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Study CP802


Abstract
Background
Pre-planning
Delivery
Outcomes
What next?

Principles, Values & Key Competencies

GALLERIES:
Luge outcomes
Student workbook

MOVIES:
Short version
1.6Mb .wmv file

Full version
17.3Mb .wmv file


LINKS:
Phase 2 Schools
School website

Published:
March 2008

Updated:
September 2008

Case Study CP802: Street Luge


Delivery

A student riding his luge down the track

Having established a time-frame for the unit and a few ground rules, the boys were given essentially a free reign to get on with things. With the enormous amount of information available on the internet, none of the teachers felt the need to develop much supporting documentation for the unit. On the internet students could find information on street luging, its history, its rules, and how luges are put together – more than enough material to create their initial, revised and final briefs.

Luge design incorporates a number of consistent design elements, notably skateboard type lean-activated steering and an absence of brakes. The rules set by the sport's governing bodies (no one official body is recognised) reinforce this uniformity of approach, so the boys quickly found themselves working along the same lines. Despite this, there was still plenty of room for individual design choices.

"It was an interesting project, because luges can be made out of a range of materials. You can go for aluminium, steel, or laminated timber – they all work really well. It was important to me that students worked within the rules, but that they had the freedom to design what they wanted."

Steve accompanied his students through the development process step by step, helping out with ideas and suggesting alternative materials and processes. And because the choice of materials was critical to the development process, Steve asked a specialist from a local metal supply company to talk to the class about the performance characteristics of materials in different forms, such as their strength-to-weight ratio, profile, and thicknesses.

"The mentor from Industrial Tubing had worked with my seniors as a mentor the previous year and was really keen to be involved because he'd seen street luges on the internet. When I talked to him about what we were doing, he jumped at the chance to come in and talk about materials."

On the basis of this teaching, students completed a material selection sheet, detailing what they intended to use and justifying their choices.

As development continued, Steve made some "constructions" which got the boys thinking about things they could do to extend the performance of their luges.
"One of the things that I did was to make some examples of things and, without actually saying 'this is what you have to do', left them around to stimulate their thinking. For example, I made up a laminated timber luge frame, just the spine, and I left that in the workshop. The guys that were making the timber-framed luges looked at the laminated timber frames and they thought about how they could use that in their project.

A student riding his luge down the track

"Then I made up some joints and talked about welding processes we might use. Then I put a gusset in, just as an example for them to look at. If you'd said to some of the boys 'put a gusset in' they wouldn't have a clue what a gusset was, but if they saw one in front of them then they could say 'I know where I could put that'."

Steve also made up a set of extended trucks and left them in the workshop. Five of his students followed his lead and used extended trucks to improve the steerability of their luges.

One of the beauties of the project, Steve says, was that in allowing students to work in a range of materials, it gave them the opportunity to capitalise on the skills they had developed in Year 9 and Year 10 as well as develop new ones. "About half a dozen or more of the boys did their Years 9 and 10 in the wood-work room and had never been in this environment before. They didn't have many of the skills that we teach here, such as welding, or lathe-work. But that didn't really worry me because on the website I saw laminated timber luges that fitted in well with what they'd been doing. So I knew that these students would feel confident that they could have a good go at the project."

Many of the students at St John's had done Year 10 Technology, which involved building a skateboard. This had introduced them to many of the skills useful in their Year 11 project where they now had the opportunity to combine materials, thereby expand their skill/knowledge base. For example, the boys working in wood saw that by learning a little MIG welding (or whatever they needed to do) they could use steel to make things like footrests and combine them with a wooden body.

At Morrinsville, senior Technology is taught as an integrated package, a continuum of lessons and projects students progress through, accumulating practical skills and theory as they go. Year 9 students spend two terms designing and building a land yacht out of aluminium plate; the following year, students build a 'snakeboard" (a type of skateboard). The skills the students gain in these two projects prepares them to take on the more demanding Year 11 project, Michael says. "When they get to Year 11 they can use all the tools in the workshop."

Although the internet provided a lot of very useful design information and leads, the boys were required to model their designs and test them before starting in on the full-scale product so they knew that they would work. Wheel-bearing and steering assemblies were modelled and tested. Ergonomic testing showed some students that they would be uncomfortably close to the ground when riding. "One of the things we really focused on was keeping things simple, because everything we saw on the internet was simple – it didn't have to be complex. I think they've learned that lesson – the simpler the better."

Steve had one of the school's science teachers talk to his class about the physics of the project, outlining what friction, gravity, and momentum were and how they would influence the performance of the luges.

"I probably did a bit more science because I felt that was important. The other two teachers started the practical side before I did, but that didn't worry me too much. As a class we talked about friction and went outside and tested things, ran things down the hill, and the boys came up with their own conclusions. I didn't say 'this is the answer' and tell them to write it down. That's what I liked about this project: I was able to do a lot of teaching without giving them the answers."

A student riding his luge down the track

The boys used material from the internet, their own notes, and digital photographs to document their projects. Steve set a series of deadlines to keep the boys on track.

"Most often I would not let students go onto the next stage unless they had completely finished something. For example, I said: 'If you haven't identified your safety equipment by next Wednesday you won't be coming out to the track to race' and that worked perfectly. There were a number of definite stages and for each I would set a deadline, and each time 99% of them would meet that deadline, because they were bursting to get onto the next part. I had it all documented on my laptop. I didn't mark their work at each stage, but I did record that they'd finished and met the deadline. And a copy of all the deadline dates was up on the wall to remind them and to get ticked off."

Michael formed his students into 'design groups'of three or four. While each student developed and built their own luge, Michael had them sometimes come together into groups to throw ideas around. This sharing of ideas allowed the more able students to 'drag' the less imaginative forward (or point out potential difficulties)."Some students came up with really off-the-wall ideas but their mates reigned them in. In a lot of ways, they were self-regulating."

To track progress, the three teachers met once a term and exchanged folders, which all turned out to be fairly similar in structure.

The inevitable pre-race day rush set in early, two terms out from the set date, and lunchtimes became very busy in the workshop.

"The students came in and I couldn't get rid of them, and Lawrence's class was just the same. The good thing about working together is that we could share the lunchtime supervision and that took the pressure off a bit. But of course you naturally want to be with your kids all the time in case a decision is made that you're not happy with."

On race day, the materials specialist who had spoken to the St John's students came along, with another engineer, and presented some trophies they had created. "They walked around and looked at all the carts and picked out a first, second and third, and we had a little presentation. They'd made up their own criteria such as finish, functional design and safety for the pilots."

An important design criterium was adjustability – making sure the luges could be used by other people besides their creators. On race day, students took turns riding each other's creations. As part of the evaluation process, the boys processed their race-day feedback.

The boys had three weeks after race-day to complete their project documentation on their developmental and workshop practice. They were also asked to comment on the knowledge they gained and used, analyse their specifications versus finished project and comment on how well the final outcome worked in practice

For the evaluation, the three teachers jointly developed a form. "We wanted them to go through some of the decision-making points – were the right decisions made?" says Steve. "They knew very well whether they were or not. We wanted them to comment on how good those decisions were. For example, the boys were asked to consider the wheels they chose for their luge: Were they appropriate? Was the driving position appropriate?"