Bus/Light ECR

On the Road to a Better School Bus

1 Many children ride a school bus to and from school and don’t think much about it. But for 12-year-old Jonny Cohen, the smell of exhaust from the buses parked in front of his junior high school got him thinking about school buses and how much gasoline they use. Jonny wondered if there was a way to make the buses more energy efficient. 

2 The main problem with school buses, Jonny realized, is their boxy shape. It takes a lot of energy-and gasoline-for a boxy bus to move forward through the air. He thought that improving its shape would reduce the amount of energy needed to move a bus. His first idea was to add a clear windshield at an angle to the front of the bus. This second windshield would force air to go up and over the bus. 

3 With the help of his sister and friends, Jonny started his project, which he called GreenShields. The GreenSheilds team needed money to design and test Jonny’s idea. In 2010, Jonny entered his idea in a contest for grant money. To win, Jonny had to get people to vote online for his idea. Getting votes wasn’t easy-he spoke with town councils, talked to customers at grocery stores, and used social media to ask for people’s support. “I never thought I could win,” Jonny says, “but I pushed myself.” His persistence paid off, and his team won $25,000 to develop their idea.

4 After several years of researching and testing, Jonny’s team has created a new design, which they call the V4. Instead of sitting on the front of the bus, the V4 sits on the roof of the bus like a hat. Its sloped ensign allows air to flow over and around the bus more easily. The V4 costs less to make and is easier to attach to buses than the original design. In tests, buses using the V4 went farther on a tank of gas. The GreenSheilds team estimates that the V4 can save $600 every year for every bus that uses one. With all the school buses on the road in the United States, that could save millions of dollars in gas every year.

5 The V4 still needs to be approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation before it can be sold. However, Jonny and his team are determined to succeed. Jonny commented, “It’s never really over until all school buses become super-efficient.” So if the next school bus you board looks a little different, you may be witnessing Jonny’s idea in action. 

A Light in the Dark

1 Studying for classes at school is important. That’s why when 15-year-old Ann Makosinski learned that a friend of hers in the Philippines wasn’t able to study after dark because her home did not have any electricity, she wanted to help. As a result, Ann invented a flashlight that is powered solely by heat from the human hand.

2 The human body produces a constant supply of heat, which is why people feel warm to the touch. Ann decided to see whether human bodies make enough heat to power a flashlight. She thought a special kind of tile called a Peltier tile might work for her purposes. A Peltier tile releases energy when opposite sides of the time come in contact with different temperatures. Ann thought that one way to create different temperatures would be to build a flashlight that was hollow and attach Peltier tiles to it. She presumed that if a warm human hand covered one side of the tiles while the other side of the tiles was exposed to cooler air, the tiles would produce energy. 

3 Ann worked hard on her idea, juggling the project with schoolwork and other extracurricular activities. She had to make difficult calculations that required a lot of research. She admits that there were days when she thought her idea would never work but says, “You just kind of have to keep going.” Finally Ann’s calculations led her to the solution, and her hollow flashlight produced light. At first the light was too dim, but Ann kept experimenting and adjusting her design until the flashlight shone more brightly. 

4 Ann entered her invention in the 2013 Google Science Fair. She was one of 15 students from around the world who were invited to present their designs at Google headquarters in California. Ann won the top prize in her age category and a $25,000 scholarship. She hopes the flashlight can be manufactured and ultimately used all around the world by people who don’t have access to electricity. She said, “I want to make sure my flashlight is available to those who really need it.” 

Read the article from “On the Road to a Better School Bus” and the article "A Light in the Dark." Based on the information in both articles, write a response to the following: 

Explain how Jonny and Ann in BOTH articles help people for similar reasons.