Artifact: DIY Motorized Trash Cars

What is “Challenge Week”?

Every Spring, 9th grade students at CCPA spend one week engaging a “challenge” curriculum. During this week, students follow a modified schedule that enables them to spend extended time working on group challenges. In 2023 and 2024, we focused on “Maker” themed challenges to address the hands-on maker education opportunities that students missed during distance learning due to the pandemic. During the week, students rotate between 1-day and 2-day challenges, and the week culminates in a pine wood derby competition.

Trash Cars Challenge (3 hours)

From my experience coaching high school robotics, I know that kids love motors and are excited by electrified moving things. So, when I saw this video of a simple DIY car with a tiny DC motor I knew that I could use this model to create an engaging, affordable, large-scale challenge for our 9th graders.

Video: How to Make a Powered Car Very Simple - DIY Electric

Slides

Playlist

Materials

To serve 120 students working in pairs for 3 hours, we used…

• Three DC Motors kits (18 motors in each) (read more below in ‘what didn’t work’).
• AA and 9V batteries (the AA were useless, so I recommend ONLY 9V batteries)
• hot glue and glue guns
• lots of different sized rubber bands
• straws and fuse beads (crucial for wheel shafts)
• wire strippers (these are cheap but difficult to use)
• wooden rounds (I would use wooden wheels instead)
• assorted garbage (fruit baskets, cardboard, bottle caps…)
• straws, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners
• power drills, drill press
• wire strippers, electrical tape

Outcomes

What worked well?

• paper workbook with scavenger hunt and QR codes
• begin with scavenger hunt to welcome students into an unfamiliar classroom
• power outlets and glue guns were on the scavenger hunt (so students knew they were )
• one adult at drill station making sure students wear safety goggles
• leave same bit on the drill press (no swapping during worktime)
• students were very engaged

What could work better?

• cars needed to be SUPER LIGHT for these tiny motors
• the tension on rubber bands had to be JUST RIGHT for the motors
• getting the motor to power the car was VERY challenging (but students were very engaged with the problem and stayed remarkably motivated)
• wheels took too much time; provide better wheel materials so kids can focus on other issues
• some students had difficulty stripping wires with these; could pre-strip or use better strippers

Student Work

Students could submit photos of their creations at the end of the day to be eligible for these awards:

1. 🏆 QUIZ CHAMPION - #1 Packet
2. 🔥 MECHANIC’S AWARD - Car build
3. 💅🏼 VISUAL DESIGN - Beautiful