Hikaru's Toy Troubles
EiE unit, The Attraction is Obvious: Designing Maglev Systems
Azuki Toys, the shop Hikaru’s family owns, has fallen on hard times, now that a new toy store has opened across town. Hikaru wants to help make things easier for his parents by working in their store, but they’ve told him that studying for his middle school entrance exams is his top priority.
When Hikaru visits his neighbor, Mrs. Takamaru, he learns of a transportation engineering project she’s working on—a maglev train system. Hikaru begins to wonder if he and his friends might be able to use a similar technology to draw customers to Azuki Toys. Can Hikaru and his friends create a design to save the family store?
Readers are encouraged to design a maglev transportation system of their own. With some creativity and knowledge of the engineering design process, everyone can engineer!