Course: ISTEM Stage/Year: Stage 5/Year 9 Module: Co2 Dragsters Duration: 10 Weeks

The Co2 Dragster unit of work aims at teaching students about different scientific concepts including
newtons laws and aerodynamics principles. The unit also introduces mathematical concepts such as
vector and vector addition in a practical manner that gives real world examples of the mathematical
Summary
principal. Additionally the students and supported through a design process cantered around students
creating their own CO2 dragster and competing against their fellow class mates to see who is the
fastest.

The assessment for this unit is designed for students to complete a portfolio of work that is entered in
to a web based teaching resources called Stileapp. Students are required to answer questions based on
Assessment
the work conducted in class and upload their design work throughout the unit. The work can be
overview
accessed by the teacher at any time throughout the unit and marking feedback can be give quickly and
effectively to students.

5.1.1 develops ideas and explores solutions to STEM based problems

5.1.2 demonstrated initiative, entrepreneurship, resilience and cognitive flexibility through the
completion of practical STEM based activities
5.2.1 describe how scientific and mechanical concepts relate to technological and engineering practice
5.2.2 applies cognitive processes to address real world STEM based problems in a variety of contexts
5.3.1 applies a knowledge and understanding of STEM principles and processes
5.3.2 identifies and uses a range of technologies in the development of solutions to STEM based
problems
Outcomes
5.4.1 plans and manages projects using an iterative and collaborative design process
5.4.2 develops skills in using mathematical, scientific and graphical methods whilst working as a team
5.5.1 applies a range of communication techniques in the presentation of research and design solutions
5.5.2 critically evaluates innovative, enterprising and creative solutions
5.6.1 selects and uses appropriate problem solving and decision making techniques in a range of STEM
contexts
5.6.2 will work individually or in teams to solve problems in STEM contexts
 5.7.1 demonstrates an appreciation of the value of STEM in the world in which they live
5.8.1 understands the importance of working collaboratively, cooperatively and respectfully in the
completion of STEM activities

Students Students learn to: Teaching and learning activities Resources

5.1 research and - analyse, interpret and Driving Question: What are CO2 Dragsters? What will we be Video link top fuel
exploration apply research data in the doing? dragsters: https://you
- interpreting and development of tu.be/-VF0JwxQqcA
analysing data aerodynamic projects Watching a video on top fuel dragsters to show students where
- quantitative and - complete quantitative this project come from and the amazing lengths that teams go to
qualitative research and qualitative research get these dragsters competing on race days. Video link Superfast
- surveys - use research techniques
CO2 Dragsters
- interviews to develop design ideas Before video ask students to write down three interesting facts https://www.youtube.com/
- observation by testing and about the top fuel dragsters and inform them that we will create a watch?v=sZTYYZn-CII
- testing & experimenting mind map after the video.
experimenting - select and use a variety
of research methods to Teacher: explain that we are starting a new project today called CO2
inform the generation, dragsters. Stileapp: Co2 Dragsters
modification, and Challenge – Project
development of Teacher: hands out project description, assessment outcomes and portfolio Overview
aerodynamic projects requirement sheets.
- experiment to optimise
solutions for Show video of Superfast CO2 Dragsters
aerodynamics related
projects Teacher is to have ever student log into Stileapp and join the ISTEM class.

Students are to view the first lesson CO2 Dragster Challenge – Project
overview
Driving Question: What is the third law of motion and how does it Stileapp: Newton’s Third
affect the CO2 Dragsters? Law – Balloon Experiment

Teacher is to explain Newtons Third law: "Every force has an equal Stileapp: Newton’s Third
and opposite reaction force" Law of Motion

 What do students know about Newton's third law?

 Where is it used? Give examples.

Students will conduct the balloon experiment to explore newtons

third law. (method and hypothesis are in a Stileapp lesson)
 Students are to write a hypothesis,
 Collect Circumference and distance results from 4 trials,
 Construct a graph, and
 Draw a conclusion
Class discussion
 What was the result of the experiment we conducted?
 Why did a full balloon go further than a balloon with less in it?
(looking for pressure)
 In the balloon experiment what was causing the balloon to
move forward? (the force created by the exiting air)
 What was causing the force? (looking for pressurised air)
With a pitcher of a CO2 dragster on the whit board,

 How can our experiments and learning today be applied to the

CO2 Dragster? (dragster=balloon, the air in the balloon=CO2
canister)
 Ask students to come up and draw the forces on the dragster.
 How does Newton's third law affect the speed of our dragsters?
Students are to work through Newtons third law explanation in
Stileapp
Driving Question: What is the inertia and friction and how does it Video third law
affect the CO2 Dragsters? https://www.youtube.
Watch video on the third law com/watch?v=1XSyyj
cEHo0
Newton’s apple
Teacher is to re-explain Newton's first law: "an object will remain at https://www02.stileapp.co
rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an m/uploads/au/T20171025-
external force." d3ba8e48ddaea16c5d6b98
683b6b06dee7ebb7326689
 What do students know about Newton's first law? 65c235525e/Newton_s_Ap
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 Where is it used? Give examples.
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 Students are to write down what they think will happen, In the UGM6DQOMLI&Expires=15
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 Watch the remaining video. vlkmIIlbdBZGe%2Fg%2BsOq
 Who predicted what would happen? f4Zw%3D
 Why did the apple get cut in half and not fall off the end of the Stileapp: Newton’s First
knife? Law of Motion –
Experiment
paper and coin experiment
Stileapp: Newton’s First
 Using a piece of paper and a coin sitting on top. Students are
Law of Motion
to write down what they think will happen when the paper is
removed.
 Under what conditions will the coin stay in place?
 Predict: What will happen to the coin when you pull out the
paper?
 Explain: why the coin stayed in place or moved with the
paper.
 Students will need to write their answers in Stileapp lesson
 Students are to work through Stileapp lesson on the first law.
Discussion about what student learnt about the first law an inertia

 How does Newton's first law affect the speed of our dragsters?
 how are newtons first and second law working together to make
the dragster move

Driving Question: How and why do the CO2 Bottles propel the Stileapp: Investigation Co2
dragsters? Canister – Force applied

Students recall Newtons Third law: "Every force has an equal and
opposite reaction force"

Students and teacher will conduct an experiment to determine the

force produced by a CO2.
Method and experiment setup is in Stileapp.
The teacher is to walk students through the aim, variables, method,
safety precautions and result taking.
Important, the teacher is to be the one that conducts the
experiment due to safety issues and using a compressed gas.

Teacher link to speed to the weight of the dragster and the force
produced by the CO2 canister
5.2 technologies describe a range of
Driving Question: What does aerodynamics look like and how do Power Point Slides:
related to technologies used in
we test objects Aerodynamics in
aerodynamics aerodynamics
Practice
- wind tunnels - perform experiments What are wind tunnels?
- smoke tunnels using a range of
- computational aerodynamic Introduction
fluid dynamics technologies to solve
(CFD) STEM based problems https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubyxYHFv2qw
- utilise modelling
software to determine How do wind tunnels work and what are the parts of a wind tunnel -
optimum aerodynamic use image to explain.
conditions using CFD
Wind tunnels work using laminar flow - laminar flow is
techniques
smooth flowing water
why do we use them to visualise flow over complex objects, attain
data from sensors (pressure), validate CFD calculations
what does flow look like over different objects find flow over
complex shapes

5.3 aerodynamics - describe how Finite pros and cons of wind tunnels - make a table
principles Element Analysis is
- Finite Element applied aerodynamic What are CFD and FEA - describe the difference CFD - computational
Analysis (FEA) systems fluid dynamics - used for fluid applications, e.g. air flow, water flow
FEA - Finite element analysis - used for structural analysis, e.g.
forces and stresses on a material.
How does it work? CFD uses equations for fluids and conservation of
energy (CFD). Stress equations and conservation of energy
equations.
Solves equations based on the input given by the previous set of
equations. - use image to explain.
process - computer model, input settings, meshing, solving
The Applications - show the evolution of vehicles because of CFD and
FEA.
passenger jets - bowing dream liner and Connie
fighter jets - F22 and the Dassault Mirage 5
racing cars - different F1 cars commuter cars -
what does it look like show images of CFD simulations
 Why we use it pros and cons – make a table.
Allows engineers to design aerodynamic vehicles that are more
efficient and have a large reduction in drag.

Students are will experiment with what the flow around different
objects look like in a wind tunnel.

5.3 aerodynamics - explain aerodynamic Driving Question: What is aerodynamics and how does it affect Power Point Slides:
principles principles moving objects? Scaler Vs Vectors
- dynamic, static - describe the effects of
friction lift, drag, weight and Using power point presentation
- lift/drag ratios thrust
- lift, drag, weight, - design, construct or Vector and scalar
thrust simulate solutions to
Define a Scalar
- Finite Element problems related to
Analysis (FEA) friction
- flight - construct models for  Quantities that don't have a direction are
the purpose of solving called scalar quantities, e.g... distance, speed
aerodynamic problems Define a Vector

 Quantities that have a direction are called vector quantities,

e.g... displacement, velocity
5.4 aerodynamics
- determine solutions give examples - on slides
forces
- lift, drag, weight, using vector notation Students are to determine vectors and scalars from a list and write
- perform simple
thrust in their books.
- simple vectors calculations related to
- efficiency efficiency
- apply mathematical and Adding and Subtracting vectors
graphical methods to
solve aerodynamic Graphical representation of a vector, key features angle, size,
related problems direction
- solve aerodynamic
problems related to lift, Adding and subtracting vectors in the same plane. Demonstration
drag, weight and thrust and give sample questions.
Extension: adding and subtracting vectors in different planes
[resolving vectors (trig and Pythagoras)]. Give examples of each and
practices questions
Define Lift, weight, thrust and drag using aircraft model
explain why these are important to flight
Use the Bernoulli Principle to explain lift.

 Fast = low pressure

 slow = high pressure
 Use the paper experiment to demonstrate.
Blow air across the top of the paper and see what happens.
Teacher Understanding video link
explaining https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgeIWXld9FU)
How can these be applied to a dragster?

Aerodynamic forces in equilibrium and unbalanced

When are the forces balanced?
When are forces unbalanced?
What is the result of unbalanced forces?
Recall this from work done on newtons third law.

Apply what was learnt about vectors to the balanced and unbalanced
forces, use a diagram to explain. Students are to draw a diagram in
their books.
apply what was learnt about adding and subtracting vectors to
aerodynamic problems (2 problems)
Apply what was learnt about aerodynamic forces and vectors to the
CO2 dragsters.
Think about the forces, equilibrium state and an unbalanced state.
How does this fit in with newtons laws?
5.5 aerodynamic - develop engineered Driving Question: What is the design process and how can we Stileapp: CO2
design solutions solutions to meet detailed apply it to our project? Dragster Challenge -
specifications
Design
- evaluate results from
testing to improve Design process – Teacher is to introduce students to the design
aerodynamic process. Outlining that it is a circular process and that designs
performance of evolve throughout the process.
engineered solutions
- uses appropriate design Students are to work through the Stileapp work book on the design
processes and process.
techniques in the context
of developing engineered
Students are then to start working on their design using the
solutions
template in Stileapp as a guide.

Define – Students define the problem/task

Brain storm – Students brain storm for ideas to complete the task.
Students need to produce 10 different thumb nail sketches of
designs
Research – students find ideas for their cars and produce ideas
from current designs.
Design – students develop sketches three or more designs.
Create/prototype – students create final design sketch and design
template, using template supplied, to create foam prototype.
Design evaluate – students evaluate design prototype for different
attributes such as strength, weight, aerodynamics.
Redesign – students redesign their CO2 dragster based on their
evaluation.
Final Design – Students create new template and make their final
prototype out of balsa wood
Final test and evaluate – Students test their dragsters.
Extension work: Stileapp: Logo
Driving Question: Why Do we need logos? Design
logo design
Students are to work through Stileapp lesson "Logo design".
Teacher is to explain and give examples on what a thumbnail sketch
is.
Each student will create 5 to 10 thumbnail sketches for team logos.
Each student will pick two and develop further.
Student will pick the best design for their team logo.
Students can then start to create their logo digitally.

Students will either need to provide a hard or soft copy of their logo
so that it can be printed on stickers for their dragsters.

Driving Question: Who is the fastest?

Competition Day

Students will race their cars to see who is the fastest and to see how
fast their car went down the track.

Students will need to gather, distance, time information on their

runs
Driving Question: How could I make my design better?

Final evaluation of design.

Students are to ask how fast did my car go. Students will need to
work this out by using the formula V=d/t

What design changes could be made to improve the dragster?

Students are to finalise portfolio and hand it in for marking.

Compiling results/finishing design report
Modifications to Unit
Change made
Added driving question to each section of the
lesson plan.
Removed a greeting exercise after playing the
video “top fuel dragsters”
Added an additional task to the first video,
asked students as a class to create a mind
map about the video and what they found
interesting.
Removed part of the project where students
create teams.
Moved section about students creating their
own logos and mad it in to an extension ask
during the designing of the dragsters.
Added in explanation on what a thumb nail
sketch is.
Changed the number of thumbnails sketches
required and the number of ideas to develop
further.
Removed Kahoot quiz from the end of the
newton’s third law section.
Added in section about determining the force
produced by a CO2 canister.
Page number Justification for change
2-11 This was added to give more purpose to each section of the project and allow
students see the purpose of each section of the project. This allows students to
start questioning the information presented to them and is aimed at stimulating
student’s interest as well as maintain student’s engagement in the unit
(Department of education and training, 2017).
2 This exercise didn’t really work as intended the first time I used it to try and get to
know the students. Additionally when I reteach the unit in term 3, I will have
already work with the students for a lot of term 1 and 2 making the task
redundant.
2 This task is aimed at keeping the student engaged in the video and wants to ensure
that the students take something useful away from the video.
2 Making this task a team task sound good when creating the unit of work,
but in the end didn’t really add much the unit and students didn’t really end
up working as part of a team for most of the project. Students also
commented that this part of the project didn’t work as those were all
producing their own individual dragsters.
2 and 10 - 11 Students didn’t understand the relevance of producing a team logo or why
they were doing it. At the beginning of the unit. The task has been mover to
the design phase of the unit and made in to an additional task activity. This
has been moved to allow for more time on the concepts required like,
newtons laws and aerodynamics.
10 - 11 Last time the students didn’t understand what a thumbnail sketch was. So
the instruction to explain what it is was added.
10 - 11 Again this was reduced to try and reduce unnecessary work for the
students.
3 This was never done during the first time the unit was run and was removed
to eliminate unnecessary work and activities.
4 This was one of the questions a lot of students asked me about the CO2
canisters. While the maths to work out the force produced by the CO2
canister is beyond the level of the students, conducting an experiment to
determine the force is a fun and exciting way to calculate the force applied

Made resolving vectors in different planes an
extension part of vectors.
Clarified some activities relating to vectors
and aerodynamic forces.
Removed activity of student creating a wind
tunnel. And changed it to experimenting with
a wind tunnel.
Added in section in design evaluation that
gets students to work out the average speed
of their CO2 dragsters.
Decided to change the order of introducing
aerodynamic principles. Making aerodynamic
technologies (5.2) before aerodynamic
principles.
to the CO2 dragsters.
7 This proved beyond the students capabilities and was difficult for the
student to understand and do. It has been made into an extension activity
to allow for some differentiation for advanced students.
7-8 Updated some activities in this section to make them easier to understand,
as last year the other teacher running the unit didn’t fully understand what
was needed.
6 This activity, while it is fun, did not add any quality learning experience for
the students. The task took too long and ended up being completed by the
teachers in order to have a working wind tunnel to experiment on.
10 - 11 At the end of the test runs last year students wanted to know how fast their
cars could were traveling. By adding in this exercise during the competition
students will be able to calculate an average speed for their dragster and
also challenge themselves during the final competition.
5-8 I felt that introducing aerodynamic technologies to students first and
experimenting with a wind tunnel before discussing different aerodynamic
principles would be beneficial to students. This allowed students to be
introduced to terms like drag and lift in normal conversation surrounding
what was happening in the wind tunnel. The move will also allow the
teacher to link what students saw in the wind tunnel with the aerodynamic
forces being discussed.
Resources
References
Department of education and training. (2017).High Impact Teaching Strategies: Excellence in

Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from https://www.education.vic.gov.au/

Documents/school/teachers/support/highimpactteachstrat.pdf

Stileapp. (2019). Newton’s Third Law of Motion. Retrieved from https://stileapp.com/au/SCHS_NSW-2835/subject-

157562/lesson-1116444/worksheet-5861456

Stileapp. (2019). Newton’s First Law of Motion. Retrieved from https://stileapp.com/au/SCHS_NSW-2835/subject-

157562/lesson-1116444/worksheet-5994813