Rocket tapes together his cardboard box basket. He drops in five blocks at once.
Crunch! One side folds over. Rocket laughs. "Found a weak spot!"
Raven leans in. "What do you notice? Where did it bend first?"
Nova hovers beside the bent side. "Tests are made to find failure points," she says. "Now you know what to improve."
A model is a simple version of your design.
Build it from cardboard, paper and tape.
Models are for testing at the table. They stay off real bikes.
In a fair test, you change only one thing.
Everything else stays the same.
Do more than one try, called a trial.
Tests often find failure points. Those show what to improve.
| Problem | A fair test idea |
|---|---|
| Carrying | Add blocks one at a time. Count how many before it bends. |
| Being seen | In a dim room, shine a flashlight on it. Compare with plain paper. |
| Rain | Sprinkle water drops over it. Check if paper under it stays dry. |
| Model (made-up practice data) | Trial 1 | Trial 2 | Trial 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| One layer of cardboard | 6 blocks | 7 blocks | 6 blocks |
| Two layers of cardboard | 12 blocks | 13 blocks | 12 blocks |
| My model | Trial 1 | Trial 2 | Trial 3 | Failure point I saw |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Version 1 |
| Statement | True or false? |
|---|---|
| A fair test changes only one thing. | ? |
| Finding a failure point means the project failed. | ? |
| Doing three trials helps check the result. | ? |
| Models get tested on real bikes. | ? |
Terrific testing! Tomorrow you improve your model and look back at the whole course.