James Carter developed All About Aerodynamics in the summer of 2019, but the seeds of the project were planted years earlier when he and his son raced Hot Wheels cars in their living room, keeping statistics to determine which cars were the fastest and why.

A graduate of Syracuse University with degrees in journalism and African-American Studies, James has spent the past nine years developing and implementing multimedia curriculum for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Beyond the Bell after school program, working with thousands of K-6 students throughout South Central and East Los Angeles.

One of his previous projects, All About, involved up to 70 students working on iPads in teams of two to create a magazine about their school, complete with interviews, articles, artwork, surveys, and pictures. At the end of the project, the magazines were printed and distributed to participating students.

However, as time passed, James became a more efficient instructor, which resulted in the students producing so much additional content that the number of magazine pages increased to the point that it became too costly and time consuming to publish. And that is when James turned his attention to All About Aerodynamics.

With All About Aerodynamics James believed he could merge the artistic, technological, and collaborative aspects of the magazine project with science instruction to create a project that would appeal to a wide array of students, introducing them to STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) concepts while practicing multiple Common Core Standards in a fun and cost-effective way.

“I want the students to understand how science and math apply to toys and things they already enjoy, and to know that these disciplines are not incompatible with having fun,” James said. “Perhaps the most important aspects of the project are the opportunities the students have to work in collaboration with their peers and think critically about the ideas and concepts that are introduced.”

All About Aerodynamics takes cues from Mattel’s Speedometry program developed with USC’s Rossier School of Education. Speedometry also uses Hot Wheels cars to teach physics lessons to elementary school students.

“Even though my son, nephews, and I had been doing a version of the All About Aerodynamics project at home for nearly 10 years, Speedometry was important because it showed the extent to which the integration of Hot Wheels could be crafted into a viable academic program,” James said. “When I was initially pitching All About Aerodynamics, it helped ease skepticism to point to Speedometry and note that a highly regarded university’s education school developed a similar curriculum that utilized the number-one selling toy in the world to teach science.”

While the details of the two programs are significantly different, the overarching idea of finding new ways to merge academics and fun is the most important aspect according to James.

“The moment the students realize we will be using Hot Wheels as a part of the project, they are immediately more interested, more attentive, and more engaged,” James said. “With those three factors in place, there’s nothing we can’t learn and accomplish.”

For more information, contact James at CoachJames@aaaerodynamics.com