In the last week of the school term, four Year 6 students from St Joseph’s School, competed in the Grand Final of the Synergy Schools Solar Challenge held at Kings Park.
The challenge was open to any school in Western Australia for their Year 6 and Year 8 students and once registered, the school received a solar car package with teaching and class resources, which were supplied by Synergy.
Adrian Gargano, Ashton Stewart, Saffron Truong and Meaghan Ashworth were selected to compete after winning a preliminary heat.
The students investigated solar cell theory, with the help of Mr Ken James and Mrs Renee Marasco and worked in a group of four to design and test a simple solar car utilising only the resources that were provided.
On each of the competition days, the students brought their vehicle along for the judging panel, but were also supplied a fresh kit and had to build their vehicle from scratch within 60 minutes, demonstrating their independent building and construction techniques.
The best bit was the car racing – it was extremely tense seeing if our car would win the race
- St Joseph's year 6 student Ashton Stewart
The teams then raced their vehicles against others in a series of challenges along a pre-built 20 metre race track.
The students finished fourth place in a close race, out of a total of 32 teams.
St Joseph’s Year 6 student Ashton Stewart said the competition was a great experience.
“I learnt a lot from it,” she said. “The competition was educational but heaps of fun.
“The best bit was the car racing – it was extremely tense seeing if our car would win the race.”
Fellow student and teammate Adrian Gargano said he enjoyed the process of designing the solar cars for maximum speed.
“We tested different tyre sizes and solar panel angles to maximise the energy being supplied to the motor,” he said.
St Joseph’s Year 7 – 12 curriculum coordinator Mark Gargano said it was a “pleasing result”.
“This is a highlight among the many successful endeavours that students in the Gifted and Talented Education program at St Joseph’s School have opportunities to experience and to enhance their learning,” he said.
Mr Gargano and other teachers involved in specialist programs are looking forward to developing further solar car project work later in the year to complement other projects on robotics, coding and astronomy.
