Students build, race hovercrafts as part of class

Perry High School students in an Introduction to Design and Fabrication class recently completed an assignment that involved building and racing hovercrafts.

A hovercraft is a vehicle that travels quickly just above the surface of water or land by producing a current of air underneath to support it.

“The purpose of the assignment is to introduce basic tools and machines to the students in a lab setting,” teacher Ryan Zusy said in a news release.

“It also addresses the application of the design process.”

The students had to work with a limited list of materials and other constraints in their construction, but the main power behind the hovercrafts were two electric leaf blowers.

The 20 students in the class, who range from freshmen to seniors, were given the assignment of building a hovercraft that carries two people.

They then competed in a timed race on a basketball court as they traveled from free throw line to free throw line.

Allanah Cooper, a junior, explained how her group’s design process unfolded.

“We looked at other hovercraft videos and we saw that they all had rounded bases, so we thought that was something we should look into,” she said.

“Then we saw one group putting a hole in the bottom and we thought that that’s how we would fill it up. So we actually took an idea from another group,”

The course serves as an introduction to engineering design, metallic manufacturing and woodworking. Students in the class are exposed to and employ the design process, technical sketching and drawing, measurement and 3-D solid modeling.

The introductory course also serves as a prerequisite for several other design learning classes at the high school.

COURTESY OF PERRY SCHOOLS From left, juniors Allanah Cooper and Ravyn Furst guide their hovercraft across the Perry High School basketball court.