June 01, 2007 ORT Argentina students rev up a Citroen 3CV ORT high school students in Buenos Aires are bringing 21st century technology and design to a Citroen 3CV, a model which dates back to the early 1960s. Joined by ORT graduates and led by designer Jose Luis Denari, the students are using what is believed to be a world-first facility at ORTs Belgrano campus the Comprehensive Centre of Design, Art and Technology (DAT). The DAT facility, which is located in the schoolyard, is a dedicated, fully equipped space that enables students to dismantle and reassemble a car and conduct the full range of design work and modifications. Its a very comprehensive idea, said Industrial Design track Director Fernando Shalom. Were focusing on the image of the 3CV, which is often seen as an ideal car for a young person who has just got his driving licence. The Information and Communication Technology track will incorporate all the technological aspects, such as music, GPS and Bluetooth, and the Mass Media track will produce a video on the project and generate material for a local television programme. Pedagogical methods at ORT Argentinas high schools are geared to improving students learning performance according to scientific and technological advances, social demands and students own requirements, said the Principal of the Belgrano campus, Viviana Jasid. We constantly seek new challenges in order to offer our students the widest possible range of multidisciplinary learning experiences that are developed in real life situations and with the involvement of outstanding professionals, Ms Jasid said. With each new project we increase the motivation of our teachers, our students and their families.’ ORT Argentinas DAT project team. The project has proved to be highly popular with students. Yago Alonso, a sixth year ICT track student, said: Its fantastic being able to work on an actual car as its the kind of product we might come across in our future careers; this project makes us feel closer to real life company situations. Fellow ICT student Agustin Salamone added: Its an invaluable experience working with experts in the field such as Jose Luis Denari, and being sponsored by renowned companies such as Citroen, Sony and Ituran. This project gives us the chance to deepen our knowledge of various subjects because we can apply everything we learn in the redesigning process. Sonia Gomes, World ORT representative, visits students working on developing the 2CV car. One of the supervising teachers, Professor Dario Solotar, also voice enthusiasm for the DAT project: Its so rich in substance that it allows many subjects of the Industrial Design track to get involved. This exercise gives us the opportunity to use high quality sketching design both two- and three- dimensional and also to build a real scale model. It constitutes a great challenge. ORT Argentina is Latin Americas largest ORT network with a technical high school on two campuses, and a post-secondary institute of technology. It has more than 7,000 students more than 80 per cent of Jewish children who attend a Jewish high school are educated by ORT. World ORT is the worlds largest Jewish education and vocational training non-government organisation and has benefited more than 3 million people Jewish and non-Jewish in 100 countries since its foundation in 1880.