So, what is “The Hottest Color for the Fastest Ride?" Students in elementary and middle school will soon answer the question thanks to the work of Madison Wells, a WKU senior from Morgantown who majors in Middle School Science Education in the SKyTeach Program.
Wells wants to help make curriculum available that utilizes technology to solve real-world problems in a way that engages to students.
“What better way to involve students in solving real-world problems than to have them solve a problem that they are all familiar with using something as exciting as brightly colored Corvettes,” Wells said.
Her project titled, “The Hottest Color for the Fastest Ride: A Problem-based Unit of Instruction for the Elementary and Middle School Science Classroom,” provides the opportunity for Wells to work with fourth and fifth grade students challenging them to build paper Corvettes that meet specific requirements.
Wells said students learn through participation in lab experiments, outdoor activities and hands-on exercises that will teach them about absorption, reflection, engineering, collecting and interpreting data, and supporting a scientific claim with evidence and reasoning.
SKyTeach is a collaboration between the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences and Ogden College of Science and Engineering that prepares students for careers in math and science education.
Wells' research will be featured in a poster presentation Thursday afternoon at the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences in Gary Ransdell Hall.
