Ansah Benjamin, a KNUST PhD student in Art Education, has designed a hand-built single-seater cycle car, born out of ground-breaking research that seeks to explore how project-based learning can enhance students’ creativity, problem-solving, and skills, consequently introducing art into STEAM education within a Ghanaian context.
The cycle car boasts modern features such as a Bluetooth speaker, central locking, internal lighting, a charging system, parking assistance, and an anti-theft mechanism. It runs on a motor engine with reverse gear functionality and reaches speeds of up to 54 km/h. Built from a mix of metal pipes, sheets, leather, fabric, and wood, an impressive 85% of the vehicle was meticulously crafted by the student, drawing on expertise gained from integrated and rural art studies.
The cycle car not only represents a spectacle of STEAM but also serves as an advocacy against the misconception of Visual Arts as a “lazy” course, particularly at the secondary level of education, which motivated the project.
“I have encountered these biases first-hand, which fuelled my determination to demonstrate the importance of integrating the arts into modern educational paradigms such as STEM. A particularly troubling trend is the exclusion of artists from engineering and science colleges due to their elective choices. I firmly believe that at advanced levels of abstraction, the lines between artists, scientists, and engineers blur, unified by their shared passion for creativity and exploration. It is imperative to bridge these gaps and recognize the vital role the arts play in shaping well-rounded, innovative minds capable of driving transformative progress.” he said.
The ground-breaking project was not realized without challenges. It took a year to complete and was solely self-funded, forcing the inventor to halt the project at times to engage in other work to accumulate resources for its successful completion.
Ansah’s previous degree in Integrated Art and Rural Art and Industry afforded him the expertise to make 85% of the vehicle handcrafted, particularly the chassis and suspensions, which were built from motorcycle stands, as well as the body and interior.
Adopting a mixed-method approach, the research utilized a Technology Acceptance Questionnaire to measure the Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use of the cycle car project among a population of KNUST students. A total of 132 respondents tested the vehicle across four colleges.
The project benefited from substantial academic, financial, and emotional support from various individuals whose contributions were invaluable. Mr. Vincent Donkor, Ph.D., provided critical expertise by developing a MATLAB model for the vehicle dynamics. The supervisors—Prof. H. Barton Essel, Dr. Kafui Kwesi Agyeman, and Dr. Frank Kwabena Afriyie Nyarko—offered exceptional guidance and mentorship throughout the research process.
The project was executed against the backdrop of a practical knowledge gap within the Ghanaian educational sector. The lack of empirical evidence stems from a reliance on outdated practices (traditional learning methods that fail to incorporate recent advancements), difficulties in translating theoretical concepts into actionable solutions, individualistic learning approaches, undefined student skills, and limited transferability of knowledge across technologies. These issues result in reduced productivity and an emphasis on repair over innovation within the educational framework.