Students team up with sixth-graders to create concept cars
Think your boss is demanding? Try working for sixth-graders.
Senior plastics engineering technology students in a rapid commercialization elective at Penn State Erie did just that. A semester-long project culminated Tuesday with a race of seven Matchbox-sized cars designed by teams of sixth-graders from two Erie-area elementary schools. The concept cars had inventive names including Bee Beep!, Al-o-gator and Bugmobile -– and creatively complicated designs to match.
"Because (sixth-graders) have no engineering background, they had no limitations," said student Laura Stuart. "They let their imaginations run wild, and it was up to us to make it happen."
In Stuart's case that meant analyzing, prototyping, machining and molding a car called Convert-a-Fish out of high-impact polystyrene -- and explaining to her sixth-grade clients that they didn't have the tooling budget to mold a convertible or add the gills and scale-shaped seats they originally envisioned. Still, Convert-a-Fish sailed to a second-place finish.
"We designed it for looks," Samantha Twaroski said of her team's bulging-eyed vehicle as it sat regally on a draped, rotating display before the race. "The college students did the aerodynamics."
For photos from the event, visit live.psu.edu.