The SMARTT Challenge
By Jerry Walch, 12th Aug 2010 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutNewsEducation
Education must become our most important product if we are to survive. No matter how tight the educational budgets become, we must put educating our children ahead of everything else. Our children are our future. The people at SMARTT Challenge understand that.
- Introduction
- The EV Challenge
- SMARTT Challenge Involves Middle Schools and High Schools
- The Middle School Challenge
- The High School Challenge
- Is Your Child's Middle School or High School Involved?
Introduction
Back in the day when this old gear head was in "auto shop" there was nothing as the Students Making Advancements in Renewable Transportation Technology (SMARTT) Challenge to challenge me. The SMARTT Challenge got its start in 1993 with three high schools accepting the challenge to build electric cars. The SMARTT Challenge today involves 30 high schools and 15 middle schools from 11 states.
The EV Challenge
The SMARTT Challenge started out in 1993 as the "EV Challenge." The EV Challenge was a project of the Carolina Electric Vehicle Coalition; Inc. changed its name to the SMARTT Challenge in October of 2007. The name change reflected its change in the curriculum to include other alternative energy sources other than electricity.
SMARTT Challenge Involves Middle Schools and High Schools
The SMARTT Challenge challenges both Middle school and high-school students from 11 states (North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nevada, Rhode Island, and Florida) to take up the challenge to build alternative-fuel vehicles. To make the challenge fair, SMARTT Challenge has designed curriculum appropriate for each age group. The requirements to participate in each level are quite different.
The Middle School Challenge
The middle school program centers on designing and building models powered by alternative energy sources. Participants in this program must demonstrate a proficiency in using applied math and science to design and build alternative fuel powered model cars. During the yearlong program, they design, build, and race solar powered race cars. The middle school curriculum is Centered around nationally recognized Junior Solar Sprint program, sponsored by the US Department of Energy. At the end of the year, a panel of judges decides the winners of the challenge based on creativity, technical innovation, and speed.
The High School Challenge
To participate in the high-school challenge,
1. The students must demonstrate an understanding of how the internal combustion engines work.
2. The students must design and convert a gasoline-powered vehicle to an alternative energy powered vehicle that is road worthy.
3. The students must find community sponsors to finance their project.
4. The students must build their own web page and develop an oral presentation to explain and promote their project.
5. They must enter their vehicles in competitions held throughout the Southwest.
6. They must compete in driving events that are judged on vehicle range handling ability.
7. The students must also demonstrate their prowess in diagnostic and troubleshooting their vehicles.
Is Your Child's Middle School or High School Involved?
This educational opportunity should be made available to any qualifying student. Contact your school officials. Urge them this opportunity. Tell them that it is funded entirely by community sponsors and will not affect their school budget. Explain that this challenge will present the challenge necessary to hold the interest of their advanced students that are easily bored by standard classroom work.
Comments
28th Aug 2010 (#)
My kids are adults but, I will still contact our local schools here in Alabama and inform them of this program. What a great program. Thank you for putting it out there in a very well written article.
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28th Aug 2010 (#)
Thank you Denise.
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