photo essay

The Eco-center is a place where kids from the ages of 4th-8th graders learn about how to be Eco-friendly, and drive hybrid when they are old enough to drive. There are several different exhibits that able them to learn in an exciting and fun way. When the kids first arrive at the Eco-center they sit down in the seats, which are actually car seat and watch an introduction about when cars first invented and things that could happen if we don’t start using alternative fuels. They are then given a worksheet where they are supposed to write down the questions from the video. There are also plenty of activities for the kids to be engaged in whether they are watching an educational video about hybrid cars or they are going through a maze building a car, the Eco-center is a great place from our next generation can set a better example of our world.

The first exhibit here is hybrid video, two boys are doing a quick exercise that teaches them why it is better to use a hybrid car then a gasoline car. How they learn they learn the difference between a hybrid car and gasoline car is. A hybrid car works by using both gasoline and electricity and is better than using a regular gasoline car because it only pollutes half the time. They are both given twelve dollars to spend on gas, The hybrid car is able to go 40 miles per hour without stopping and a gasoline car is able to go 20 miles per hour without stopping once they learned that they would stand by the magnetic board and move their cars one at a time. By the time they got to their destination which was the Eco-Center, the gasoline car ran out of money and did not have any money to buy their friends who were in the car drinks or even get back home, but the hybrid car was able to at least get him and his friends back home.

The next exhibit at the Eco-center is learning how a hybrid vehicle works. Joanna, one of the tour guides at the Eco-Center, is showing them a model of a hybrid car. The hybrid car uses both gasoline and electricity, but as a demonstration they have a mini gas station that instead of gas, hydrogen is pumped into it, and for electricity they use batteries. Once those two are pumped into the car it is able to work and is placed on the runway for the kids to see it. Once she is done showing them the car she shows them other things that are hybrid like the shuttles we use to launch into space and some laptops that could run on hybrid energy. To teach them how expensive a hybrid car is, she showed them a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger who converted his Hummer into a hybrid car, they then are asked who do they know drives a hybrid Hummer and they all say no, cause who has over a half million dollars to spend.

Joanna a tour Guide at the Eco Center is now teaching the kids about where we get our oil supply. They are taught who uses the most cars and if the amounts of cars they have match how many people they have. They learned that the U.S uses the most cars and that we should be more like Brazil and use public transportation. Joanna then teaches them some alternative things we could use to conserve energy, like solar panels, and windmills. They are asked the question where can we use solar panels and wind mills? The kids all have different answers but the correct answer is anything above the equator you can use solar panels, below the equator you wouldn't be able to use solar panels because there is no sun. Instead of solar panels what can they use instead? Wind mills! Yes kids that is correct, Joanna says.

This class kids are sitting down watching informational video about the inside of a hybrid car. There are three guys in the video two of them are represented as hydrogen and the other is oxygen and they are in a tennis court the hydrogen's and oxygen's are on opposite sides of each other. The hydrogen's have balloons on their bottoms and are told to try to go under the net. When they reach the other side of the court the balloons have fallen off. The reason why is because instead of going under the net the go around the net to reach the hydrogen's, which makes electricity for the hybrid car. Without the water and electricity it is enable to work properly because you need gas and electricity to run a hybrid car.


The exhibit I Know more about would be the hands on activity room, in hear the kids are aloud to go to different stations and learn about how the different alterative devices work. They learn how solar panels and wind turbines work. One thing that I think is cool would be the solar drawbridge. It is made out of logos and is powered by light. This is also one of the exhibits that kids enjoy also; they are amazed that the device is able to move like that. This is also the last stop for most kids once they are done with this room they head back to the auditorium, and hand the clipboards in. They head out to the bus and me and the other employees wave goodbye.