FLAGSTAFF - How do you teach students the costs of being constantly plugged in and where their power comes from? Make them earn the electricity with their legs.
Recent Northern Arizona University environmental engineering graduate Marilla Lamb and a group of other students had been struggling to teach school kids about complex physics concepts in the classroom. As part of the Wind for Schools program, she was going into classrooms and trying to explain things like energy, work and electricity.
"We were standing up in front of students giving textbook definitions," Lamb said. "The students' eyes were glazing over."
With help from a local schoolteacher, they came up with the idea to harness the power of a bicycle and turn pedal power into real electricity. Together with NAU students, Lamb helped lead a program to design bicycle generators that could do things like power a blender.
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"We wanted to get rid of this idea that electricity is just this magical thing that comes out of the wall," she said.
NAU's Green Fund gave the students a $2,900 grant to build a handful of the generators, which were then taken to classrooms.
In the NAU engineering building, Lamb and the other students also designed a permanent bike that has a charging station where students can plug in cellphones and other small electronics to get some exercise and a little electrical juice during the school day. The catch: They have to do the pedaling themselves.
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