Anyone concerned about the younger generation keeping up with technology should visit Cuyahoga Heights High School technology education teacher Chris Croftcheck's class.
Students busy themselves with remote-controlled miniature vehicles while Croftcheck answers another student's question about steering columns. It's all looks like an amateur inventor's paradise to the untrained observer, but you can tell they have had spent plenty of time pouring over textbooks and diagrams since the class started.
Sitting center stage in the basement lab/shop is Croftcheck's junior class project: an electric vehicle that looks like a go-kart.
"We never did anything like this before," Croftcheck said, "but they were gung-ho about building something and learning to solve problems."
In the process, the students learned to deal with everything from electronics, brakes, steering systems and drive trains to working with different types of building materials.
"They're all juniors," Croftcheck said, "and I've had them (as students) since they were freshmen. Next year, we might try and make this thing totally remote control."
Croftcheck gives a tip of his cap to the school administration, which was completely behind the project. Next year, he would like to enter the Electrathon America Electric Vehicle Competition.
"We're looking to be the first school in northeast Ohio to bring about the Electrathon with other schools," Croftcheck said. "That's what my goal would be for these guys next year. Who knows? We may start looking into solar power. I'll leave it up to them.
"Everybody hears a lot about 21st century learning skills, and these young men will need to go out and adapt to these situations and problem-solving in the workplace.
"I think that a project like this -- where they get an idea and then put it down on paper and design it -- is invaluable to young students," Croftcheck said. "They've come a long way, and I'm proud of them."