Challenge
This month is the 144th Kentucky Derby. The best horses will race 1.25 miles around the track at Churchill Downs. Who will help them guide the track? The jockey that rides the horses will do this. A jockey must be light in weight but still be able to control the horse. This a large factor in the competition and winning the race. So for this month, the challenge is going to be creating and designing a mock jockey for a mock horse! How can you make your jockey aerodynamic? How will the jockey stay on the horse? Where should the jockey sit? What will be the race conditions? Your challenge is to think about these questions and use all your given materials to build a jockey that will sit on top a matchbox car (your horse) and goes the fastest speed or longest distance.

Your jockey does have some criteria and constraints. Only the materials provided can be used in your design and ALL of them must be used. You should try to use the same matchbox car as everyone else in the class. The jockey must stay on the car for the entire race. You cannot change the car in any way. The race must be conducted as fair as possible.   

Materials

• 1 matchbox car
• 4 toothpicks
• 2 index cards
• 1 foot thread/string/yarn
• 2 rubber bands
• 5-feet string piece
• 1 foot tape
• stopwatch
  

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​Hints and Tips for Success

1. Allow students planning and discussion time by having them experiment with the items to see how flexible and movable they are. Students could test out cars to time them before their jockey is attached.
2. After experimenting, allow student groups to plan their final design. Include as many ways to improve their jockey and race time as needed.
3. For differentiation, adjust the amount of materials available, items needed to use, add any additional materials, take away materials, have students choose from a variety of cars, have the jockey need to look like a person. Adjustments could be made to make it more challenging or simpler.
4. Create some sort of race track by using a wide piece of cardboard or other sturdy material set up like a ramp. This way multiple cars can be placed on the track at a time. Create a gate for the cars so that when lifted, all the cars start at the same exact time.
5. Discuss if students would like to race to see which car and jockey is the fastest over a certain distance or travels the longest distance after leaving the ramp.
6. Connect to science by discussing forces, air resistance, friction, speed, or variables.
7. Connect to math by having students graph their times or measure the distance their cars and jockeys travel after each race.
8. Connect to ELA by having students create a broadcast of the event as announcers of the race. Students can use a green screen app to broadcast and provide a photo finish for tight races.

Challenge
The windiest month of the year is usually March. The second? April. It’s a little nicer in April than in March to fly kites, which is why it’s the National Kite Month. Besides flying kites, what else does the wind help us do? One thing that has become more common is using the wind to generate power (energy) with windmills. Windmills will be involved in the challenge this month. The challenge is to build windmill blades that generate the most power. How many blades should there be? What types of blades catch the most wind? Use your skills to find out!

Your windmill blades do have some criteria and constraints. Only the materials provided can be used in your design. The blades can only be a certain height determined by the height of the windmill base. The blade spokes need to be coffee stirrers or craft sticks, but part of the blade that catches the wind can be any material.

Materials

• index cards
• tissue paper
• toothpicks
• tape
• string
• foam ball
• wooden skewer
• empty juice carton
• small paper cups
• craft sticks
• coffee stirrers
• paper
• aluminum foil
• wax paper
• small 3 speed fan
• washers, coins, marbles, or other small objects for weights

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Hints and Tips for Success

1. Allow students planning and discussion time by having them experiment with the items to see how flexible and movable they are. They could also research different windmills to study the blades, how they are positioned, how many there are, or how they are angled.
2. After experimenting, allow student groups to plan their final design and decide which materials would be best. Include as many ways to improve their windmill blades as needed.
3. For differentiation, adjust the amount of materials available and allowed to use, add any additional materials, provide examples of blades that work, show them the different angles, start with little weight in the cup. Adjustments could be made to make it more challenging or simpler.
4. To make the windmill, fill the empty juice carton with heavy items to hold it in place. Poke the wooden skewer through the top of the juice carton and wiggle it around so the hole is big enough for the skewer to twist freely. Secure a piece of string the length of the carton to a small cup using tape or another fashion. On the dull end of the skewer, tie the other end of the string holding the cup. The students should be able to add weights to the cup. When the skewer twists, it should now cause the string to wrap around the end, raising the cup.
5. Give groups of students a foam ball to use as their center. This ball will be attached to the front of the windmill base, opposite the string and cup. Demonstrate how the windmill works with the students by attaching the foam ball and twisting it. Remind them that their goal is to cause the windmill to generate power by lifting the cup with weights. The fan should be placed in front of the windmill about 1 foot away.
6. Challenge the students further by using different speeds on the fan and adding more weight to the cup if they succeed.
7. Connect to science by discussing weather conditions including severe weather, speed of an object to the energy of the object, or energy and natural resources.
8. Connect to ELA by reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Wheeler, where the main character builds a windmill to help provide a water well for the village. Nonfiction books about wind or windmills would fit well with this concept as well.