I work at a vocational school. One part of the school teaches special needs kids. The kids will learn how to do oil changes, tire changes and rotations, other fluid changes etc... Nothing to difficult, but some are pretty bright kids, just a little slow. Well tomorrow and Friday I'm going to bring the Prius in and show them the basics of a hybrid system. What topics do you think would be good to cover and what do you think would be over their heads? I thought I'd go over the basics of how the ICE and the Elec. motor work, when they work and how/when the battery works. How the brakes use regen. as well as friction braking. What else do you think would be good topics to discuss. The teacher will give me up to 30 mins.
I think going over the basics of how the gas and electric systems work together would be the primary topic to cover... go to johns site there is tons of great info and hand outs there that you could use as reference material for you or them. http://john1701a.com/ good luck hopefully you are introducing them to the cars they will be dealing with as a virtual majority in a few years, you are doing them a very good service.
The educational materials listed on the homepage of my website are the direct result of asking the very same question...
I figured you would show up to respond to this post John... thanks for all th einformation you keep available for those interested in the Prius.
Along with all of the discussion about the hybrid systems it might be worth pointing out that the ICE and CVT trans still function basically as the same components found in every car. We shouldn't perpetuate the idea that hybrids are unique, rather are just an evolution of the cars the kids see everyday. We should try to de-mystify our cars to promote them. Kids are usually very accepting of new technology but they still need some everyday reference points. Ed
Thanks for all the good input. I'll ask the teacher too. I just don't want to get too technical and go over their heads.
Good luck and good point... I am betting the graphics and diagrams will make more technical aspects easier to understand than just making statements or providing verbal technical information... I am sure you will find a good level to conduct your information to the kids.
That's the problem I routinely face... with well educated people! No matter how smart the person is, if they don't have an understanding of how a non-hybrid works in the first place, explaining the hybrid operation is pretty much futile. The illustration on this document is probably the best if you have to choose just a single item to provide just a basic overview...
If you want, you can use my HSD presentation: http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=10697&hl= I just realized that I created it in Powerpoint 2003 and apperantly the animation doesn't work in earlier versions. Sorry.
If someone asks about your Prius, show them this PP presentation! Tony - I wasn't a PC member when you first showed the PP presentation. That is a very,very nicely done PP presentation! I have taught PP and have seen a lot of presentations. Your animations are some of the best integrated graphics I have ever seen. As you may have already guessed, I would like to use it (with a full credit line of course ) as an example of how to use, but not overuse graphics (the most common misuse of PP me thinks).
Holy crap. I'm proud and humbled. Thank you. Please do with it as you wish. As for credit, I'm sure no one you show it to in Hawaii knows me. In other words, don't worry about it. On the other hand, I'll let you know when I'm heading out to the island... About the presentation, I wonder if the animations would stay and be usable if I publish it as a stand-alone presentation. I will play around with it and modify my original thread if it works.
2nd the idea of using Tony's presentation. I've passed it out to various Prius newbies and potential newbies -- takes almost no narration, and covers a lot of the major topics.
It went well. A couple kids were very un-interested in the presentation, but when they saw the car they all perked up. They thought it looked cool and liked all the toys it has. So at least that is a start.
