High School STEM Talk on Model S

[Half Dollar Bill]

Resurrecting the old one instead of starting a new one.
We're doing it again. This time at the elementary school associated with the high school. We're doing grades 1-8. 1-4 on Friday 10/30 and 5-8 on Friday 11/6. Around 300 children in total across all grades.
I've already got one volunteer from our high school outing signed up to assist again and I'm querying to see if any other owners would like to assist. The class periods are about 40 minutes long and we're planning about a 15-20 minute talk about the car followed by the remainder outside at the cars. I've got a Powerpoint deck - the focus is more on science and programming than on the car, but we're using it to illustrate those points.
The location is unfortunately in the supercharging desert of northeast PA, Wilkes-Barre specifically. The event is going to last the entire school day, so if you're interested you'd probably want to consider a Thursday night stay.
Please PM me if you're interested or you want more info.
Thanks kindly.
Bill

 

[DavidB]

Actually, I'll be in State College on Thursday, so stopping by on Friday will be no problem. It should be a blast!

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

One more update. I think the "thank you cards" were a nice touch.
We got some media coverage.
http://www.pahomepage.com/news/students-check-out-the-tesla-cars-on-campus
This is the link for the pictures that the school’s PR staff took.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/semblueknights/albums/72157661415278171
And here a link to thank you cards that some of the 2nd or 3rd grade students produced.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8PDzlESCltmbUQzSkFubXJ5WVk&usp=...
Presentations were given over two days as over 300 students in the school participated. Thanks to the two other MS owners that supported the event.
We had many great questions from the students, proving you're never too young to start thinking about the future. The school's science staff was also very helpful and asked a fair amount of questions on their own.
I'm finding that the more I do these presentations, the more fun it becomes. The up-front planning can get a bit challenging, but the end results are a real kick in the pants. If you're even remotely interested and have school-aged children, try reaching out to their teachers to see if they're receptive. I'm happy to share any of the material I've developed to date, though honestly, most of it is in your head as owners already.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Volunteers needed for northeast PA school demonstrations

The schools have graciously asked for a return trip this year and I’m posting this message to solicit volunteers from the owner community.

Grades 1-5: Friday April 7
Grades 6-8: Friday April 21 (aligns with the school’s celebration of Earth Day)
High School: Friday May 5 (aligns with alumni reunion weekend)

The presence on campus is basically an all-day event, say from 8AM to 3PM. Each class cycles through a 15-20 minute sit-down presentation and Q&A session then transitions out to the cars for the remainder of the period, about another 20 minutes. The car interaction is hands-on, with each owner defining the limits of what they allow. I take my UMC and plug it in, which disables the ability to shift the car into gear, so I give them free reign on the inside.

During the sit-down part, I have a Powerpoint I go through and though not required, other owners are welcome to share their input and experiences as well. If you’re afraid of presentations, don’t worry as I’d have it covered and you’d basically just need to babysit your car to answer questions during the outside portion. However, if you want to participate during the inside sessions, I’d more than welcome it.

I’m not asking or expecting participation from a single individual for all three dates, though that would be great. I also don’t need the full day commitment though again it would be great. Your cars can be pre or post AP hardware, Model S, Model X or Roadster, or even any other electric vehicle you’d have handy. My car is an S85; I’d like to have at least one vehicle with sensors in order to do a summon demo. It would be nice to have an X owner. There is no limit to the number of participants; in prior years I’ve had myself and two other owners though the more the merrier.

We’d be about 20 miles away from the Moosic PA supercharger and there is a 110 plug near the demo site so trickle charging is available if needed. With the Moosic supercharger and the nearby Allentown, Harrisburg, Bloomsburg and Binghamton superchargers, travel to the school site is not restrictive as it once was. If you live in PA or even NJ, NY, CT, DE, MD or VA, you are my prime audience.

Please get in touch with me using the email address below and I’d be happy to provide more info and discuss any issues or concerns you may have. From personal experience, the sessions are very rewarding. The students ask intelligent questions and you have a busy day of interactions. The local media generally covers the event. Tesla’s been kind in the past to provide goodies for the students though I haven’t hit them up this year yet. Between all three days, it’ll be over 400 students that cycle through the presentations with the potential for a few hundred more to drop by during study periods at the high school.

I thank you kindly in advance.
Bill
[email protected]

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Saturday morning bump.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Sunday morning bump

 

[Don85D]

I am not able to help but I am supportive of your efforts. We have an S85D and I added a small solar panel array to the house so that the Tesla can run on sunshine. It was a message that I wanted to pass to our grandkids as an EV will certainly be in their future.

If you have time to augment your presentation slides please include a solar panel story. With our small array and using Enphase micro-inverters we easily connected our array output to the grid using it as a storage medium. During the day when we are driving, the panels add power to the grid for use in office towers and industry then at night (when rates are reduced) we recharge the car for the next day. After one full year of operation we can generate 25000 free km of driving each year for the next 30 years. The real business case for a Tesla is replacing fuel costs with free solar energy.

BTW, the array components were purchased using a government rebate for an EV purchase and with micro-inverters it was a DIY project much like installing a string of lamps. The extra good news is that solar panel prices are dropping so the business case is even easier with pay back in a couple of years.

 

[Pezpunk]

ahh i'd love to do this, but Bristow, VA to Moosic is quite a hike! i think the kids would really get a kick out of my Plum Crazy Purple P100D though...

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Monday morning bump.

 

[drklain]

Sent you an email.

 

[ThisIsTrue]

you want my file?

I'm a volunteer medic here in rural Western Colorado, so my plan was to do a class for the firefighters -- especially the crash extrication team -- about the cars, like "How many KWh in a gallon of gas?* ...so how many equivalent gallons does a fully charged car have?" (to reduce their fear of electricity), where the battery cutoff is, etc. I found this thread today thanks to your bumps, so yes: I'd love to have your file because now I'm inspired to offer a little class to the local school, too. Maybe just post it here in the thread so others could download too? Thanks!

*(Just shy of 33, so an S100 would have about THREE gallons of gas equivalent energy IF fully charged.)

 

[RogerHScott]

I gave a Tesla presentation at my daughter's middle school last year. Part of it was a video on how the Model S is built that I edited down
to be more appropriate for middle-schooler attention spans and more reasonable overall length. If anyone is interested in this for a
school presentation, etc., just PM me and I'll get you a copy.

 

[malken00]

I'd be very interested in the presentation if you gents would share them. Our school just opened their high school grade levels and STEM is looking for topics to cover.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Two for Tuesday
Bump Bump

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Wanted to post a quick summary - first presentation to grades 1-5 is complete. The weather was the biggest issue as the day saw a mix of showers, sleet and snow flurries. While the barometer fluctuated, the camaraderie among the owners was exceptional. For this first day, I was lucky enough to get five volunteers to assist. There were more that contacted me and either committed to other days or had to back out for scheduling conflicts. Kudos to @DavidB, @madodel, @mrElbe, @Saghost and @Steve.Roach for making the trip and spending the day. I applaud all the volunteers but have to hand it to @mrElbe for coming from Toronto.

We had 2 X’s and 4 S’s. The X’s were the stars by far. @Saghost set the stage by discovering that the Xmas Easter Egg was still active, so we had a volunteer from each class activate the fobs for the demo. The classes were absolutely giddy! @mrElbe then did summon demos in his S for the remainder of the period with volunteers in the passenger and back seats and the line lasted until the end of each period. While that was going on, the students had the opportunity to look at and get in the other vehicles. I lamented with @Steve.Roach that EVERYONE wanted to spend time in the X’s and no one was looking at the S’s. Then fortunes turned and one of the grades had a “see how many students you can get in the car” contest in my S. One of the teachers got a picture but there were at least a dozen.

At the end of the day, one of the teachers gave us drawings that their class made. I’m getting those scanned and will post them. I’m sure I’ll also get some “do not photograph” appropriate shots from the school’s PR coordinator, who was there for the first part of the day.

The school was a gracious host providing coffee, donuts and pizza. We even had a reserved lounge. We probably set an informal record for the Wilkes-Barre vicinity by having the most electric vehicles gathered in the city. Thanks to the five owners above for helping out and making it a truly special day! More posts on subsequent events to come!

See the Events topic for pix.

 

[drklain]

Great job! Sorry my travel sked prevented me from attending. Hope to make your next one!

 

[cookpwr]

If not mentioned before and given it's a STEM class, it's a great opportunity to teach the basis elec. engr equation of Watts = Volts x Amps and how to calculate the time to charge from different outlets.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

Round 2 of presentations with the students, this time with grades 6-8. The weather was better in that temperatures got into the 60s during the day, but we still started off with a couple clouds and some showers that mercifully cleared up early. My thanks this time to @DavidB, @madodel and @Jashev for volunteering their time to help.

Since these students were older and the school was celebrating Earth Day, I started the conversations by asking what the perceived weaknesses of electric vehicles were when compared with gasoline powered vehicles. I was looking for answers like: they’re more expensive, they’re slower they’re less convenient because you have to charge or because you can’t go very far. I got those. I also got the following unexpected responses:
- The motors are simpler and therefore easier to fix, so they’re not as challenging for mechanics.
- The cars aren’t as noisy so more pedestrians will get hit by them.
- The cars are new and don’t have a long track record of reliability.
- Gasoline engines are proven and will never be replaced.
and my favorite
- They won’t fit in our garage. When I pressed the student about having a small garage she indicated that they already had two cars and a third wouldn’t fit.

It was another great day and I’m looking forward to closing the series out at the high school in two weeks.

 

[DavidB]

It has been a blast seeing these kids climbing all through the cars!

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

My apologies for the lateness of this last update post; I was waiting on some info from the school and with the end of the school year rapidly approaching they had other distractions. To that end, below are links to some Thank You cards the students from the first presentation made for us.

Big Thank Yous.pdf
Small Thank Yous.pdf

In keeping with the tradition from the earlier presentations, the final one at the high school was a gloomy day with off and on rain. I was sorry for one class in particular as it started to downpour the moment we finished up the inside presentation and opened the auditorium doors to go outside to look at the cars. The students didn’t seem to mind and the ones that were interested used the opportunity to duck inside the cars and explore the touchscreen.

My thanks to @DavidB, @madodel, @mrElbe and @PhillyGal for volunteering their time and vehicles again. I’m sure each of the other owners had their favorite interactions. Mine came from a student in one of the upper grades, so a part of the presentations two years ago, I believe. She told me she keeps coming back to the car days because she loves the vehicles and hopes to own one someday. We talked for a while longer and I gave her one of the few remaining Tesla-supplied Hot Wheels I had left. From her reaction, it looked like she was going to treasure it.

I’ve had a few owners contact me about getting copies of the presentation and I’m more than happy to help others with their efforts. My fingers are crossed for getting invited back next year.