Let the Testing Begin!

It's time to put our Mars Rovers to the test!  Hopefully all that hard work, glue gun burns and broken rubber bands will have led us to the point where we can feel proud to present our "self-propelled scientific transport vehicle."  But, how do we test it?


If you can remember back to the "Developing Ideas" phase, you might remember we looked over the design challenge requirements to being creating our Design Specification.  We crafted criteria we believed would help guide us through the process of designing a product or solution that would run successfully in this challenge.

Each of those criteria we chose to make our Design Specification should be testable in some way.  Will it roll a specific distance?  Lets run it through a trial!  Is it make of the right materials?  Let's have a classmate inspect it.  How should we test our rovers to make sure they meet our Design Specification?  That's where your "Evaluation the Solution" student worksheet comes in.  On the worksheet you'll have an opportunity to list out some potential ways you'll assess your rover to ensure it meets the criteria you chose.

Now that you have a list of ways you intend to put your rover through it's paces, lets get started by using the "Mars Rover - Evaluation Phase - Student and Peer Check-list" worksheet.  This document is designed to allow you to collect data and evidence from your trial runs that you can use later when you need to share your thoughts on just how successful it is.  You'll have a partner objectively fill out the check-list giving you feedback on how they feel the rover fares during each of your trials.

When we've collected the data, we'll interpret what it means to us.  We can decide how the evaluations from ourselves and our peers can give us a clear idea on how successful our rover is.

In the end, you'll have an opportunity to share with us what changes you think you would make to the aesthetics, structure or functionality of your rover to improve upon it.  Could your wheels be better attached, the chassis strengthened or the equipment better secured?

Congratulations on an amazing job!  You guys and girls make me proud with how creative and resourceful you are!  Your energy is great and I can't wait to see what you'll produce for our next unit!

Resources:
Evaluating the Solution - Task Specific Rubric
Evaluating the Solution - Student Worksheet Template
Mars Rover - Evaluation Phase - Student and Peer Check-list