Introduction Students are introduced to the Greenpower Challenge and the feasibility study they will be developing. The Greenpower Challenge, an initiative of The Greenpower Education Trust, is supported by Siemens and promotes sustainable engineering to young people. Narrative: this episode is intended to introduce the context to the students and to make them familiar with the aspects of the study they will be developing and presenting. Learning objectives Understand the scenario being presented and the challenge for this topic. • Learning activities 1. Start off by showing students pictures of entrants in the Greenpower Challenge and ask for suggestions as to what the activity might be about. 2. Then explain that it is a competition that many schools enter, that it involves students in building an electric car, designing a body for it and competing in endurance races. Explain that the cars are powered by rechargeable batteries (rather larger and more powerful than the kind of battery that would be used in a camera or mobile phone), that the cars are similar in terms of technical design and that to win, a team has to keep going the longest (rather than to be the fastest). 3. Introduce the scenario by saying that the Head Teacher has heard about the Greenpower Challenge and thinks that this is something that some students would be interested in competing in. Explain that she knows that it will involve them in constructing a battery powered car from a kit of parts, designing a body for it and entering it in a race. She knows that success in the race will depend not so much on maximising speed as endurance and range, so energy efficiency and aerodynamic effectiveness will be important. Explain that she has asked for a feasibility study to make the case to the the project and justifying the money to be school’s governors, explaining spent on the kit of parts to build the car. 4. Say that this topic will involve students in finding out more about the Challenge, identifying key features and preparing a presentation to justify the involvement. school’s This topic consists of three aspects. A decision will need to have been made by the teacher as to 5. whether all students will do the three aspects or whether students will be divided into teams and then each aspect undertaken by a different sub-group. In this case the sub-groups would each contribute a particular component to the final presentation. Outcomes Understanding and appreciation of the Challenge to be met in this topic. • Investigate In this episode students study how an electric car works, the components of the system and the function of
Introduction Students are introduced to the Greenpower Challenge and the feasibility study they will be developing. The Greenpower Challenge, an initiative of The Greenpower Education Trust, is supported by Siemens and promotes sustainable engineering to young people. Narrative: this episode is intended to introduce the context to the students and to make them familiar with the aspects of the study they will be developing and presenting. Learning objectives • Understand the scenario being presented and the challenge for this topic. Learning activities 1. Start off by showing students pictures of entrants in the Greenpower Challenge and ask for suggestions as to what the activity might be about. 2. Then explain that it is a competition that many schools enter, that it involves students in building an electric car, designing a body for it and competing in endurance races. Explain that the cars are powered by rechargeable batteries (rather larger and more powerful than the kind of battery that would be used in a camera or mobile phone), that the cars are similar in terms of technical design and that to win, a team has to keep going the longest (rather than to be the fastest). 3. Introduce the scenario by saying that the Head Teacher has heard about the Greenpower Challenge and thinks that this is something that some students would be interested in competing in. Explain that she knows that it will involve them in constructing a battery powered car from a kit of parts, designing a body for it and entering it in a race. She knows that success in the race will depend not so much on maximising speed as endurance and range, so energy efficiency and aerodynamic effectiveness will be important. Explain that she has asked for a feasibility study to make the case to the school’s governors, explaining the project and justifying the money to be spent on the kit of parts to build the car. 4. Say that this topic will involve students in finding out more about the Challenge, identifying key features and preparing a presentation to justify the school’s involvement. 5. This topic consists of three aspects. A decision will need to have been made by the teacher as to whether all students will do the three aspects or whether students will be divided into teams and then each aspect undertaken by a different sub-group. In this case the sub-groups would each contribute a particular component to the final presentation. Outcomes • Understanding and appreciation of the Challenge to be met in this topic. Investigate In this episode students study how an electric car works, the components of the system and the function of
greenpower_challenge.docx