PTC (Nasdaq: PMTC), the Product Development Company, in partnership with Hornby Hobbies (LSE: HRN) owners of the Scalextric brand and a long time PTC customer, announced the launch of an exciting new Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths based (STEM) curriculum. Secondary school students using the new curriculum will use PTC’s Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 4.0 CAD software to design and engineer their very own Scalextric slot car.
PTC’s 10 year commitment to United Kingdom education continues with the company providing secondary schools with its industry leading Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire software via the ‘CAD in Schools’ initiative. Under this initiative every school in the UK can obtain a 300 seat site license of Pro/ENGINEER CAD software at no cost to the school; this license also includes free home use for students. Founded by PTC and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the CAD/CAM in Schools initiative is managed and administered by the Design & Technology Association (D&TA) on behalf of the DCSF
“PTC has demonstrated continued leadership in UK Design & Technology education with both the provision of Pro/ENGINEER and a range of free curriculum modules which support the teaching of product design and engineering,” says Richard Green, chief executive, D&TA.
PTC has long recognised the importance and effectiveness of project based learning activities in and outside the classroom. For students these projects need to be interesting, exciting, and challenging, for teachers the projects need to provide focus and deliver a rewarding learning experience.
The Scalextric4schools Challenge curriculum is for secondary school children to design their own Scalextric car in Pro/ENGINEER. Students will then be able to manufacture their car, fit it with a standard Scalextric motor and drive train and then race it on a standard Scalextric track. During this process the children will learn how the car works mechanically and dynamically and strive to design a car to go round a Scalextric track as quickly as possible.
“PTC is committed to delivering a truly unique and rewarding academic learning experience. Our strong relationship with Hornby Hobbies, together with their world-class Scalextric range of products provides the perfect foundation on which to continue development and expansion of our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) curriculum modules,” says Mike Brown, education program manager, PTC. "Today’s launch of the Scalextric4schools curriculum module is just the start of a comprehensive new STEM focused curriculum project."
PTC and Hornby Hobbies have worked with TEP, the Technology Enhancement Program, to deliver a truly unique, cutting edge, and academically rich Design-Make-Race engineering curriculum.
"This Challenge is unique, no other program is focused on using commercial CAD tools to design real products," continues Brown. "In addition the children will be designing their Scalextric slot cars to race around a track and navigate hair-pin corners and high speed straights, providing a truly exciting and realistic race experience”
Hornby Hobbies, a long term user of PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire product development software, recognises the importance of PTC’s education program. “Hornby Hobbies is pleased to partner with PTC and support their comprehensive academic curriculum,” said Josep Pastor, senior marketing executive, Hornby Hobbies. “We’ve worked very closely with PTC to develop an extremely exciting project that will see students learning about design and engineering as they build and race their very own Scalextric cars.”
The curriculum can be downloaded from the Scalextric4schools design-make-race challenge website (www.scalextric4schools.org). This site also contains standard Scalextric components such as: wheels, motors, drive train and pickups in Pro/ENGINEER format so students can download and incorporate the standard components into their design just like a real engineer would do for bearings and fasteners etc.
Hornby Hobbies and PTC will be launching the Scalextric4schools competition in early 2009. This competition will provide where students will be able to race against other students in nine regional finals, winners from each of the regional finals will compete in the national final.
The Scalextric4schools curriculum is being launched on November 20th at the Design & Technology in Education show at NEC in Birmingham with the support of the Technology Enhancement Program (TEP). TEP will be providing teachers with all the materials to build a slot car and race it round a Scalextric track on the TEP stand.
About Design and Technology Association (D&TA).
DATA is an educational charity (registration number 1062270) and a company limited by guarantee (registration number 3089012). The aim of the association is to "inspire, develop and support excellence in design and technology education for all". www.data.org.uk & www.cadinschools.org.
About Hornby
Hornby is a household name and is famous as the UK brand leader in the model railway hobby. It started as Meccano Ltd in 1907 making the world famous construction kits for children. Hornby introduced toy trains in 1920. Hornby Trains were powered by a high quality clockwork motor, made of metal pressings held together by Meccano nuts and bolts, and ‘0’ gauge in size. Hornby is owner od the Scalextric brand and has been a long time Pro/ENGINEER user.
About TEP
TEP is supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and is a registered charity. It develops unique and leading edge Engineering and Design & Technology curriculum resources. TEP works closely with education agencies and industrial partners networking schools and colleges through its extensive website, periodic journal, exciting and compelling teaching resources and components.
About Pro/ENGINEER Schools Edition
The functionality in the Pro/ENGINEER Schools Edition will give students invaluable experience to prepare them for an engineering course in college or for a job in engineering straight out of school. This package is based around Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire, which includes static and kinematic analysis software for classroom and students’ home-use, training opportunities provided by PTC professionals, classroom-tested materials, and customer support. It is designed to be used as a curriculum aid in mathematics and science as well as in design and technology classes.