Education without Frontiers 25-28 March Moscow 2007 New Technologies in Education «F1 in Schools» An international project concerned with Informational.

25-28 MarchMoscow 2007

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rs “New Technologies in

Education”

«F1 in Schools»

An international projectconcerned with

Informational Technology in education

Founder of the Project: Andrew Denford

Reporter: Brian Spalding

25-28 MarchMoscow 2007

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rsWhat is “F1 in Schools?

• F1 means “Formula-1 car racing”

• “in Schools” means that the participants in the project are teams of school pupils aged between 11 and 18 years.

They use computer programs for the design, production and testing of miniature racing cars.

25-28 MarchMoscow 2007

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rsWhat do the teams do?

• They are propelled by “rockets” in the form of soda-water syphons;

• Producing jets of carbon-dioxide gas.

• These miniature cars are manufactured from balsa (a soft kind of wood).

25-28 MarchMoscow 2007

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rsImportant dates

• In 2002, already four countries were involved in the “F1 in Schools” project; so it had become International.

• The first national conference took place in the year 2000, in Great Britain.

Number ofparticipating

schools

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rsParticipating countries

The number of participating countries exceeds 20.

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rs What do the teams do?

• Each team consists of betweeen 3 and 6 pupils.

• Each team prepares a business plan, with a financial basis; and they proceed to secure sponsorship funds..

• With the help of the appropriate computer programs, they design the miniature racing cars with which they will compete.

25-28 MarchMoscow 2007

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rsWhat do the teams do?

• The aerodynamic characteristics of their designs are determined by means of a “Virtual Wind Tunnel”.

• This is a computer program embodying the scientific discipline known as “Computational Fluid Dynamics” (CFD).

25-28 MarchMoscow 2007

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rsThe Virtual

Wind Tunnel

It can be used on personal computers.

A special graphical interface has been created so as to facilitate the use of the program by school-children.

The computer program which they use is called PHOENICS,

25-28 MarchMoscow 2007

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rsThe latest interface forthe Virtual Wind Tunnel

The latest interface makes use of ‘Prelude’, which provides ‘Gateways’ to PHOENICS which focus onparticular applications.

It is simple enough to be used by the youngest children.

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rsWhat do the teams do?

• The predictions of the Virtual Wind Tunnel are checked against measurements in a real Wind Tunnel..

• Using machine-control computer programs, the teams create the instructions which will cause lathes or milling machines to create their models.

25-28 MarchMoscow 2007

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rsThe Competition

• Then the models are raced, two at a time, in a twenty-meter-long track.

There exist national and international competitions; and there is now even a Cup for the Championship of the World.

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rsCriteria; and the

prizes

The judges consider not only the speed of the machines, but also:

• the quality of design,

• the marketing skills demonstrated by the teams, and

• their presentation of the project.

In 2005, these five young Australians won scholarships to study engineering at a London University worth a total of 1.5 million dollars.

25-28 MarchMoscow 2007

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rsThe founder of the project,

Andrew Denford, maintains that:

• physics,• design,• graphics,• sponsoring,• leadership,

• aerodynamics,• mechanics,• brand-management,• marketind,• teamwork,

• financial strategy

and all within a framework of friendly and enjoyable rivalry.

Evidently, the rapid and extensive spread of the project shows that: Andrew Denford + “F1 in Schools” constitute the right formula!

with the assistance of modern computer technology, pupils learn the elements of:

25-28 MarchMoscow 2007

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rsFinal remarks

• The web-site of the project is:www.f1inschools.co.uk

• The computer program embodying the Virtual Wind Tunnel can be inspected, and tried out, in the Internet Café on the second floor of Pavilion 2, between 1100 and 1600 hrs of each day of the exhibition.

• All interested persons are cordially invited.

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All these countries have joined within the last five years

Australia Бруней Англия Таиланд С.Ирландия

Шотландия Южная Африка США Уэльс Гонконг

Южная Корея Сингапур Португалия Малайзия Канада

Ирландия ОАЭ Катар Кувейт Германия

Страны, вступившие в 2006 г.

Новая Зеландия Бразилия Испания Аргентина

Among these flags, the space for Russia’s is free