How successful was this kit in allowing the exploration of energy transformation in your learners?

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How did students approach the car modification challenge, and what innovative solutions did they come up with? Students approached the car modification challenge with curiosity and creativity. They experimented with different designs, adjusting wheels, angles, and solar panel positions to improve speed and efficiency. Some students added lightweight materials or changed the car’s shape to reduce friction, showing innovative thinking and a practical application of Newton’s laws and mechanical principles.

How did the test-modify-repeat cycle impact students' understanding of the engineering design process?

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What feedback have you received from students or parents about the learning in this kit? Students and parents enjoyed the hands on learning.

“The solar car kit learning experience was highly engaging and effective. Students were excited to explore Newton’s three laws, solar energy, and basic mechanics through hands-on experimentation. Building their own solar cars helped them see scientific concepts in action and strengthened their problem-solving skills. The class was enthusiastic, focused, and thoroughly enjoyed both the learning and the making process. It was a fun, meaningful way to deepen their understanding of science and engineering.”

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Posted 3 weeks ago

How successful was this kit in allowing the exploration of energy transformation in your learners?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

How did students approach the car modification challenge, and what innovative solutions did they come up with? The students used a battery as well as a solar car to see if the car would go faster. They also tested the solar car panel against the battery as well to see which was fastest.

How did the test-modify-repeat cycle impact students' understanding of the engineering design process?

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What feedback have you received from students or parents about the learning in this kit? The students loved this. They even asked parents to buy extra parts for their car such as switches and battery packs.

“The students really enjoyed doing solar cars. It's better when the sun is shining but no sun is all part of the learning curve. The students also looked into a battery pack as well as using solar panels to see if their car would go faster.”

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Posted 1 month ago

How successful was this kit in allowing the exploration of energy transformation in your learners?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

How did students approach the car modification challenge, and what innovative solutions did they come up with? Students approaches the car modification challenge with creativity, curiosity and strong sense of teamwork. They began by testing their basic solar car designs, then quickly moved into experimenting with ways to make them faster or more efficient. Many groups adjusted the angle of their solar panels to capture more sunlight, while others explored lighter materials or changing the shape to reduce drag.

How did the test-modify-repeat cycle impact students' understanding of the engineering design process?

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What feedback have you received from students or parents about the learning in this kit? Overwhelmingly positive. Students described the project as one of their favourite learning projects of the year, syaing it was "fun, hands on, and cool to see how solar panels actually worked". They loved getting to experiment and see immediate results from their design changes.

“Our class absolutely loved the Solar Cars 24 project from School Kit. The materials were well-organised and easy to use, the instructional videos were clear, engaging and accessible for all students. The hands-on desgin challenges sparked high levels of excitement, teamwork and problem solving. Engagement and motivation were consistently high from start to finish. Students were genuinely proud of their creations. A fantastic, classroom-ready resource that brings science to life.”

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Posted 2 months ago

How successful was this kit in allowing the exploration of energy transformation in your learners?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

How did students approach the car modification challenge, and what innovative solutions did they come up with? Some added batteries to make them go faster!

How did the test-modify-repeat cycle impact students' understanding of the engineering design process?

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Very helpful

What feedback have you received from students or parents about the learning in this kit? Students enjoyed this topic.

“My students really enjoyed making the solar cars. They were challenging for some students, but most of them coped well making them. We had a big racing competition when they were finished, and we modified them to make them better,”

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Posted 2 months ago

How successful was this kit in allowing the exploration of energy transformation in your learners?

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Very Successful

How did students approach the car modification challenge, and what innovative solutions did they come up with? Angled solar panels, weighted body with bluetack, modified track, and lighter vehicles

How did the test-modify-repeat cycle impact students' understanding of the engineering design process?

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What feedback have you received from students or parents about the learning in this kit? They enjoyed doing it and went home to talk to their families about it, the girls in the class actually became very competitive and won overall. I had a few parents who were asked by their kids to come in to see their vehicles.

“The Solar Cars kit was a great way for students to experience first hand the learning they had done prior on physics. The way it was created allowed for students to work collaboratively, and although it looked like it was simple, there were areas that challenged the students. Putting the car together meant really thinking about how the gears worked and how to make sure there were strong connections. They were able to adapt their cars and realised that uneven weight distribution or ill fitted wheels, made their car not go straight. The organic way that they had to deal with these challenges as they cropped up was brilliant, as they all experienced these differently and there were rich class conversations, which led off into other areas. The final race and trophies were an amazing finishing touch.”

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Posted 2 months ago

How successful was this kit in allowing the exploration of energy transformation in your learners?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

How did students approach the car modification challenge, and what innovative solutions did they come up with? There were a range of innovations. However, most students moved the solar panel to a more stable position that caught the winter sun at a better angle.

How did the test-modify-repeat cycle impact students' understanding of the engineering design process?

A little helpful

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Very helpful

What feedback have you received from students or parents about the learning in this kit? Students loved building the cars and racing them. It really was a fun and authentic way to see problem solving solutions in practice when cars wouldn't travel very far. Students did get a little bored with so much content of knowledge.

“Solar Cars is a great hands on way to learn about Force and Motion. The material provided by School Kit is helpful and thorough. Students loved building their Solar Car! It provided a learning opportunity for students to problem solve when they needed to think about why their car was not going, or how to improve it's performance. This is really where the learning was! Our only hurdle was doing this unit in Term 2, when there didn't seem to be many days of sunshine so our time outside was limited.”

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Posted 2 months ago

How successful was this kit in allowing the exploration of energy transformation in your learners?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

How did students approach the car modification challenge, and what innovative solutions did they come up with? With gusto! They had so many ideas that were discussed in depth in their groups before they came to an agreement about their next steps and then attempted them. They attempted streamlining, taking off what they deamed to be unnecessary materials/parts. They wanted to know how they could join two solar pannels together and looked into how solar pannels could be connected and then placed on the car in a way that was angled for the sun and did not add wind resistance.

How did the test-modify-repeat cycle impact students' understanding of the engineering design process?

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What feedback have you received from students or parents about the learning in this kit? The students absolutely loved this awesome experience. They were all keen to share their learning at our whole school assembly. We had our Student Led Conferences during this unit of work and every child wanted to have their groups car as evidence of their learning. Many of the parents who came in the evening and could not see the car demonstated were very eager to have the cars come home so they could see them work. We looked at kits that can be bought online as many of the chn wanted to try another design.

“Aakonga were fully engaged and excited to participate in this amazing opportunity. They asked really great questions, wanted to investigate and find out more about the ideas they were coming up with. The instructions/videos/information were extremely detailed and were organised in a really helpful and easy to access way.”

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Posted 3 months ago

How successful was this kit in allowing the exploration of energy transformation in your learners?

Not Successful At All

Neutral

Very Successful

How did students approach the car modification challenge, and what innovative solutions did they come up with? Mostly we worked on getting the cars to work! Some students managed to add more weight and set up challenges such as inclines and jumps to see if they could get the cars over them.

How did the test-modify-repeat cycle impact students' understanding of the engineering design process?

A little helpful

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Very helpful

What feedback have you received from students or parents about the learning in this kit? Students enjoyed the hands on learning and particularly liked watching the heat wrap shrink.

“Students enjoyed building these cars - found it tricky stripping wires but got there in the end. Some cars didnt work which students found frustrating but led to some great problem solving conversations.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 months ago

Solar Cars 24 Reviews