Adults Build Wind Cars
Text on screen: Adults Build Wind Cars
Logo: Count, play, explore—for early education.
On screen: Small groups of early education professionals participate in an activity during an in-person meeting. They have been tasked with building a wind-powered car. One small group empties their container full of building pieces, including connectors and wheels, and discusses their strategy. On their table, there is also paper and masking tape of various colors.
Educator 1: So then we have to make something that's strong on the bottom.
Educator 2: Yes.
Educator 3: With these wheels.
Educator 1: Something that's sturdy.
Educator 2: How many wheels do we have?
Educator 3: We have four wheels.
Educator 2: Four wheels. Okay, let’s see how four wheels look.
Educator 1: Yes.
Educator 2: It might be we need more. Or we might need four. And then the wind helps out with…
Educator 1: Well, then let's put everything down and see what we have. So we can visualize.
On screen: As Mary Childrey speaks, clips of other small groups working together are shown.
Mary Childrey, Program Supervisor: I think our overarching goal is to help folks change the mindset. Because when you hear math, typically you default to numbers and shapes only. But there's so much more around math, like spatial awareness and reasoning and weight, wind. All those kinds of things come into play with speed, size. And we just wanted to help people think outside of the box when it comes to math and how much fun math can actually be.
On screen: One of the small groups tests their wind car. The car has four wheels, a small paper boat in the center (representing the car’s cabin), and a large, triangular paper sail. The groups stands around an open area of the floor.
Facilitator: So put it close to it.
Educator 1: Yeah, get close to it.
On screen: One member places the car in front of a small electric fan. The paper sail completely gives way to the fan’s wind, so the car does not move. They try repositioning the car and pulling off the paper boat, but it still does not move.
Facilitator: Ha, look at the sail!
[laughing]
Educator 1: It’s the sail, take it off the boat!
Facilitator: No. Look at the sail. Is it the boat or is it the sail?
Educator 1: The sail.
Facilitator: Is it the sail or the boat?
Educator 4: It’s the sail.
Educator 1: It’s the sail.
Facilitator: It’s the sail?
On screen: Another member tries to give the sail more support.
Educator 1: We can make another one.
Educator 2: We need a stronger sail.
Educator 1: We need a totally different one.
Facilitator: A stronger sail, very good.
Mary: If the teacher is secure with math, they'll also spread that to the children. Because we don't want to project our own fears or our own experiences with math onto the children that we work with. So we want to just encourage it to be a fun experience and to remain curious. And it doesn't need to be definitively right or wrong, it's very open-ended.
On screen: Another group finishes putting together their wind car. Their car is similar, but the sail is square shaped, supported by a center pole, and concaved outward.
Educator 5: Let’s see.
Educator 6: Let's see. Let’s see. Come on.
On screen: When they place it in front of the fan, the sail catches the wind, and the car rolls forward to everyone’s delight.
[cheering]
Educator 6: It works!
Text on screen: A special thanks to the staff from Educare California at Silicon Valley and Mary Childrey from the Merced County Office of Education, without whose help these videos would not have been possible.
Logo: Count, play, explore—for early education.