Auto Didactic
It will be a few years before fifth-graders at Oak Park Unified School District will be able to drive, but they already have some automotive know-how.
About 600 of them took a Wednesday morning field trip to the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall where they learned how their parents’ cars work and how they got from the factory to their driveway.
A partnership recently forged between the Auto Mall and the district aims at teaching students how science finds its way into everyday things, like the family station wagon, with field trips and demonstrations by various automobile dealers.
“It’s a new and exciting opportunity,” Oak Park Unified Supt. Marilyn Lippiatt said. “We have not had a partnership with an employer as large as the T.O. Auto Mall, and we’re looking to develop a collaborative partnership that’s a benefit to students by connecting their schoolwork to real career opportunities in the area.”
About 60 of the students and parents from Brookside School visited Rusnak/Westlake on Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Usually the atmosphere at Rusnak/Westlake--eastern Ventura County’s purveyor of BMWs, Porsches and Audis--is hushed, almost shrine-like, and populated by smartly clad salespeople intent on demonstrating Germany’s latest automotive offerings to well-heeled customers.
Things were different Wednesday after the small army of schoolchildren descended on Rusnak/Westlake’s showroom, commandeering several sleek BMW Z3 roadsters on display and leaving a trail of kid-sized smudges and fingerprints in their wake.
Elsewhere at the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall, which claims to offer the widest range of marquees in the world, other students peered under the hoods of Volvos and Fords, learned how the brakes work on the family Suburban, and hydraulically lifted Nissan sedans high into the air.
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“This involves a science unit that focuses on design and mechanical principles,” Lippiatt said. She added that the district’s fifth-graders are completing a project building self-propelled model cars.
“This is a chance to really see them in operation and for people who work in the auto industry to mentor students in the creation of their projects,” she said.
Nick La Grotta and Nolan Geyer, both 11, were among the first students to get behind the wheel of one of the red BMW Z3 roadsters on display at Rusnak/Westlake.
Having heard lessons in school about automotive design and safety, the children had already formed strong opinions about what was good and bad about James Bond’s current favorite mode of wheeled transportation.
Gripping the leather-wrapped steering wheel and straining to look over the roadster’s stubby hood, Nick grimaced, dissatisfied.
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“It’s too small,” he said, while his friend looked around the snug leather cockpit, pleased with his surroundings. “But if someone gave it to me, I’d take it.”
Nick said that although the Z3 has all the latest safety features, such as air bags and anti-lock brakes, he would feel safer in a bigger car, pointing at a metallic blue BMW four-door sedan parked outside.
In Rusnak/Westlake’s service area, Brookside students in white baseball caps examined the braking system on a new Porsche 911 Carrera with the help of master technician Sean Clemens.
“If the wheels stop, you go into a skid, and if you get into a skid, you lose control,” Clemens said, before delving into the basic principles of anti-lock braking systems, using as an example the Porsche’s front disks, as big around as a medium Domino’s pizza.
Students came away from the lesson in friction and braking systems with few questions, but were intrigued by the lecture about toxic waste disposal led by mechanics in plastic coveralls and boots.
A hydraulic-leverage demonstration, in which students used a hand-operated hoist to lift a 500-pound engine off the ground, and a lift that pulled an Audi up over their heads, were also pleasers.
Ten-year-old Brandon Greif, accompanied by his mom, Sherri, said he was amazed that he could lift a heavy V-6 engine and an entire automobile into the air with a simple pull of a lever.
“I thought it was possible, but it would be a little harder,” he said.
Lippiatt said Oak Park Unified’s educational relationship with dealers at the mall has only begun. “We’re starting at one grade level, but we’re looking for other connections between our curriculum and [the Auto Mall’s] work,” she said. “They’re very eager to find other avenues that we can partner with on experiences for the students.”
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Other joint educational projects between Oak Park Unified and local business interests are also in the works, Lippiatt said, including an partnership between Oak Park High School and members of the Westlake Village Sunrise chapter of the Rotary Club.
David Pierce, president of Rusnak/Westlake, said he was impressed by the fifth-graders’ interest and eagerness to find out how things work, and expects to see more students next year.
“I think it’s great, not only for Rusnak, but the entire Auto Mall,” he said.
“These children ride in vehicles every day, and a lot of them are attuned to the automobile . . . so this was very, very well worth it.”
