Educational Goals

The educational goals of this project can be broken into two main groups: non technical and technical.

On the non technical side, the development of problem solving skills is a primary objective. The student will face actual hands on problems such as structural instability, and will have to determine the root of the problem and create a correction plan.

Creativity comes into play for both design and problem solving. The students will have a large degree of freedom to determine the structural design of the vehicle. Speed and efficiency will be important in winning the race. The students will need to think about these issues when coming up with a design.

Working together as a group will also be an educational experience. They will need to listen to each others ideas. Often, the best ideas have had input from several sources. Recognizing the value of others ideas is a lesson that future employers find attractive.

Lastly, the students will be required to give a presentation on there vehicle. The design of the car and transmission should be talked about. This public speaking experience will help the students develope their communication skill.

Now, for the technical educational goals. Because the students will be building a transmission, they will need to learn about gear ratios and power transfer. Not only will they gain and understanding of these concepts, but they will be able to see them physically implemented. This will be a small introduction to mechanical engineering, and will help some students decide whether or not they would like to be in this major.

Some programming and computer skills will also be aquired. The student will gain some general computer experience as well as an introduction to C programming. An understanding of control systems will also be learned through experience with the control board. The students should be required to read about the workings of their control board, and be encouraged to examine and test it. Electrical engineering and computer science and engineering use the C programming language frequently. This sampling of C, and the control board itself enable students to obtain a tangible idea of these majors.

As mentioned earlier, structural stability will be important. The student will be able to see first hand what types of designs lead to either stability or instability. Civil and mechanical engineers are both concerned with this topic.

One of the main educational goals of this project will be to gain an understanding of how a transmissions work. This understanding will be both theoretical and actual. The student will learn about the many ideas that go into making a transmission, and then will have to piece these ideas together to create the physical machine. Two major skills will be practiced here. The first is the gathering of many concepts and combining them to create the greater idea of a transmission. The students will be provided with all the information that they will need and be given a basic outline, but the car and transmission will not be designed for them. They will have to piece together the information and come up with a design. The second skill is the implementation of theoretical ideas into reality. Many engineers complain that they learn a lot of theory, but they don't actually learn how to do anything. Here they will make their design a reality.

Learn more about the Physics of Racing.

Even the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) says that drag racing is educational. Back to the Proposal