Vroom...Build a Solar Car!

Today I spent an hour at the Muncie Fairgrounds participating in the Living Lightly Fair. This free event for elementary-aged students was designed to inform students of sustainable sources of energy. I volunteered an hour of my time to conduct sessions where students learned about solar energy and built a solar powered car. This lesson is a revision of a lesson that I taught this past March to a class of second graders (view post about this experience).

The dynamics of these children was very different from those of the second grade class. In this event, the children ranged in age from five to twelve years old. It was difficult to teach them about solar energy in such a way that they were all interested and engaged in learning about solar power. I also had difficulty keeping students moving at the same pace. Older students completed the assembly of their car long before those of younger ages. I was surprised to see how easily the older students were able to look at the model car and assemble theirs by analyzing the structure of the model.

I thoroughly enjoyed teaching this activity to students. The atmosphere was more relaxed than in a regular classroom. The students also seemed to enjoy the activity more. They had chosen to participate instead of being coerced. The goal I (and all teachers) want to attain is gaining students' attention and interest in learning without making them feel forced into completing some task that they perceive as pointless.