Where does all the surplus stuff from tech companies go? To schools, thanks to RAFT

In classrooms around the Bay Area, old Adobe Acrobat DVDs, rubber bands and straws are leading rich second lives.

The donated materials, delivered to schools by the nonprofit RAFT and assembled by small hands, become playful science projects: tiny race cars that start and stop, climb and crash — proof of the power of physics.

“It’s a wonderful lab experience that comes to us, already put together,” said Gilbert Rodriquez, principal of Mt. Pleasant Elementary School in east San Jose, where giddy fifth-graders circled a table and then sprawled across a classroom floor to test their rolling creations.

For nearly 30 years, the Resource Area For Teaching (RAFT) has been helping teachers transform the classroom learning experience by offering interactive education, buttressing a traditional curriculum.

“Hands on, minds on,” said Nimisha Khanduja, director of RAFT’s learning programs. “Lessons aren’t one-dimensional. They’re three-dimensional. That’s much more engaging.”

But with pandemic-related learning loss and low test scores, teachers face increasing pressure to rely on textbooks.

Handcrafted projects take planning and risk getting squeezed out of busy academic schedules. The projects can be messy and demand time to create and clean up. And science-focused field trips are expensive, costing $1,500 to $1,800 per trip to load kids onto a bus.

RAFT’s new “Maker Mobile,” a white Ford cargo van packed with project kits, makes things simple. The van travels to schools anywhere within Santa Clara County, as well as parts of Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Mateo counties.

RAFT is seeking $25,000 to serve 500 students in under-resourced schools. For each $50 donation, one student will receive up to five additional RAFT activities. Donations also will help the “Maker Mobile” visit more schools, as well as boost the number of teacher trainings.

One recent morning, the Maker Mobile rolled into the schoolyard of Mt. Pleasant Elementary School, then set up the day’s lesson — energy, friction and momentum — for a crowd of wide-eyed youngsters.

“What’s going to happen? You’re going to find out!” said coordinator Michael Ramot (“Call me Mr. Mikey!”), fluent in English and Tagalog, with a smattering of Spanish.

In a textbook, there’s only one right answer. But the projects — rubber band-powered race cars, made with DVDs, plastic lids, straws, syringes, rubber bands and other simple materials — had many outcomes. They went fast and slow. They started and stalled.

Why? “Potential energy!” Ramot shouted, above the cacophony. “Kinetic energy!”

Some cars had two wheels; others, four. Some wheels were big; others were small. Cars drove straight, crooked, even backwards.

“These are variables!” he yelled.

When the cars slowed, the students more tightly wound the rubber bands. When they wobbled or rolled off course, wheels got re-aligned.

“You got it!” Ramot told the crowd. “Tell me your observations! What’s your secret?”

Ten-year-old Sofia Ruvalcaba carefully adjusted some levers and then explained her team’s strategy. “I’m trying to get it perfect,” she said. “I’m modeling a real car.”