Posting Your Solar Sprint Vehicle Development on the Web

Peter Hubbe

Communications in Technology Education - U. Mass. Boston - Dave Bouvier, Instructor

Context:

Middle school students across the United States participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Junior Solar Sprint competition. Each participant or team obtains a kit that includes a 3-watt solar panel, a small electric motor, various plastic gears, wheels, and axles. Students discover first hand how solar electricity is produced and what it can do.

Each participant must gather materials to construct the body of their vehicle. “How will the solar panel be attached?” “What will I use for bearings?” “Am I meeting all of the design rules?” These are examples of the thought processes that goes into designing a vehicle. Once the vehicle has been constructed the moment of truth starts to loom. “Have I developed a real competitor?” Race day draws near!

Our communication activity dovetails with this project based activity. During project development, students are asked to photograph their vehicle in various stages of completion. More photos of the completed vehicle and competitions should be taken.

These photos and the student’s experience form the foundations for an individualized web site that expresses the students learning.

Objectives:

Create a first class Web site :

l Narrate and document development process

m Demonstrate effective writing skills

l Include photographs of your vehicle

m Show vehicle in various stages of completion

l Create linked pages

m Use thumbnail photos as links to full size photos

Materials and Equipment:

Junior Solar Sprint kits and acquired vehicle parts

Digital camera and supporting software

Access to computer

Web page design software – dependant on availability, instructors teaching goals, etc.

Challenge:

Create your own personalized Junior Solar Sprint Web site. You are trying to tell people about your own solar vehicle and the steps that it took to create it. Tell them why you made the choices that you did at each step along the way. Document your progress with photos of your vehicle at various stages of development. Take a photo of the materials that you have gathered to create your vehicle before you start construction. Take more photos on race day. Do your best to accomplish the following goals:

Make the narration in your own words. Let people share in the thoughts you had while you made choices about design and materials.

Create a web site that works. Links should be easy to figure out and do what they are supposed to do.

Create a web site that is appealing. Simple is ok.

Include your photos. Thumbnail photos are desired as links to full size photos with narration. If possible include photos from competitions.

Add graphics to your presentation. (Logos, diagrams, boarders, etc.)

Put your web site on the web. Use your school’s server if available. Otherwise use a free web hosting sites that run banner ads on all of your pages. You might want to test out a site prior to developing your finished pages. You could leave a particular space blank for the ads. This way your web site visitors won’t have to constantly close the banner ads in order to see your page’s content.

Web site Evaluation:

50% Content

Photos document the various stages of construction / competition.

Narration is well developed and well written.

25% Function

Links are easy to identify

Page links work

Links to other sites work

25% Quality

Pages make sense to the viewer

Layout is pleasing

References:

National Renewable Energy Lab - http://www.nrel.gov/education/student/natjss.html

Northeast Sustainable Energy Association - http://www.nesea.org/education/jss/

Boston Area Solar Energy Association - http://www.basea.org/jss2002/jss.htm

Solar World - http://www.solar-world.com/

Peter Hubbe’s Web Site : - http://www.oocities.org/pwhubbe