Meadowview Middle School Teacher Joe Whisnant was a coach of few words Thursday as his Sustainable Transportation Education Program (STEP) team prepared for today’s competition at NC State. The effort marks the first time the Mustangs have entered the scientific challenge.
“The whole competition revolves around getting kids to be excited about electricity and automobiles,” said Whisnant. “And get excited about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
He explained STEP is a collaborative effort with North Carolina State University’s N.C. Solar Center in the College of Engineering and the College of Education. Its goal is educating middle and high school students on sustainable transportation, and the electrification of transportation.
The program also provides teacher training and curricula on electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Smart Grid, alternative fuels, and careers in science, engineering, and technology. It’s curriculum is STEM-based and includes problem-solving, critical thinking, engineering design process and inquiry-based learning of real world issues.
STEP’s first hands-on component included radio control electric vehicles with students learning about battery technologies, power train, chassis design, and other related topics. In 2009-2010, the STEP program provided a teachers’ workshop at N.C. State University and piloted the program with six high schools and ten middle schools.
The competition is held in May each year at N.C. State with a range, speed, design, and plug-in with focus onbattery technologies, and charging stations. In the batteries competition, students design and construct for the race, a solar powered charging station for their vehicle. It is an open invitation competition for high school students as well. This weekend marks the fifth year Whisnant has been involved in STEP.
“It’s fun but it doesn’t get any easier,” said Whisnant. He explained teams must construct a solar charging station and a car which meets specific size and width rules. Students have to write a technical report on what they have done. Seventh grade student Kennadi Nester has been heading up the research and writing part ofthe project.
Whisnant said information on topics including the best angle for the charging station solar panel is routinely given to teammates by Nester with other teammates giving back the results on their finding about gear ratios and weight, which are both put in the report along with a wealth of other data.
Many of the parts for both the charger and the vehicle have been made by students with a three-dimensional printer at the school. Whisnant said points in the competition are given for the technical report, the solar panel and to the overall winner with participants receiving trophies or certificates.
Whisnant said students must prepare for variables such as the type of terrain the the car will travel on. The team appeared enthusiastic over a wireless controller it was testing to change the solar panel position because they cannot touch the charger after it is placed on the ground.
“We were supposed to have six weeks to get this up and running but it really didn’t kick in until three days ago,” Whisnant. “Now we’re moving. I think we have a good shot at it.” He said the competition will be an endurance race for the cars to see how long the batteries will last. The first set of batteries will be charged and be used to establish a baseline to compare how batteries charged on their station compare.
He said preparing for the event had been difficult as team members fitted in design, research and building afternoons in between their other activities. Students involved with the team include Paul E Bolen, Danielle A Bowman, MacKenzie G Collins, Jesse L Edwards, Jacey Q Flippen, Allan J Maldonado, Sheldon W Marshall, Breanna J McNabb, Kennadi E Nester, Candace D Powell, Saul R Rico, Khloe B Smith, Lacie Parries and Courtland Hardy.
“They’ll want to do this next year,” Whisnant said. “In the beginning they were so cautious but the excitement is beginning to kick in now.”
