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Say you’re a third grader, sitting in class, and the teacher tells you to open your textbook to the chapter on gravity and the laws of motion. He writes “gravity” on the chalkboard in big, bold letters. You open your book, prop your elbow on the desk and lean your head on the palm of your hand. Yawn. The teacher calls on the girl who sits in the row next to you to start reading from the textbook. Blah, blah, blah. You look at the clock on the wall and count the minutes until recess.
But what if you could design a car, using bottle caps, tape and glue? What if you were challenged to design a fast car, powered by gravity, and Sonoma Raceway officials would be coming to your school to test it in a qualifying round to determine which cars would race at the track on NASCAR weekend? And what if your team’s car actually wins?
Last year, Kid Scoop News (a monthly, kid-captivating newspaper-format magazine used by more than 1,000 teachers and 45,000 kids throughout the Bay Area) partnered with Sonoma Raceway to launch the inaugural STEM Gravity Race Car Challenge (STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.) This year, the challenge is planned for NASCAR weekend, June 27 and 28.
The idea is to give students a break from textbook learning and let them put a science lesson into motion by experimenting with the same real-world problems engineers and scientists face, using car building and racing as a medium.
“Science seems so disconnected when we teach it in a classroom,” says Vicki Whiting, publisher, editor and founder of Kid Scoop News. “Most children learn best through touching and the hands-on, project-based learning system that’s at the heart of the STEM Gravity Race Car Challenge.”
“The goal is to make it fun and unique and bring the program to life here [at Sonoma Raceway],” adds Gary Phillips, vice president of marketing at Sonoma Raceway.
