FREE: IT'S ELECTRIC! The Lorax

Date: May 28, 2008
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT - 2:15 p.m. EDT
Grades: Middle/High School Students
How to Participate: Interactive H.323 Videoconference Participant (Internet2 Connectivity Required for this). THIS PROGRAM IS OPEN TO MAGPI AND NON-MAGPI MEMBERS.
Cost: Free!

Program Description:
Methacton High school has an electric car and has recently built a solar photovoltaic solar cell array to charge the car. This program will show how battery electric vehicles work, how solar cells produce electricity and the practicality of using renewable energy to charge an electic vehicle - - from both student and teacher perspectives.

The car itself has a fiberglass frame, three wheels and runs on 17, 12-volt lead, acid-gel batteries. The car, with the batteries, weighs 2150 pounds. The three wheels make it lighter, producing less friction, which demands less energy. The Lorax has a three phase AC induction motor. The Solectria controller takes the 204 volts from the batteries and converts them to a three phase AC pulse to make the motor run. It has 700ft/lbs. of torque at the drive wheel. The car has been driven at speeds of up to 80 mph. The first part of the presentation will focus on its design and performance.

This is an 'open forum' videoconference event - - students and teachers are encouraged to ask questions throughout!

About Methacton High School's Electric Car Club:

The goal of our club is to educate the public one car at a time. The program will focus on how the electric car was built, how it works, the positives and negatives of this particular car and how we are using solar energy to charge the batteries. Our goal was to no longer be dependent on the local utility company (which provides nuclear energy) and make the car totally renewable. Any background information that teachers could provide on these topics would allow their students to have a greater understanding for the material being discussed.

More Information/Registration: http://www.magpi.net/programs/lorax.html. Registration to be an interactive videoconference site in this event is available on a first-come, first-serve basis and is limited.

FREE: Inner World Discovery Program

Date: Friday, May 16, 2008
Time: 10:30 a.m. - 11:45 am. ET
Target Audience: High School Students

Designed by St. Joseph's Medical Center emergency room doctor Phillip Silverstein, the “Inner World Discovery” program is a multimedia journey through the human body. With Dr. Silverstein as their guide, students participating in this session will experience the wonder, intricacies and elegance of the human body’s immune system. This interactive videoconference presentation with Dr. Silverstein will make the complexities of understanding the immune system accessible to students, and will make real the devastating effects of HIV. The program, a curricular supplement, is scaled for high school and community college health and science classes.



We encourage students to generate questions about the immune system, HIV and/or AIDS before participating in this videoconference.More information/registration: http://www.magpi.net/programs/innerworld.html

How to Participate:

• Interactive Videoconference Site: In order to be an interactive videoconference site for this event, your site must have H.323 videoconferencing capabilities. Your site must also be connected to your national high speed research and education network (i.e. Internet2 in the United States).
• This program is open to MAGPI and NON-MAGPI MEMBERS Have your high school students explore the Immune System through this interactive multimedia videoconference presentation!