Audio clip
James McKissic
DaMika Cox, 10, knew the first car she built wasn’t going to be a prizewinner.
“I had some problems with it,” she said. “It wouldn’t go too fast.”
So on Tuesday, the Orchard Knob fifth-grader carefully re-measured strips of masking tape and stuck the chassis to the bottom of her card-stock vehicle, pumped up its balloon-powered engine and took her second attempt for a test drive.
“Our car’s going to smoke theirs,” she said of her competition.
About 45 Hamilton County elementary students in grades 2-5 are participating this week in the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga’s “A World in Motion” math and technology camp. The weeklong camp falls during the school system’s spring break and focuses on engineering and design.
“I wish there was something like this when I was growing up,” said James McKissic, chief operating officer for the Urban League. “I didn’t know about engineering and design as career options.”
Using card stock, colored balloons, rubber tubing and plastic wheels, the students are learning about acceleration, friction and the intricacies of an engine. Current and retired Hamilton County teachers are volunteering their time to teach the concepts.
Anthony Taylor, a behavior specialist at East Lake Elementary, led team Aqua Squad. He said his students had three chances to create the perfect balloon-powered car before a campwide race Thursday.
“Today we’re perfecting their prototype, and we’ll have a competition in class,” he said. “We’ll use the winning car to compete against the other teams.”
In addition to working on their cars, the students will prepare a PowerPoint presentation outlining the steps they took to build the vehicles. They also will take a field trip Friday to the Nashville International Auto Show.
The curriculum for “A World in Motion” was written by the Society for Automotive Engineers, and Mr. McKissic said topics would help students do better in their math and science classes and on their Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program tests, which are coming up next month.
“They’re learning about measurements, circumference and diameter,” he said.
Drake Barker, a fifth-grader at Lakeside Academy, was the test engineer for his team, a position he said came with multiple responsibilities.
“I have to make sure the wheels stay on, the front bumper stays on,” the 12-year-old said. “I have to make sure the gas gets in there or it’s going to mess up the whole thing.”
The engineering camp was paid for mostly with a $25,000 state grant. The Urban League also plans to hold a free six-week camp about electricity this summer.
FREE SUMMER CAMP
* Who: Hamilton County students, grades 2-5
* What: “A World in Motion” electronics and electricity camp
* When: June 2 through July 11
* Where: Urban League of Greater Chattanooga, 730 M.L. King Blvd.
Kelli Gauthier covers K-12 education in Hamilton County for the Times Free Press. She started at the paper as an intern in 2006, crisscrossing the region writing feature stories from Pikeville, Tenn., to Lafayette, Ga. She also covered crime and courts before taking over the education beat in 2007. A native of Frederick, Md., Kelli came south to attend Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in print journalism. Before newspapers, ...
