When I was in AmeriCorps Cape Cod I spent a lot of my first year working on the Junior Solar Sprint (more here, here and here), it was a model solar powered car competition that taught the basics of renewable energy, recycling, engineering, math, a whole bunch of physics and fun. Seems that the “model car” method of teaching is not limited just to solar. A group of sixth graders at Southern Hills Middle School in Boulder will put solar and hydrogen fuel cell technology to the test in the school courtyard, racing a fleet of cars they built in the classroom.

(Note video is not of hydrogen cars, but rather solar powered ones from cape cod not Boulder)

Under the direction of their science teacher, Kathy Briggs, the students have spent the last four weeks learning about solar energy and about hydrogen and oxygen — how an electrical charge can extract these compounds from water. They then use a fuel cell as the vehicle’s power source.

“The experiments we did in class helped the students understand the physics behind the technology,” said Briggs.

Once the students understood these concepts, the next step was instruction in the basic assembly of the car parts. With a bit of creative engineering, said Briggs, the students managed to produce more than a dozen miniature models of a simplified hydrogen fuel cell car.

On race day, the courtyard of Southern Hills Middle School will be jammed with student spectators throughout the day, as students race solar- and hydrogen-powered cars around a 20-meter track. The top three winners (one in solar; two in hydrogen) will go on to compete next month in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Junior Solar Sprint/Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car Competition, hosted by the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado.

The Southern Hills project is one of 15 hands-on science programs funded by Seagate this school year through the company’s Science Teacher Grant program, now in its second year. In 2008 the company issued more than $20,000 in grants to K-12 science teachers in the St. Vrain Valley and Boulder Valley School Districts for programs that bring science to life through hands-on applications of scientific principles.

“Our intent with this program is to offer additional resources to the talented and enthusiastic teachers in our community who educate and inspire young people to embrace science in and out of the classroom,” said Andy Davis, Seagate vice president of Design Engineering. “Sometimes it only takes one influential and creative teacher to spark a student’s enthusiasm in a topic he or she might not have taken an interest in before.”

Areas of science considered in the grant program include: biology, chemistry, physics, earth sciences, astronomy and space travel, meteorology and oceanography.

For Briggs, the Seagate grant program allowed her students an opportunity to explore an area of science that could have a major impact on society.

“In an era where much of our known energy is being depleted, discovering other sources and how they can be used efficiently is critical,” she said.

But Briggs is also concerned about a more local issue—the need to inspire more American youth to pursue careers in math and science. In a country where the number of college grads with an engineering degree has declined over more than a decade, she said, “We need to rekindle in our students an interest in technical studies so they can become participants in our competitive world.”

She didn’t mention it but these students are also much more likely to grow up seeing renewable energy as a primary source of energy instead of an “alternative” to coal and oil. We will need all their little brains packed fat with science if we are going to make it out of this global warming mess we have gotten ourselves into. Hurray science!