GM Education - Teacher's Blog

Come Visit GM's Booth at NSTA 2010

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:20:00 +0000

Anyone out there heading to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) 2010 National Conference in Philadelphia? General Motors will be there! Come check us out at booth 2155 from March 18-20. We'll be on site with all sorts of goodies that teachers can take back to their classrooms. And we're also bringing along the Chevy Volt chassis!

On Friday March 19th, a leading Chevrolet Volt expert will give a workshop on the future of cars along with lessons and resources teachers can use in their classrooms.

Come stop by our booth. We look forward to meeting you.

If you can't make it to NSTA, check back soon on gm.com/education for new curriculum developed in collaboration with Weekly Reader on the electrification of automobiles.

Teaching Alternative Fuels

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:47:00 +0000

Hi, I am Ron Grosinger, an alternative fuel educator at a high school in New Jersey.

Last spring, during a pilot after school club, we converted a gasoline-powered car into an electric vehicle. With the success of the club, we have expanded it to create two Alternative Fuel classes during the day. In one of these courses, I have partnered with another science teacher to create a class named The Science of Alternative Fuels where students learn the chemistry of how different fuels work. In this blog I will post lessons and success stories from my classes.

The great part about teaching a class like Alternative Fuels is that there is no silver bullet. All fuels will have to be considered. Reports of "Going Green" are in the media everyday. The threat of global climate change and the evidence of smog in the air of big cities has sparked some attention towards using less polluting fuels. There are many cleaner solutions, however, the roller coaster of petroleum prices have truly brought this effort forward. Switching to a cleaner fuel and reducing America's dependence on foreign oil is economically and environmentally beneficial. Each year the media reports on a new alternative fuel that will pollute less and save the consumer money. But which alternative fuels should a consumer choose? An educated buyer would save themselves money and save the environment. For that reason it would be best to educate our youth on all the energy choices out there because it is this generation that will be left to make these decisions in the near future.

And these are the kinds of lessons and stories that I will be sharing here. Thanks for reading. Want to learn more now? Click the link to my school Web site.

Photo Caption: The technology to run a car on electricity already exists. In fact, the electric car has been around for more than 100 years. To see this technology first for myself I went down to Mr. Thomas Alva Edison's house in West Orange, NJ. Both of these cars were made by Detroit Electric.

Trinity River Watershed Conference in Grand Prairie Texas

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:02:00 +0000

Early on a Saturday morning, nearly 200 students and teachers from eight schools gathered at Jackson Middle School in Grand Prairie, TX to attend the Trinity River Watershed Conference. The purpose of the event was to give both student and teachers a background on the local watershed preparing them to selecting an issue to work on for their Earth Force GM GREEN service-learning project in the Spring. With temperatures plunging to the mid-thirties in Texas, the attendees proved their passion and interest in braving the unseasonably cold weather.

Teaching learning leadership skills is a big part of the conference plan organized by Tracy Hollis, Program Director of the Natural Science Education Center for the Grand Prairie Independent school district. The day started out with a convocation where everyone getting an excellent overview of The Trinity Rivers and facts about the geologic makeup of the Texan environment. After this, students and teachers each chose their own curriculum from educational sessions going on in five rooms during three different time periods. Each school was given a Flip camera to use for their project.

Putting students on equal educational ground with teachers before their GREEN service-learning experience begins will enable the students to lead their community action project: using their teachers and Earth Force community partners as advisors.

Presenters included scientists, municipal workers and educators such as:

-Erin Rexroad from the City of Grand Prairie Environmental Services, who gave a presentation on 'Storm Water/Point-Non Point Pollution'. She used a molded municipal waterway model to show how water and pollutants enter and run through the municipal sewer system. Students could visualize and use their Flip camera to record the pollutants, represented by drops of red food coloring, flowing from lawns to stormdrains through the sewers and out to the river and ocean.

-Bret Johnson of TPWD Cedar Hill, who gave a presentation entitled 'Bioremediation of Riparian' areas. This presentation gave information on how waterway installations such as dams, bridges, sewers affect the flow of a river and influence erosion's effect on river banks and municipal infrastructure.

-Diane Brownlee, from EMGI, who taught 'Geology and History of Trinity River'. This presentation gave students and teachers an over-arching view of the Texas river and geologic environment going back to before the time of the dinosaurs.

As Chris Boehle indicated his post, River Runs on Saturdays Too, GM volunteers from the GM Arlington Plant, like him, helped at the conference from raising the banners, to guiding the kids during check-in and between classes, and providing information at a GM booth.

The presentations gave students and teachers a good foundation on the science, history and the environmental issues of the Trinity River river watershed.

We're looking forward to seeing what issues the student groups choose to work on and the results of their spring projects. Look for an update in May.

Chemistry Everywhere

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:01:00 +0000

Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry everywhere. We dove into chemistry a couple weeks ago. So far we have done three labs. To teach states of matter, I used a lab I found online at the INQUIRY IN MOTION Web site. It is a free Web site through Clemson University (you have to register, but the lesson plans are free).

The lab I used had my students use their own senses to come up with definitions for three of the states of matter. It worked out well and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Next we moved on to state changes. We used milk jugs and hot water to show molecular movement. I have been saving milk jugs all year for this lab and some of the students brought jugs in as well. It was a great way to show reuse of the milk jugs after their primary use. I was not as thrilled with this lab, since my students still have a hard time visualizing what was happening to the molecules of water. I ended up supplementing the lab with animations and drawings.

Finally, to wrap up our states of matter section of our chemistry unit we did a phase change lab where students graphed data from the lab to create a phase change diagram. This lab went very well and helped my students understand melting and boiling point, as well as energy flow. By the end of this section my students were at about a 68% mastery level.

I will continue to review the concepts and reassess them on the end of the unit test. I think this unit was a success in terms of sustainability because we used water for all of the labs and were able to reuse a few dozen milk jugs. The next section is going to be much more difficult in terms of sustainability. We are conquering chemical reactions next.

Rivers Run on Saturdays Too

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:26:00 +0000

Grand Prairie, Texas students began their GREEN curriculum this Spring with a Watershed Conference where they learned more about their watershed and began to think about their community activism projects. What a great way to get started! Grand Prairie ISD environmental coordinator, Tracy Hollis, along with support from the City of Grand Prairie, Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Trinity River Authority and Texas A&M, provided middle school and high school students participating in GREEN the opportunity to attend a professional style conference on a variety of water quality topics. General Motors volunteers also had the opportunity to help staff the conference, and build excitement around the GREEN program with a Chevy Hybrid Tahoe and Camaro display. The event drew nearly 200 students from eight schools on a Saturday morning! It was a great event, lots of fun and excitement, and a great learning opportunity...all around water quality education!!!

Stay tuned as our students start to apply their classroom and conference knowledge to develop their community activism projects to help local watersheds!

How far can an EcoCAR drive on a tank of gas?

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:35:00 +0000

What is it like to build a "green" car from scratch? How far can an EcoCAR drive on a tank of gas? Where does an A123Systems battery go in an electric car? What decision did one EcoCAR team poll the entire campus about? These questions and many more will be answered on Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 3 p.m. ET on the Inside the Green Garage blog (and on GM's FastLane blog) during a live Web chat with the North Carolina State University and the University of Wisconsin EcoCAR teams. No registration is required; just come to the site and ask the engineering teams your questions! Please spread the word and we'll see you on the Inside the Green Garage blog next week.

EcoCAR is a three-year engineering competition sponsored by GM and the Department of Energy, and the competition is now in the middle of year two. This is the year where htey build the vehicles. In just a few months, the teams will be testing the vehicles for safety, performance and other metrics at GM's new track in Yuma, Arizona.

To join the Web chat, please use the following link: http://greengarageblog.org/

Visit the following links to learn more about NCSU and the University of Wisconsin's work and designs:

NCSU: http://students.engr.ncsu.edu/weel/ECC/index.html
University of Wisconsin: http://www.engr.wisc.edu/studentorgs/vehicle/
Main EcoCAR page: http://www.ecocarchallenge.org
EcoCAR webchat with Wisconsin and North Carolina State Universities

Maglev Egg-crashing Vehicles

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:22:00 +0000

"Maglev" is a term used to describe the levitation of an object using the repelling forces of magnets. If you have ever tried to force two magnets together with like poles facing one another, you have felt the repelling force.

(Base with magnets evenly spaced)

Now, imagine that you have an entire roadway or track that has been continuously lined with magnets, and you try to rest an object on the track that has magnets attached to the bottom. If you glued your magnets on the right way - BINGO - you now have a levitating object.

In some countries, including China, England and Japan, maglev trains used for mass-transit, operate on the same basic principal. However, rather than using the kind of magnetic materials we were all exposed to in grade school, these tracks are lined with giant electromagnets, capable of changing polarity in an instant. In order to propel the vehicles forward or backward without the use of an engine linked to wheels, the electro magnets are always changing polarity so that the track in front of the train is pulling the cars forward and the track behind the train is always pushing.

Without any friction between the levitating train and the track below, these mass-transit systems are faster and quieter. In fact, most operate at speeds between 200 and 380 mph. While it may be expensive install the infrastructure for these systems, they reduce noise and air pollution and are much faster and energy efficient than other forms of land transportation. However, they still require generated electricity to operate the electromagnets embedded in the track.

Using this concept as a basis for a design challenge, our eighth grade students were required to design, build and test their own maglev vehicles. And what is their motivation, you may ask? What if your vehicle was carrying a delicate raw egg? What if your vehicle was placed on a track, 15 feet away from someone else's vehicle pointed straight at yours, and both vehicles were simultaneously launched into a head-on collision at 50mph?

The goal is to keep your egg from breaking in the crash. Given the 3" width of the track itself and a 9"x3"x1/8" plywood base, each student had to adhere to the following constraints before testing:

Any materials are allowed:
- Glue, Tape and mechanical fasters like screws are OK
- The egg must be easily removed after each crash for inspection
- Maximum height of 4"
- Maximum length of 12"
- Maximum weight of 200 grams
- Rear end must be able to hold a CO2 cartridge on center and 2" high from the base
- You must have 8-10 magnets fixed to your base

The egg must be in the vehicle at takeoff, but doesn't necessarily have to still be inside for the crash.

(The Egg in a bag next to hinged lid)

Also, after each crash, one part of your vehicle will be removed before it is entered into the second round, starting with your bumper.

Students developed their prototypes in the lab for five days after one full week of math and science lessons including topics such as: Propulsion, wind resistance, Newton's law of motion, calculating MPH, weight conversion, measurement, friction, magnetic levitation, power generation, packaging technology, center of gravity, structures and simple mechanisms.

Some of the students' designs (drawn in CAD or by hand on graph paper in orthographic and isometric views) incorporated mechanisms for ejecting the eggs on impact, chutes for increasing drag and weakening the impact of the crash, and ramps or ramrods built into the bumpers capable of either flipping or impaling the opposing vehicle! How about that for innovation, creativity and problem solving?

(Above is a view of the 16-foot track which is mounted to stools and a computer chair. The black strips are magnetic.)

Since the magnets lining our track and vehicles are solid state and unable to change polarity the way electromagnets can, we had to use CO2 cartridges as the engines for propulsion. Using the same cartridges and electronic launching system we use for our CO2 car and dragster competitions, we were able to puncture the tanks on both cars at the same time from a distance, while also measuring the duration of travel prior to impact.

(CO2 cartridge/engine with prototype by team- "Epic Fail")

If you try this at your school, make sure you wrap the eggs in clear plastic wrap!

Tequila Sunrise, Mollies and Goldfish

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:06:00 +0000

Winter break was nice, but I worked way too much. I had to go into my classroom every 3-4 days to feed all of the critters. We have finches, three 20-gallon tanks full of fish (tequila sunrise, mollies and goldfish), red wigglers, daphnia and planarian. I think that's it, oh wait we also have isopods and mealworms. I also needed to come in to keep an eye on the hydroponics system to make sure it didn't leak all over the place. I planted some household plants in the hydroponics system that were propagated. They are doing well, actually really well, and I finally have some lettuce flourishing in the hydroponics system. I was not letting the lettuce grow big enough before I transplanted them into the clay pebbles. I have been able to harvest some cilantro as well. As a class, we will try to transplant lettuce again in about a month. Hopefully we will be able to finish our genetically modified food experiments that we had started back in November.

Our physics unit is one week from being finished. My students fell a little in their mastery as soon as I introduced free-body diagrams. I will have to change that particular lesson for next year. I spent some more time on physics to wrap-up the unit and help the students that were not grasping force diagrams. We are at about a 65% mastery level currently. We have one more week until we start chemistry. I am very much looking forward to chemistry, as it is my passion. I love chemical reactions and showing them to my students. They become so fascinated with how things work during the chemistry unit. I have about 14 labs planned. Chemistry is the most challenging unit to teach in an environmentally friendly way. I will keep you posted on the progression of the unit.

How do you excite students who think they already have it all figured out?

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:38:00 +0000

Our teachers and volunteers sometimes tell the stories better than we do. The following post was written by middle school science teacher LeAnn Strate.

Like most educators, I love finding new and interesting ways to engage my students in my curriculum. Not so easy to find, when you're trying to teach Earth Science to a bunch of 13 to 14 year old 8th graders who figure they already know everything there is to know about it because after all they live on it, right? How do you excite students who think they already have it all figured out? You put them right in the middle of it up to their knees, literally, with the General Motors GREEN program.

Thanks to the General Motors GREEN program all 110 of my 8th graders get the opportunity to become environmental scientists for a day by visiting an important creek in our local watershed to do water quality monitoring. By checking dissolved oxygen levels, observing riparian cover changes and counting macro-invertebrates, they get the opportunity to realize that true science involves investigating the world around us not just reading their textbooks.

In addition, because of the Earth Force process they also learn how to be concerned environmental citizens able to initiate change in their communities for the rest of their lives. Realizing that you CAN change the world is pretty powerful stuff when you're at an age when your parents still tell you what time to go to bed.

This will be my 6th year with GREEN and it gets better every year. Based on the years of data we've now accumulated, this year's students have decided to use wiki technology and the internet to create a web page for the local and worldwide community. I'm excited because I've never helped create a web page before so this is going to be a learning experience for all of us!

Taking Solar Energy Chargers to the Next Level

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:17:00 +0000

To start off 2010, we are still working on our Solar Energy unit that I blogged about in my last post. In this post you saw examples of the circuits and housings for the solar panels that the students had designed and constructed. Now, those circuits are being integrated into everyday products in order to give use to portable wireless power.

In these images, you can see an American Eagle bag that has been "modded" by one of my students Kylene to include a solar powered USB charging dock. The front side of the bag has three solar cells embroidered into it (see photo above). These panels lead to an internal circuit that she built, which output to a USB port on the other side of the bag.

In the photos below, you can see how an iPhone is being plugged into the USB port.

Halfway Through Our Physics Unit

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:10:00 +0000

Well, it's just before winter break and we are only halfway through our physics unit. I had wanted to be finished with physics by now so that we could move on to chemistry in January, but no can do. The unit is easily taking twice as long as I expected, but it is ok since my students are learning a lot about physical laws. Most of the unit uses pipe insulation, marbles and measuring devices such as meter sticks and stopwatches. My students use these materials to develop experiments to answer questions about motion. The unit is taking longer because it only allows one day per question and my students have needed two days per question. Normally the first day is planning the experiment, while the second day is implementing the plan, gathering results and forming conclusions. I usually have my students post their conclusions online on our message board. After posting their results, they compare their results to other groups and respond to another group's posting. Ultimately, each student forms an answer to the original question and writes it in their journal. In looking at my students' quiz scores, it seems to be working. They average about 75% mastery, which for this population is a huge improvement from my first two years teaching this same subject.

On another note, our genetically modified food experiments will need to be postponed until January. I can not quite get the hydroponics system to grow the lettuce that we are using for the experiments. However, the cilantro has grown very well. It has been a tad bit frustrating, but I am going to figure this out even if it kills me. Hopefully by next year, all the kinks will be worked out.