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Towing the Load with the Hess Tow Truck Rescue Team

Author(s): Gregory L. Vogt, Ed.D. | Editors: Nancy P. Moreno, Ph.D., James P. Denk, M.A., Baylor College of Medicine, and Justin A. Mayer, M.B.A., Hess Corporation
Towing the Load with the Hess Tow Truck Rescue Team

 
© Baylor College of Medicine.

Baylor College of Medicine and Hess Corporation have teamed to offer a unique resource for teaching STEM content to young students. The 2019 HESS TowTruck Rescue Team, used in combination with the free curricular guide, Towing the Load with the 2019 Hess TowTruck Rescue Team, provide a powerful STEM learning experience that engages as it teaches. Fill out the short form at the bottom of this page to download your free teacher’s guide.

While designed for middle school students (grades 4–6), each activity in the guide can easily be adapted for students in higher or lower grades. The lessons may be used sequentially or separately, and/or inserted into an existing curriculum.

The following STEM activities are available.

  1. Tow Truck Primer — Using the 2019 Hess tow trucks, students will familiarize themselves with tow truck design and towing capabilities through towing challenges.

  2. Powering the Boom — Students will learn about and experiment with hydraulic booms used by tow trucks for lifting the front ends of vehicles to be towed.

  3. Stuck in a Rut — Students will investigate how tire friction of the tow trucks is essential for pulling out vehicles stuck in a rut.

  4. Help Wanted - Tow Truck Driver — Students will earn a commercial driver’s license by passing a challenging series of road tests.

  5. Hess Towing Inc. — Students will measure and estimate the load their tow trucks can safely lift using the basic equation for determining the force capability of a lever.

  6. The Race is On — Because towing is a competitive business, students will use maps to determine the shortest and quickest routes to an accident scene.

  7. The Cost of Doing Business — Students will indirectly learn about fuel efficiency by comparing the ease their tow trucks can travel over different road surfaces.

Towing the Load with the 2019 Hess TowTruck Rescue Team: STEM Activities for Use with the 2019 HESS Tow Trucks was developed in a partnership between Baylor College of Medicine and the HESS Corporation.

Download: Towing the Load with the 2019 Hess TowTruck Rescue Team

Hess Corporation Logo

Hess Corporation is giving away 1,000 STEM kits to Teachers!

The application period for a 2019 Hess Toy Truck STEM Kit has closed.

All submissions are being reviewed. Applicants will be notified, whether selected or not, by the end of January 2020 and STEM Kits will be delivered in February 2020.

REMINDER:
A STEM Kit will include (12) 2019 Hess Toy Trucks to be used with the free downloadable 2019 Hess Toy Truck STEM curriculum guide.

You can still download all curriculum guides for free at the links below, and use any toy trucks you have on hand.

Hess Tow Truck STEM Kits are NOT available through BioEd Online.

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