Can you top Tesla

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Can you top Tesla?

• A Physical Science Learning Project for Grade 10
• by
• Angela Stott

http//news.com.com/2300-11386_3-6096355-4.html?ta
gne.gall.pg
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A letter to you

• Dear friend
• Can you think of any car better than the Tesla
  Roadster? I bet you cant.
• Hey- how about that lets have a bet about it.
  You convince me that any car is better than the
  Tesla Roadster, and Ill buy you the car of your
  dreams mahala present. On the other hand, if
  during the process your research convinces you
  that the Roadsters the way to go, give me a nice
  clear comparison between it and any good car,
  which I can use to convince other people with,
  and the Tesla is yours for free.  
•  

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A letter to you (continued)

• Mind you, I want a clear, logical, systematic
  comparison. E-mail a PowerPoint presentation to
  me with the findings of your research, will you?
  At the least I want to see photos of the Tesla
  and at least one other car you compare it
  against, information about top speeds,
  acceleration rates, energy transfer efficiency,
  power, environmental impact, buying and running
  costs, and a summary of strengths and weaknesses,
  from which you motivate your choice of car.

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Optional section of letter

• Oh and while youre at it Im wanting to go
  to Cape Town on a leisurely site-seeing trip
  (from Pietermaritzburg, where I live, by the
  way), and Id love to get someone else to do the
  hard work of planning an itinerary for me (you
  know routes to take, sites to see, where Ill
  need to refuel, travelling times, stay over
  places, and all the different costs). Maybe you
  can do this for the Tesla and one other car for
  comparison, so I can decide which car Ill decide
  to do the trip on.

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Optional section of letter

• If you do this extra job for me, Ill fit your
  car with Artificial Intelligence features,
  including the Active cruise control with stop and
  go, the Remote Park Assist and the Radio-based
  early warning system. So theres a bonus for you
  if you want it. I think it would be a good idea
  for you to set equations in Excel, so it can do
  the calculations for you, and to use Mail Merge
  to generate a report for me.

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End of letter to you

• Looking forward to hearing from you soon (since I
  presume youre not so idiotic as to brush off
  this offer! ha ha).
• Yours extremely sincerely
• Rick Richman
• rich_at_teslafan.co.za
• (PS for your information Roadster runs at about
  5c/km, while a 10l/100km petrol guzzler costs
  about 50c/km!)

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Learning outcomes

• LO1
• AS1 plan and conduct a scientific investigation
  to collect data systematically with regard to
  accuracy and reliability
• AS2 seek patterns and trends in the information
  collected and link it to existing scientific
  knowledge to help draw conclusions
• Communicate information and conclusions with
  clarity and precision.

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Learning outcomes

• LO2
• AS3 apply scientific knowledge in familiar,
  simple contexts
• LO3
• AS2 describe the interrelationship and impact of
  science and technology on socio-economic and
  human development
• AS3 discuss the impact of scientific and
  technological knowledge on sustainable local
  development of resources and on the immediate
  environment

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What must you do?

• Group work brainstorm what you know and what you
  need to know to answer Mr Richman.
• Choose a car to compare with the Roadster.
• Find out and store information about the Roadster
  and the other car. Save a picture of each.

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What must you do?

• Optional use Excel to compare the cars
  specifications graphically.
• Report 1.
• Optional Report 2.
• Learn about the environmental impact of burning
  fossil fuels, and of using battery-powered cars.
• Report 3.

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So what do you need to do?

• Use the presentation template to prepare your
  PowerPoint presentation. You may make adjustments
  to the layout.
• Self and peer assess your presentation. Make
  improvements.

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So what do you need to do?

• Optional (at home, or while you wait for others
  to finish) do the enrichment challenge (prepare
  an itinerary for Mr Richman). Self- and peer-
  assess, then submit to your teacher.
• Submit your PowerPoint presentation for summative
  assessment.

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Assessment

• Baseline assessment
• brainstorm issue
• Formative assessment
• interim reports 1, 2 (optional), 3 self- and
  peer- assess, then submit for teacher guidance
• final presentation self- and peer- assess
• optional enrichment task self- and peer- assess
• Summative assessment
• PowerPoint presentation assessed by the teacher,
  using a checklist and rubric

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Timeframes
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Timeframes
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Timeframes
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Resources

• Science content resources
• refer to the mechanics section in your text book
  you would have been taught this work before the
  project
• useful links
• speed, velocity, acceleration, power, energy
  efficiency
• environmental impact petrol- and battery- power

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Resources

• Resources about the Tesla Roadster
• Popular Mechanics October 2006, pp.46-49
• useful web-link Tesla motors
• Resources about other cars
• bring your own magazines
• search the internet

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Resources

• Computer skill resources
• searching and saving from the internet
• drawing graphs in Excel (optional)
• using equations in Excel (optional)
• using Mail Merge (optional)

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Resources

• Task scaffolding resources
• interim reports 1, 2 (optional), 3
• presentation template
• Other (for extension activity)
• road map (Pietermaritzburg to Cape Town)
• route information (e.g. from internet)
• Teacher resources
• project plan
• learner sample
• suggested answers reports 1, 2, 3