Ready, Steady, Wheeze! Exploring Asthma with Toy Cars

The first week of July 2025 brought the excitement of the Merthyr Tydfil Science Fair. Anna Woolman at PEDRI received and managed an invitation to contribute. Following preparatory meetings, the HDR UK team arrived bursting with energy and tables full of challenges and prizes.

Merthyr Tydfil is a town in the South Wales valleys with a community focus. The rapid development of mining and heavy industry resulted in the growth of Merthyr Tydfil as the largest town in Wales during the 19th century. It is currently a significantly under-resourced community, but the people are welcoming and have many strengths.

My plan was to give young children an active experience to understand the impact of asthma and the importance of adherence to treatment. I found a toy car that is driven by the deflation of an air-filled ballon. Each of three cars had a separate pump: the first representing a person suffering asthma had a marshmallow in the airway; the second pump had a half marshmallow to demonstrate a person following treatment for asthma; and the third had a free airway to represent a healthy person.

Ready:

Our arrival and setup provided all the usual excitement of first time in a venue. Where was our display space? Who has the scissors? How much extra space can I ‘borrow’? And who has the coffee?

As ever, help was at hand and a few breaths, a couple of questions and we were all set, safely, and with prizes on display.

The next step was to walk around the room and to survey the great range of interesting exhibits and ready ourselves for the influx of visitors. 

Steady:

There was that moment of joy as people of all ages appeared in the room. The enthusiasm and energy of individuals was evident as the crowd flowed through the room.

My task was to explain the ‘Wheezy Cars’, without giving away which cars had been ‘marshmallowed’. I also wanted to develop an understanding for children of the mechanism of asthma. Of course, a fair test is vital and so we talked about equal pumps or equal times. A little bit of gentle competition certainly inspired great thinking.

Go!

Finally, the race was on. We managed to complete many, many races. Most of them were fair and almost all of them ran as expected with a good differentiation of speed and distance moved. Whilst the pit stops were regular the children were highly engaged in preparing and racing the cars.

I very much enjoyed the conversations with the children and adults. Those comments of ‘really’ and ‘how does it work’ are priceless. 

What we learned:

Children learned widely different skills and knowledge according to the experiences that they brought to the ‘Wheezy Cars’. All enjoyed the experiment and found ways to make it fair; many could understand that inflammation in the lungs restricted airflow; most understood what was happening as they breathed; many of the visitors appreciated the importance of following treatments given by doctors.

I learned from the questions and excitement of the children and adults. Individuals have unique insight that can help others to overcome problems.

To learn more about Cedric's PhD project, click here.