“New Technologies in Education” 25-28 March Moscow 2007 «F1 in Schools» An international project concerned with Informational Technology in education Founder of the Project: Andrew Denford Reporter: Brian Spalding

What is “F1 in Schools? F1 means “Formula-1 car racing” 25-28 March Moscow 2007 F1 means “Formula-1 car racing” “in Schools” means that the participants in the project are teams of school pupils aged between 11 and 18 years. They use computer programs for the design, production and testing of miniature racing cars.

What do the teams do? 25-28 March Moscow 2007 These miniature cars are manufactured from balsa (a soft kind of wood). They are propelled by “rockets” in the form of soda-water syphons; Producing jets of carbon-dioxide gas.

Important dates 25-28 March Moscow 2007 The first national conference took place in the year 2000, in Great Britain. In 2002, already four countries were involved in the “F1 in Schools” project; so it had become International. Number of participating schools

Participating countries 25-28 March Moscow 2007 The number of participating countries exceeds 20.

What do the teams do? 25-28 March Moscow 2007 Each team consists of betweeen 3 and 6 pupils. Each team prepares a business plan, with a financial basis; and they proceed to secure sponsorship funds.. With the help of the appropriate computer programs, they design the miniature racing cars with which they will compete.

What do the teams do? 25-28 March Moscow 2007 The aerodynamic characteristics of their designs are determined by means of a “Virtual Wind Tunnel”. This is a computer program embodying the scientific discipline known as “Computational Fluid Dynamics” (CFD).

The Virtual Wind Tunnel 25-28 March Moscow 2007 The computer program which they use is called PHOENICS, It can be used on personal computers. A special graphical interface has been created so as to facilitate the use of the program by school-children.

Here are some more pictures illustrating the use of the program 25-28 March Moscow 2007

The latest interface for the Virtual Wind Tunnel 25-28 March Moscow 2007 The latest interface makes use of ‘Prelude’, which provides ‘Gateways’ to PHOENICS which focus on particular applications. It is simple enough to be used by the youngest children.

What do the teams do? 25-28 March Moscow 2007 The predictions of the Virtual Wind Tunnel are checked against measurements in a real Wind Tunnel.. Using machine- control computer programs, the teams create the instructions which will cause lathes or milling machines to create their models.

The Competition 25-28 March Moscow 2007 Then the models are raced, two at a time, in a twenty-meter-long track. There exist national and international competitions; and there is now even a Cup for the Championship of the World. На картинке видно только 2 машинки

Criteria; and the prizes 25-28 March Moscow 2007 The judges consider not only the speed of the machines, but also: the quality of design, the marketing skills demonstrated by the teams, and their presentation of the project. In 2005, these five young Australians won scholarships to study engineering at a London University worth a total of 1.5 million dollars.

The founder of the project, Andrew Denford, maintains that: 25-28 March Moscow 2007 with the assistance of modern computer technology, pupils learn the elements of: physics, design, graphics, sponsoring, leadership, aerodynamics, mechanics, brand-management, marketind, teamwork, financial strategy and all within a framework of friendly and enjoyable rivalry. Evidently, the rapid and extensive spread of the project shows that: Andrew Denford + “F1 in Schools” constitute the right formula!

Final remarks The web-site of the project is: www.f1inschools.co.uk 25-28 March Moscow 2007 The web-site of the project is: www.f1inschools.co.uk The computer program embodying the Virtual Wind Tunnel can be inspected, and tried out, in the Internet Café on the second floor of Pavilion 2, between 1100 and 1600 hrs of each day of the exhibition. All interested persons are cordially invited.

Among these flags, the space for Russia’s is free 25-28 March Moscow 2007 All these countries have joined within the last five years Australia Бруней Англия Таиланд С.Ирландия Шотландия Южная Африка США Уэльс Гонконг Южная Корея Сингапур Португалия Малайзия Канада Ирландия ОАЭ Катар Кувейт Германия Страны, вступившие в 2006 г. Новая Зеландия Бразилия Испания Аргентина