MCS students reap benefits, especially in STEM, from Mazda Toyota Manufacturing

MADISON – Students in Madison City Schools are receiving academic benefits from the district’s efforts to align with MCS Community Partnerships, which are local businesses with proven success in various fields, especially technology.

The entire district collaborated to design a tailored unit focused on technology. The unit for fifth-graders explored the subject of manufacturing on comprehensive force and motion. The unit aligns with Alabama’s Course of Study standards for fifth grade (standards 5 and 6).

The unit began with foundational lessons on the principles of force and motion, allowing students to explore Newton’s laws and the role of gravity in real-world applications, specifically, the physics behind roller coasters, according to STEM Teacher Megan Gowan who contributed in this initiative.

“Working in collaborative teams, students applied their knowledge by designing and constructing roller coasters of paper and testing them with marbles to observe the effects of force, motion and energy transfer,” Megan Hockey said. Hockey is the STEM teacher at Rainbow Elementary School.

“With a solid understanding of these concepts, they transitioned to a hands-on engineering challenge focused on vehicle and passenger safety,” Hockey said.

In partnership with Mazda Toyota Manufacturing, STEM teachers in MCS developed lessons that guided students in designing safety features to protect a passenger in a simulated head-on collision. For this student experiment, the ‘passenger’ was a hard-boiled egg.

“Mazda Toyota Manufacturing engineers refined our school’s engineering process, integrating elements of their Kaizen method for continuous improvement (and gradually increase efficiency in a work environment),” Hockey said. “To deepen student understanding, the engineers gave a presentation on the evolution of automotive safety design, highlighting the rigorous processes behind modern safety innovations.”

Afterward, the engineers worked directly with students during the planning phase, provided feedback, asked thought-provoking questions and challenged teams to refine their designs. Students then built and tested their safety features before a final round of testing with Mazda Toyota Manufacturing engineers.

Eric Allen and Sydney Carr with Mazda Toyota’s local manufacturing facility visited Horizon to lecture and evaluate the fifth-graders’ work in a mentoring session. “The engineers engaged each team in discussions about their designs and offered insights on improvements and real-world applications,” Hockey said.

“Through this experience, students gained a firsthand understanding of the design process used in engineering and manufacturing, reinforcing STEM concepts in a meaningful, (realistic) situation,” Hockey said.

Mazda Toyota Manufacturing is located in Greenbrier, Ala., part of the Huntsville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The address of the auto plant is 9000 Greenbrier Parkway NW, Madison, AL 35756, which is just north of Old Hwy. 20 near Greenbrier Restaurant. (mazdatoyota.com) For more information, visit mcsinstruction. com.