Miniature cars yield grownup experience for seventh-graders

Published: June 27, 2011

Seventh-graders from Anderson's McCants Middle School prepare their radio-controlled cars for competition at CU-ICAR. image by: Clemson University

Tom Hallman
Media Relations

As their radio-controlled model cars zipped around test tracks at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), the seventh-graders from Billy Little's technology class pondered at least two important lessons:

• Engineering is called "work" for a reason; and
• work can also be a lot of fun.

Eighty-one students from McCants Middle School in Anderson took part in Little's semester-long "Gateway to Technology" program, culminating in a day at CU-ICAR in which they put their model cars — and themselves — to the test.

Given a budget and design criteria for their vehicles earlier in the year, the teens designed their radio-controlled cars in small teams, ordered the parts and built and tested them before bringing them to CU-ICAR.

In addition to competiting with their model cars, the students were required to make presentations to a panel of graduate students and faculty members to explain their design decisions — again, just like a professional engineer.

"Our main thing is active learning: letting them do things, things that are interesting but which build fundamental engineering skills," said Laine Mears, an assistant professor of automotive engineering at Clemson who hosted the McCants students along with Maria Mayorga, an assistant professor of industrial engineering. "We designed the experience to challenge the students in academic subjects they are studying, but also to give them a taste of what engineering is like: Things don't always go as planned."

That taste became a smorgasbord of math, science and engineering principles.

"Each race posed different design problems for the students' cars," Little said. "Their cars also had to be designed so that one car could do multiple races, each with different requirements, with minimal or no change on their cars between races."

Along with immersion activities, such as high-speed crash tests and manufacturing process demonstrations, the students put their cars to the test in CU-ICAR's labs under four separate scenarios designed and managed by Clemson automotive and industrial engineering graduate students. Each event was timed, so the students also were competing against the clock.

Their cars had to be designed to compete in:

• Drag racing, requiring quick take-offs and top speed;
• NASCAR, which called for an ability to handle turns and to navigate a raceway cluttered with other cars;
• F1 Slalom, navigating around cones and making tight turns; and
• Off-road, traversing rough terrain and making sharp turns.

"Complicated requirements like that require more complicated planning and force students to use more of what they have learned about math and science," Mayorga said. "There's no one-size-fits-all solution. A project like this makes students think."

"Students learn the major working parts of automobiles and how they function together, the different types of steering systems, transmission systems and suspension systems and how they should be integrated to create a functional, reliable and attractive vehicle," Little said. "Before the competitions at CU-ICAR, they had to research various styles of steering, transmissions and suspension systems to aid in the design of their car. Students also had to learn how to control their vehicle using Bluetooth and smart phones instead of traditional radio control.

"Students had to create the best design based on their research and their budgetary constraints," he said. "This teaches them teamwork, budgeting, the design process, automotive vocabulary, decision-making and prioritizing."

This is the third year Mears, Mayorga, Little and fellow McCants teacher Karmon Carpenter have collaborated on the Gateway to Technology program, which is part of Project Lead the Way, a national nonprofit organization that encourages innovative education in science, technology, engineering and math — or STEM — classes. The National Science Foundation also contributed to the Clemson projects.

For all of the technical aspects of the class, the one that most stood out to Little was how his students rose to the challenge of presenting their designs to a panel of engineers — all graduate students in Clemson's automotive engineering department.

"Students prepared presentations for the judges using PowerPoint, but their knowledge of the project was more evident when they were questioned directly by the judges. Students had to defend why they made the choices they did and why certain elements were or were not explored," Little said. "The aspect of having to go into an intimidating conference room with the Donald Trump-like boardroom table really added to the realism of having to pitch your idea to superiors and defend it — or even admit your shortcomings."

Laine Mears is an assistant professor in Clemson University's automotive engineering department at CU-ICAR and Maria Mayorga is an assistant professor in the industrial engineering department.