Learning Goals
Students will be able to use atomic structure and valence electron models to justify which materials are best for a future car body based on strength, weight, and cost.
Students will be able to analyze ionic and covalent bonding data to explain how bonding affects the performance of car body and fuel materials.
Students will be able to construct models of chemical reactions to determine whether future-car fuel options are exothermic or endothermic and obey conservation of mass.
Students will be able to calculate percent composition and mole relationships for a chosen fuel reaction to compare efficiency and material use.
Students will be able to investigate and model how CO2 emissions lead to water acidification and explain the environmental impacts on aquatic life.
Students will be able to empathize with users and stakeholders to define a car-design problem that balances performance, cost, and environmental impact.
Students will be able to prototype, test, and refine a future car concept using peer critique and evidence from materials and reaction investigations.
Products
Individual Car Materials and Fuel Design Portfolio
Each student creates a research-based portfolio with a materials evidence chart, a user-needs empathy map, and a low-tech prototype sketch for one future car component. The portfolio must show how firsthand or teacher-supported data shaped the student’s individual design decisions.
Future Auto Expo Prototype, Problem Statement, and Stakeholder Presentation
Teams produce a shared evidence-based problem statement and a collaboratively improved car prototype or service solution for the Future Auto Expo. Their presentation explains how individual research informed the final design and how scientific evidence, user feedback, and trade-off decisions shaped the solution.
No rubric has been generated yet.