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Photograph by George Sakkestad
Sarah Traina, a second-grader at Argonaut Elementary School, cheers on her sun-powered buggy, as she and other students spend one recent morning learning about solar energy.
Students have fun in the sun with solar cars
By Michele Tjin
All the ingredients were there for a good time outside the classroom: bright sunlight and a set of hot wheels.
A class of second-graders at Argonaut Elementary School and their fourth-grade buddies recently assembled their own buggies juiced with the sun's energy and tested the science behind solar power.
"Go, go, go!" shrieked a pack of boys, cheering on their cars on a small patch of smooth pavement on school grounds.
Cindy Harris' second-graders have spent much of the year learning about the environment and alternative fuel sources, and a warm spring morning seemed like the perfect time to find out what solar power can do. Her students paired up with a class of older students at Argonaut.
"If you switch the wires, the car can go backwards," said fourth-grader Arathi Sabada. "It can go on rough surfaces, but if it goes into the shade, it stops."
The cars were made of wood pieces and plastic wheels, held together with rubber bands. They whizzed by at, well, a moderate pace.
"They don't go that fast. I'm disappointed," said fourth-grader Kia Hosseian. He had spent part of the morning racing with his friends.
Parent Bill Hunt was on hand to give a presentation on the topic to the classes.
"We talked about the benefits of clean energy and the disadvantages of solar energy," he said. "It is a hot thing right now, in general. There's a lot [being said] about the environment and global warming."
The students easily rattled off the pros and cons that they have learned. These cars don't burn anything, which is good they said, yet it can be expensive to set up the equipment, others countered.
But don't forget that after setting up solar panels, using the sun is free, said Yvonne Ye, a fourth-grader.
Second grade has traditionally been the year when students at Argonaut learn what it means to be environmentally aware. Harris' students entered an art contest in the fall to depict various forms of energy. They also completed a unit with material supplied by PG&E about energy uses. In addition, each spring, second-graders sell lemonade at school to raise money for environmental causes, such as the Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco.
"We're going to sell as many lemonades as we can," Harris said. "They're still 25 cents each."
This year, the second-graders will be quenching their peers' thirst with cool drinks May 29-June 1.
The emphasis for students to look at what they can do to preserve the environment goes back to former principal Sue Brooks' challenge for them to imagine what the world would be like in the future, Harris said. Five years ago, the students raised enough money with their lemonade sales to buy new plastic trays to replace Styrofoam trays used during lunch. They raised about $1,500 over two years.
"The second-graders at Argonaut are very environmentally oriented," Harris said.
Harris is one who practices what she preaches. She talks to her students about carpooling, walking to school and planning car trips. Her family owns two hybrid Prius cars, one of which was delivered to her gift-wrapped at Argonaut as a surprise six years ago. In her eyes, it's never too early to encourage students to adopt a new attitude.
"We want their lives to be full and wonderful," she said.
