A project that Freshmen complete every year in their Conceptual Physics course is designing and creating cars that are raced down a ramp and measured for speed and distance travelled. Students design their cars completely using Tinkercad to create parts to be printed on the 3D printer.
The project started with an introduction to professional car design based around this video from BMW. We talked through the three main steps of: drawing and sketching their design ideas; prototyping using clay to create a 3D model; and then manufacture. We also spent some time discussing wheel design and how wheels could be attached to the main body of their cars.
We then worked through these same steps using the sketching tools in the Notability app (or pen and paper) to create 2D designs, professional-grade modeling clay to create their prototypes and finally Tinkercad to design their car parts for the 3D printer for manufacturing.
A selection of photos of the students working on their iPads and in the Science computer lab, some of their car sketches, clay prototypes and a selection of the finished printed models can be seen below:
