With in-school learning being out for months now, General Motors Co. propulsion engineer Kris Sevel knows what it’s like to be a parent looking for activities that will keep children engaged in learning while they’ve been sheltering at home.
He’s hoping a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Summer School Series GM has launched on YouTube fills exactly that need for many families. Electrifying Engineering is a free educational video series designed to foster ingenuity through hands-on activities while educating kids ages 7-13 about electric vehicle technology.
“Many schools around the world have turned to online learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” Sevel says. “To help with the situation, our electric vehicle engineers and designers created an online series of STEM lessons and experiments to help educators, parents, and caretakers who are looking for ways to keep students engaged and learning. GM has nearly 80 STEM partnerships, and our employees have a history of stepping up and finding solutions to critical needs in our communities.”
Electrifying Engineering episodes are being released on every Sunday through July. About a dozen engineers from the company’s electric vehicle and environmental engineering and design teams are taking turns hosting programs on topics such as electric car charging, electric car motors, and autonomous vehicle sensors.
Each session includes an interactive engineering project that can be completed at home with everyday household items, according to a press release. Students are invited to share a picture of completed projects on social media using the #ElectrifyingEngineering hashtag.
Sevel presented a “How to Build an Electric Motor” program that focused on electric propulsion, or the parts that make an electric vehicle move. He sees the series as having potential to inspire students for the future while challenging them now. “I’m also hoping it sparks the interest of future engineers,” he says, “and encourages them to find other STEM activities and learning opportunities around electric vehicles.”
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