Saturday, April 25, 2015

Girl Scout Day - Solar Panel Cars

SWE UMass held our annual Girl Scout Day for elementary school girls! Girls came from near and far to come build solar and battery powered cars from recycled materials. We began the day with activities and discussions about renewable energies and how we can conserve energy in our everyday lives. The Girl Scout's had great ideas about how to conserve energy, including turning off the lights and buying products that use less packaging.

These girls are just starting the body of their car, and are cutting holes into an orange juice container so they can put the axle through the car.

 Lots of glue-gunning required for assembly!


DPO Director Paula to the rescue! This car was having lots of problems with attaching the motor to the body.


Success! This car was able to successfully use the sun's solar power to power the motor of the car and get it to drive through the engineering quad.


After a successful day, these girl scouts show off their finished car. The other girls listen intently to how building the car relates to engineering, discussing how failures are expected and help you to learn more about your design. Failures lead to success!!