A Purdue University engineering professor has found that building and racing go-karts is a great way not only to interest his own students in science and engineering, but at-risk middle-school kids as well.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Feature: Kart Me Away

Tags: Automobiles, Automotive engineering, Cars, Electrical, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Green, Green Technology

A group of North Carolina students is literally on the fast track to going green. On May 19, design teams from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools raced their biofuel-powered vehicles in the annual Go Green Go-Kart Competition hosted by the school system’s career center. The contest drew a whopping 24 teams, up from 11 teams last year.

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Filed under: K-12 Education News, Special Features | Comments Off on N.C. Students Rev Their Green Engines

Tags: Automobiles, Automotive engineering, Cars, Competitions for Students, Contest, Environmental Engineering, Events, Green, Green Technology, Programs for Students

As part of the 2010 Junior Solar Spring, Florida middle school students, grades 6-8, are invited to design, build and race Junior Solar Sprint (JSS) cars. The small model cars — powered entirely by solar energy and steered by wires — are built as team efforts guided by teachers. Date: May 1, 2010

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, K-12 Outreach Programs | Comments Off on Contest: Junior Solar Sprint, Florida, May 1, 2010

Tags: Automobiles, Automotive engineering, Competitions for Students, Solar Engineering

In this lesson, students investigate the growing concerns over automobile fuel sources. Using background information from PBS’s NewsHour Report, students engage in an activity of selling and buying an environmentally friendly car. They work together to consider what it means for a car to be “green”; which current vehicles are considered green, and why; and how automobile sellers might use information about environmental impact to sell their cars.

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Filed under: Grades 9-12, Lesson Plans | Comments Off on Lesson: Selling and Buying a Green Car

Tags: Automobiles, Chemistry, Environmental science, Grades