ANAHEIM : Race Cars Fuel Interest in Learning

Standing with his Nohl Ranch Elementary School classmates as they built tiny wooden race cars, Chad Erdei excitedly told a visitor that the unorthodox project had taught him about aerodynamics.

And after the sixth-grader rattled off a definition using terms such as “airflow,” “drag” and “traction,” he had convinced at least one visitor he had.

“We’re getting a lot of hands-on experience we wouldn’t normally get,” said Chad, 11. “This is not your everyday school project.”

Chad and about 100 of his schoolmates are taking part in Kid Power America Project Science, a first-year course that teaches children science, English, math and art through the construction of six-inch-long cars. The course is being taught to children at schools throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties and will culminate April 15, when the children travel to the site of the Long Beach Grand Prix to race their cars down a 54-foot track.

Last week, the students, aided by some adults using power tools, were cutting, sanding, putting together and painting their cars, which they had designed themselves.

The students create their designs after experimenting with other cars. “When they begin, the students are given (cars with) different designs and they chart how each performs,” said John Taylor, president of the Kids Racing Assn. and founder of the nonprofit organization that offers the program. “They make graphs, they write journals, (then) they design and decorate their own cars. This is a project that spans the educational curriculum.”

Principal Gordon Schott said he and his teachers decided to use the program in part because its costs are paid by various corporate sponsors. “We wouldn’t have the money to do something like this ourselves,” he added.

Teacher Dorothy Fischer, who teaches a special education class, said her students have never been more excited about a classroom project.

“This is all they talk about,” she said. “I have children working together and helping each other who have never gotten along before. They are learning many things.”

Fifth-grader Guillermo Garcia, 9, said lessons in aerodynamics and friction had helped him decide to make his car with a curved front end and wheels that are well away from the frame. “It’s cool because we get to make decisions about our own cars.”.

Friends Ashley Pangborn, 11, and Liza Clay, 12, said this was the first time they had ever really learned about cars and their design.

“We learned how much faster you can make a car go just by changing its design,” Clay said.