MINDDRIVE is a lot about design. We practice design exercises in our classroom and that gets us ready for the heavy lifting of designing a REAL CAR BODY. Usually, it’s a process that takes several weeks. We talk about aerodynamics and demonstrate in a practical way, using model cars, some thread tied to a metal stick and a fan. This really does work to help explain why air moves over shapes differently and typically our students pick it up really quickly. Then, we start to look at car books, giving the students the opportunity to choose what they think is the most aerodynamic car they can find (or simply which design is their favorite).
Next comes the drawing exercises. By giving them a line drawing of the frame of a car, from the profile view, overhead view, front view and back view, we allow them to draw the body style. From there, we usually have a collaborative discussion about what is best about each drawing and the conclusion is typically a combination of a bunch of different ideas. This is what we do with our high school students and after this exercise we begin to get a real sense of what we are going to build, full-scale for their electric car project.
THIS week, we were invited to Red Star Studio‘s Summer Art Camp. There were about 12 kids participating in their camp, ranging in age from 7 to 11 years old. Their theme this week was “sound makers”. We were asked to come in and take their students through a design exercise and then let them construct their designs in clay. So, what usually is a 3 – 4 week process in a MINDDRIVE program session, was compressed and simplified into a 3-hour class with these 12 design enthusiasts!
Jelani Harris and Kristana Madison, MINDDRIVE veterans came with Steve and I as student mentors to these kids. They loved every minute of it! We all did. Getting your hands digging into clay can be very calming. And the energy and creativity coming out of these youngsters was just a giggle, pure and simple! Take a look at some of these crazy cars the kids designed.
Which one do you think was the most aerodynamic?
