The Car Show-捆绑调教

There is something special about taking the students out of the confines of traditional classrooms and bringing them to a place where they not only listen and concentrate but also observe and learn. I have previously used this technique to either break a daily routine or to simply wake people up. Teaching at SWUFE with large classes presented additional logistical problems. I wanted to take them to some local industries (solar cells, wind turbine components, etc.), but the number of students made it prohibitive, at least until now. There is an English saying, “If you cannot take thirsty people to the water, bring the water to the thirsty people”. So, I did…..

I teach a section on Transportation as a part of the Physics of Energy Processes course. In this section, I describe all forms of transportation we use and compare and contrast their efficiencies as well as their environmental impacts. With the help of few colleagues, this fall, as a supplemental activity to the class room lecture, I organized a “Car- Show” in which I was able to bring three different types of cars: a petrol car (a VW, courtesy Prof. Jinwei Cao), a drive in hybrid (Lexus, courtesy of Associate Dean Wang), and an all-electric car (Tesla, courtesy of Li (Leo) Zeyu). We did it 3 times on 3 different days for my three sections. For each car, we looked at the engine/motor and discussed its operation and the advantages and disadvantages with respect to energy and the environment. It was a bit of a surprise for me that practically no one had ever driven a car, and very few know much about car engines. I am sure that without the help of a real thing, just the pictures and class lectures would not have been sufficient to describe the differences between these cars.

I am very thankful to the following people for their help in organizing the car show. Xiaoyu Zhao, Associate Dean Binyu Wang, Li Zeyu, and Prof. Jinwei Cao.