Classroom ideas?

[bonnie]

I'm bringing my Roadster over to a small local school (127 students, grades 1-6) and talking with one of the teachers about what they might do in preparation.

I suggested that

• they look up charging stations using recargo and sharepoint websites,
• gave her a link to the Plug-In America commercials as something to view with students and discuss, and,
• am getting a stack of brochures from Tesla as a handout.

Any other ideas (considering the age group)?

 

[markwj]

Interested in hearing how this works out for you. I've been asked to do something similar here.

 

[TEG]

Get permission slips signed by parents saying it is OK to give them rides?

 

[bonnie]

Get permission slips signed by parents saying it is OK to give them rides?

OMG!! NO, Teg, NOOOO. 127. No no NOO.

 

[TEG]

Maybe just the 6th graders?
Or the ones that give the give the best answer when asked "why are electric cars a good idea?"

 

[Warrenbonz]

How about bringing a remote control roadster for the students to check out and compare the two electric cars?

 

[bonnie]

How about bringing a remote control roadster for the students to check out and compare the two electric cars?

Good idea ... but my dog ate it.

 

[bonnie]

Maybe just the 6th graders?
Or the ones that give the give the best answer when asked "why are electric cars a good idea?"

You're not that far away, Teg. I bet they'd like a ride in the Leaf. It's like a *real* car.

 

[TEG]

I frequently take my 6th graders to school in the Leaf.
I saw a Roadster at their school at 'back to school' night last week... (Hello #111)

 

[bonnie]

I frequently take my 6th graders to school in the Leaf.
I saw a Roadster at their school at 'back to school' night last week... (Hello #111)

It's the '127' that scares me.

 

[bonnie]

But I do like the idea of (with parent's permission), giving a ride to a student with the best essay. Or at least let them take pics in the driver's seat for posting on their fb page.

 

[TEG]

It will make many of the others hope/aspire to get an EV (well actually a Roadster) after seeing one of their own come back with the "Tesla Grin" plastered all over their face.

 

[bonnie]

Whatever is agreed upon will ultimately be x2 ... because if I were the parent, I'd demand a ride first to determine how safe it was. Or some silly reason like that.

 

[TEG]

2x Tesla Grins are better than 1 ! :biggrin::biggrin:

 

[ChadS]

Elementary kids see with their fingers. If you are not comfortable with 1,270 fingerprints on your car, you might want to rope it off or something. Having the teacher ask the kids to look but not touch only works sometimes...it depends on the teacher.

They also like to lean forward on the car--watch for zippers.

I haven't done a whole bunch of elementary work, so I haven't found things to say that work well yet. Talking about efficiency or comparing it to a Prius sure doesn't work. Energy security and the economy probably don't work either (I haven't tried them). Calling it the cleanest car available may help, but they really don't want more detail other than that one sentence. Of course they want you to open everything--trunk, hood, glove box.

Mostly I end up letting them ask questions. Kid questions are very different than adult questions. Usually it's something about technology: Can it talk? Can it park itself? Can it play music from an iPod?

For activities, "find the tailpipe" is always fun.

Of course, they love rides. They are usually quite content with very short ones around the parking lot. (Maybe the first one to find the tailpipe gets a ride?)

 

[bonnie]

Good input, Chad. I was also thinking of bringing a couple of batteries and having them guess how many power the car.

 

[TEG]

I just asked my 11 year old daughter "If you had a Roadster to take to your old elementary school what would you want to tell the kids there?"

She said basically:
"Tell them it is awesome and cool because it the newest kind of car technology."
"It is the cleanest, smoothest driving sports car you can buy."

I asked her "What question would you ask them about the car?"
She said "Ask them to guess the sound it makes when you go fast."
She said "They will be surprised and disappointed that it is so silent because they expect sports cars to be loud."
She then said "Explain to them that the quietness is great because it means it isn't wasting a lot of gas making a bunch of noise."

 

[bonnie]

I just asked my 11 year old daughter "If you had a Roadster to take to your old elementary school what would you want to tell the kids there?"

She said basically:
"Tell them it is awesome and cool because it the newest kind of car technology."
"It is the cleanest, smoothest driving sports car you can buy."

I asked her "What question would you ask them about the car?"
She said "Ask them to guess the sound it makes when you go fast."
She said "They will be surprised and disappointed that it is so silent because they expect sports cars to be loud."
She then said "Explain to them that the quietness is great because it means it isn't wasting a lot of gas making a bunch of noise."

Sweet. Nothing like user input.

 

[vfx]

Linda Nicholes does a lot of skools with Tessie. Contact her for ideas.

From me listening to my wife talking to kids:
Tell them it's what they will be driving.
No more smelly gasoline.
They get solar so talk about that and electrics. At one green show they had a slot car track next to us with a solar panel on top and a car battery below to run it. Very effective way to illustrate the point.
They will touch. They may even get in when you blink. Unless you are OK with that you need to be roped off.

 

[Nik]

I'm bringing my Roadster over to a small local school (127 students, grades 1-6) and talking with one of the teachers about what they might do in preparation.

Any other ideas (considering the age group)?

The older kids ought to be up to thinking about the points in the energy chain (well to wheel) where energy is used to do things other than propel the vehicle from A to B. They can compare the well-to-wheel chain for ICE with the long tail pipe view of EV energy consumption, noting where different sources (biofuel vs tar sands, coal vs solar) make big differences to the overall environmental impact of a vehicle.