the Caribbean and Spain.
Company Name:
Companies such as Toyota, Volkswagen and Ford are automobile companies that make cars
all over the world. You need to agree on a name for your automobile company that has not
already been taken. (You can Google your proposed name to find out whether it has been
taken.) Your name should make sense in countries on all continents. Dont make a mistake
like Chevrolets Nova mistake.
Everything is Fair Rule:
In America and perhaps elsewhere there is an academic competition called Science
Olympiad in which students take part in various science challenges. One of the Science

2
We do want to leave room for a maverick. That is, if you have an idea you want to try before sharing it with your
teammates, thats fine; but in the end, the entire team needs to come to consensus about how to make the two types
of vehicles.
Olympiad rules is if its not against the rules, then you can do it. That rule applies to this
Balloon-Powered Vehicle activity.

Involvement of Others:
Our rule of thumb for this particular activity is the more the merrier. Some ESTM
6377 students are teachers and may want to ask their students for ideas. Some of you
may want to talk with your families.
CALENDAR FOR COLLABORATION AND SKYPE EVENTS:

1. October 10-11: Start emailing each other right away to say hello and to set up
your first Skype session. Allow 45 minutes for each Skype session. Decide whos
going to initiate each video call.
2. October 12-16: Continue communicating with your group via email to come to
agreement about the date and time of your first Skype contact between October 17
and 23. Exchange your Skype addresses (set up an account if you dont have one!)
3. October 17-23: SKYPE session #1! All of you can Skype from wherever it works best
for you. You could Skype from home or from school or from the local coffee shop
that has Wi-Fi or wherever is best. Yall are in different time zones, so be sure to
figure out exactly where your group members are located timewise. All of Texas is
in the Central Time Zone and the Bahamian students in Nassau are in the Eastern
Time Zone (the same as New York and Miami) one hour ahead of the Central Time
Zone. Taipei, Taiwan is 13 hours ahead of Texas and 12 hours ahead of Nassau.
Texas Tech students live in about six different time zones; so what Ive written about
the time in Texas doesnt apply to many of the Tech students. Given these
differences in time zones, no doubt some portion of your team may be Skyping in
your pajamas at night while others will be Skyping in the middle of the day. Thats
part of working globally.
4. October 28-Nov. 4: SKYPE session #2! By the end of this session you should have a
pretty good idea about how you are going to construct your two vehicles. And dont
try to break any Laws of Physics. Mother Nature gets cross when you try to do that.
5. November 5-13: SKYPE session #3! During your third and final Skype session each
team member needs to bring to this session their respective vehicles. If at all
possible, this session should include video, so you can see each others vehicles.

For the duration of the project, make sure you communicate back and forth with ideas about
the how you can make the two vehicles that conform to the requirements listed on page 2.
Remember that you will be making the vehicles, according to your groups plan, at each
location; so dont choose materials and construction methods that are only available or
possible in one or two of your locations. Consider, for example, that Ford makes the Focus on
at least four different continents. Probably there is some variability in what comes off the
assembly line at each factory; but basically the cars are the same worldwide.
Dont wait until the last minute to get started. Get stated now for two reasons.
(1) You are working as a team, so you cant let your partners down. Youre carrying each
other on your backs. You need to pull your own weight and you need to do so
throughout the project.

(2) It takes time to plan, build, test and revise these vehicles. Many of you are going to
have to enlist your Uncle Vance and their tool bench, so you need to plan ahead for
that eventuality. This assignment is not the kind of assignment for which you can
cram all night the night before the due date. It wont work.
A Note to Groups 1-7: UT-Dallas students in Groups 1-7 are organized in triads with one of the
three serving as group leader identified with an asterisk (*) and with their names in bold font.
Other group members from Taiwan, The Bahamas and Texas Tech in groups 1-7 should
communicate only with the UT-Dallas group leader, who in turn will communicate with the
other two UT-Dallas group members.

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