One hundred and ten fifth grade students from 186th Street Elementary School spent Tuesday, September 18th, exploring physical science while addressing essential mathematics and scientific concepts and skills. The students embraced the academic learning and exercised some vital skills for getting along with others in the twenty-first century--human relations and teamwork. The children participated in active learning experiences with the engineers from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Toyota, and their classroom teachers at the Los Angeles Convention Center for the SAE AeroTech National Conference. The students recreated the Jet Toy Derby from Toyota's "A World in Motion" curriculum sponsored by SAE. The school was selected to receive this honor after participating in the program last semester. The engineers were so impressed with the students' learning and expertise; they decided to invite them to the national conference and exhibition to showcase their talent and creativity. The project was a big hit at the conference. The children designed, constructed, and raced their balloon-powered toy vehicles on tracks that were sponsored by top companies in the aerospace industry like Toyota, Northrop Grumman, and Alcoa Fastening Systems. Each track had the logo of a company highlighted in the middle of the floor, along with one very special logo...the Owl of 186th Street School. The Jet Toy Derby allowed the children to test their cars for speed, elapsed time, distance, weight, and accuracy landing on the logos. The joyful sound of the students' having fun learning, the beautiful scene of children from diverse cultures working together, and the special interaction of students with their teachers and engineers brought media, executives, and visitors over to see the magic of teaching and learning. The guests at the conference saw the making of future engineers from an elementary school. At the end of the competition, every student, teacher, engineer, and administrator received a gold medal for participation. Separate medals were given to the teams that won the individual areas of competition. Every student left the convention center with a smile on his or her face, a charge to keep learning, and a memory to last a lifetime. The students told their teachers, "This was the best day of their lives." The day offered true evidence that excitement, learning and fun can all go hand-in-hand to prepare children for the technology-based future ahead of them. Look out for our future engineers!!! The best is yet to come...
