STEM Clubs

School: Minsthorpe Community College, A Specialist Science College Status: In progress Date Started: 12 Jan 2010 Date Completed: 1 Dec 2010 Keywords tags: solar renewable Science Energy No of pupils: 30 Number of views: 2521

We looked at renewable energy resources and why there is a growing requirement to move away from traditional fossil fuels. This led us to look at solar energy.
I went throught to sheffield to meet a man who runs a project called 'Plugging into the Sun'. He showed me some solar powered model car kits that we would be using and ran through some different things we could do with them.
Back with STEM Club, over the following weeks we built and tested the models when sunlight permitted it.
Gear ratios and the angle of the solar panels were altered to allow us to get the most out of the lower winter sun.
Finally, the students designed and constructed their own unique shells for the cars.
The following web site : http://old.solar-active.com/car.htm proved invaluable during term of the project.