The need of younger generations to learn from their environment and to develop technology that can be used for the future is becoming more evident each year. Younger generations will be more technologically advanced than we currently are and will have more capability to provide the items that will make a difference in the world. Some of the programs offered at different schools in the country make it possible for these young minds to learn about how the automotive and other industries should perform in the future, which means they will have the answers we currently don’t. Here are some reasons it more important than ever to teach these younger minds about the current challenges we face:
Tipping Point – For some we are looking at a current tipping point where we need to look over and see that we’re going to get pushed soon and we need to be ready for what comes next. For others we’re still climbing a mountain, but environmental concerns and technological advances need to meet to create the difference in our world.
Schools Understand – Many of the teachers of today may be ideologists in hopes of affecting a younger generation with the desire and the tools to achieve what older ones have failed at to this point. The program that has been STEM in the past is now becoming STEAM with an emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering Art and Math to bring together not only the technology but the design and use of this technology.
Already Present – The climate changes have already started to take place and the technology that we need to affect these changes is present and possible. The program developed and called H2AC is a product of Horizon Technologies and is part of the experimental programs to help make it possible to use hydrogen fuel cells in the operation of vehicles to be more efficient and environmentally friendly.
Not just Concepts – This new program isn’t about just a concept and an idea, it’s about practical application. The students that have participated in the program have built their own FCV in the form of a Mirai they use as a remote controlled car that’s a 1:10 scale of the real thing to show how they can make an FCV work and perform the way they need it to.
Creative and Open For Interpretation – There may be rules to the competitions these students enter and participate in but items that are not clearly stated in the rules is open for interpretation and modification to allow students to think about how they want their RC car to perform in the program and what they’re looking for in its performance.
Simple Design – While the technology students in the H2AC program are working on is supposed to be the future and help create the difference needed, the reality is the design and the system is fairly simple. These RC cars use a 30-watt fuel cell with two metal hydride canisters that store hydrogen in a low pressure compartment to be used by the car.
Fun for the Students – The enthusiasm these young minds have for the building of the cars they enter into competition on a small scale makes it easy to see. These students are highly capable and show and incredible passion for what they’re doing when they compete and love to see what others come up with as well.
More than Just and Extracurricular – The effect of this program is meant to be more than just an activity outside of school that kids enjoy for a few years and then forget about. This program is designed to help build a group of young men and women that have the thought of creating the mindset needed to create the solutions we need on the market to sell the problems we face.
Racing is the Reward – The real reward will be a generation of young adults that can help solve environmental and pollution problems, but at the end of the program for the folks in the H2Ac program they have the fun of racing their cars in a four-hour endurance race at the NSTA national Conference in Los Angeles at the end of the program.
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