JoinTried and True: Physics fun with toy cars
According to the National Science Education Standards, students should be able to describe an object by its position, direction of motion, and speed (NRC 1996). During a unit on motion, the author decided to use Hot Wheels cars as the object students would describe. The first two activities are used to introduce students to the equipment and the importance of controls. The last of the four investigations is an inquiry-based activity that students enjoy because they design their own experiment.