Group Assessment of the Educational Objectives of Our ProjectGroup Assessment of the Educational Objectives of Our Project
This project has tried to integrate technologies from mechanical, electrical, computer science, and civil engineering. The mechanical topics the student will learn about are gear rations, power transfer and transmissions. The students will gain a theoretical understanding of these topics through their lab manual, but they will also gain a physical understanding by working with the motors and gears, and actually building their own transmission.
The students will learn about computer science and electrical engineering by writing the C program necessary to run the car. By writing this program, the students will gain general computer experience as well as an understanding of the usefulness of programming. They will also learn about control systems by reading about and using their control board.
Both civil and mechanical engineering are concerned with structural stability. Structural stability is one of the main problems that needs to be overcome when building the drag racer. Because the machine needs to hold a relatively large amout of weight (the batteries), has moving parts, and travels up and down hill, if the contraption is even slightly unstable, parts are sure to fall off.
The student will gain skills in problem solving by overcoming problems such as structural instability. The student will have to determine the root of the problem and create a plan to fix it. This is a beneficial skill that will be useful throughout their academic life here, as well as later on in their careers.
Creativity is another important skill that this project will help foster. The students are given all of the technical information they will need, however the they have to use their own creativity to design their drag racer. Creativity will be need for every design aspect from what the car looks like to what will increase its speed.
Because this is a group project, the students will learn to listen to each other. But because the groups are small they will have a nonthreatening environment where they can gain confidence in their own ideas while learing to value the ideas of their peers.
The students will gain practice in gathering many ideas together to create a larger idea. In this case the larger idea will be the transmission. The students will not be shown how to build a particular transmission step by step. Instead they will be given information on transmissions in general and their components, but they will not have one designed for them. As mensioned earlier, this alows for creativity. There is more than one way to build a fast car.
The last important skill that a student will gain from the LEGO Championship Drag Racer project is how to make an idea a reality. In the real world, this determines whether a poject is successful or not. An idea may look great on paper, but the real test is does it actually work.
The obvious method of assessment is by the pecking order, (how many races each car wins.) Although, this may help determine what cars have the best design, this should not be the only deteminant of what grade each group should receive. Some well designed cars may have a gear problems every now and then, due to the nature of the LEGO gears. They tend to shift out of place every now and then. Other cars may get lucky and out perform their design.
If a group is able to implement their ideas and make a working car this is a big accomplishment for freshmen with no engineering experience. Their effort and accomplishment should be justly rewarded.
The stability of the design should also be taken into account. Did pieces fall off of their drag racer? Obtaining structurally stability is one of the most difficult chanllenges that the students will face.
What ideas did the students come up with to make their drag racer faster. The instructor will be able to read about the students ideas in their reports. How creative were these ideas, and how were they implement in the car? They students should be expected to detemine how well they thought their ideas worked.
