Chile Solar Car STEM Challenge - Engineering Design
Explore the largest solar power plant in the world located in Chile as you take your students on an educational adventure with this complete lesson! Read the letter from fictitious travel guides explaining the importance of clean energy and the use of solar power.
Grades: Kindergarten - 5th
Teaching Duration: 2 hours
“A great resource as I used it as an extension activity. My child had a lot of fun with this.”
product overview
Explore the largest solar power plant in the world located in Chile as you take your students on an educational adventure with this complete lesson! Read the letter from fictitious travel guides explaining the importance of clean energy and the use of solar power. Students will learn about solar cars as they use them to complete a mission! They must make their solar car navigate the mountains and ocean surrounding the solar power plant using the engineering design process. Students also learn about the STEM careers of electrical engineering and heliophysics to bring in real-world STEM connections. The included mission-related math problems extend the learning fun!
*Note, this activity requires solar cars. You can find the one's we used here (Amazon Affiliate link).
As with many STEM activities that are student-driven, this challenge can be tailored to students of various skill levels and abilities.
Included in this product:
Detailed teachers guide with links to resources and teacher slides
Editable grading rubric for the engineering design process
STEM Career Connections
Solar ball icebreaker game activity instructions
Editable student handouts to guide them through the Engineering Design Process
Digital STEM journal option
Math extension problems
Required Materials for Challenge: tape, scissors, solar powered car, newspaper, card stock, cardboard, craft sticks, pipe cleaners, poster board, and cardboard tubes or rolled up card stock.
