Successful Kick off to Week 2!

stem camp logo 2016We had beautiful weather to kick off the second of our two weeks of 2016 UK See Blue STEM Camp! We are very excited to welcome 217 campers this year to camp! One hundred forty-five of them started today! Registration went very well this morning and we really appreciate everyone’s patience in getting all the forms UK requires turned in. You all are awesome!

Just a note about the consent and assent forms that we ask for every year. Our camp is subsidized by an NSF grant that requires research and reporting to the agency.  The purpose of the research is to develop a camp model that promotes STEM careers to adolescents and can be replicated. We also look at students attitudes towards STEM and the impact of our activities. We do not collect test scores or anything similar for your students nor do they have to be a Fayette County student to participate. Without this grant and consent and assent to participate the camp simply would not exist. We never report any names or any individual data…it’s always aggregated together!

We will post a blog post each night this week with some highlights from the day and some conversation starters. The conversation starters are meant to help you get over the “What did you learn today?” “Nothin’” or <shrugging the shoulders> we often see at the adolescent age. We’ll also post a link to the photos we are taking throughout the week. If at any time you want a photo removed that is of your child, please let us know and we’ll be happy to take it down.

IMG_7161 reducedYellow/Green Groups

Today the students split up and 1/2 saw Dr. Bruce Walcott and the other 1/2 saw Dr. Isabel Escobar. (If you like TED talks, you can view hers here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-wbHD77kMWE) In both sessions students were immersed in the wonderful world of engineering…using their hands to build and explore just as engineers do.

Red/Blue Groups

Today the students got to experience the awesome world that Dr. Robin Cooper immerses them in! The students got to see a real heart, lungs, and brain today. They got to put probes on themselves to measure the electricity going through their bodies. They also got IMG_7192 reducedto view and make conjectures about larvae and other fruit fly stages when they were exposed to different colors of light.

All four groups…

In robotics, students started by engineering their robots. They got to build their robot and get to know it. They always love this part, but we’re eager to continue moving them on to basic programming challenges. We have some exciting new challenges planned for them this week!

In their words… Each day we’ll post some excerpts from the students’ reflections of what they learned each day at the STEM Content session. We don’t correct for spelling or grammar in these 🙂 

BLUE & RED – Dr. Cooper

What did you learn about today that you did not know before?
  • You can do more with flies than just kill them
  • I learned that the certain type of mutated fly we used brain was affected by blue lights. The blue light stimulated their nerves therefore after a while paralyzing them
  • I learned that we don’t inhale to take in more air, but cause the acididty in our blood increased
  • I learned that if you are dehydrated then youre blood gets thicker
  • I learned that electrods can close a open circet by sensing your nerve signals
  • One thing i learned is that salt acts as a buffer against CO2
  • When you smoke some of your organs are larger than people who didn’t smoke
  • That scientists use fruit flys to cure about 60 desseses
IMG_7212 reducedWhat did you like about what you learned today?
  • We got to look threw a microscope
  • I liked learning that humans in the future could be treated by light
  • The real life models such as brain, lungs, and spine
  • I like when we learned about blood and organs and how they work and how to keep them healthy
Would you like to learn more about this topic?
  • Yes, i want to learn more about the human body, because it is so very intresting
  • Yes. because i want to see if you can modify other animals
  • What happens when you use red light on the flies. because we did not get to try it
  • Yes it is interesting that flys have the same leg muscles as us
GREEN & YELLOW – Dr. Walcott
What did you learn about today that you did not know before?
  • I learned about the different types of engineering and what causes buoyancy. i also learned about how anechoic chambers work
  • I learned that there was a girl who built the first ac
  • That there is a type of floor that when you stand on it you dont feel any vibrations from the regular floor
  • A concrete boat can float
  • The flavors of engineering, such as: civil, biomedical, mechanical, etc.
IMG_7184 reducedWhat did you like about what you learned today?
  • I liked the anechoic chamber because it was relaxing, the types of engineering because I know I don’t have to do all types of engineering, and I liked experimenting w/ buoyancy
  • The tour of the engineering departments
  • We learned by hands-on activities rather than a worksheet
Would you like to learn more about this topic?
  • Yes because i think engineers get to do whatever they want to build & i think some people have really cool designs
  • Yes. it was ver fun, and is beneficial to our society
GREEN & YELLOW – Dr. Escobar
What did you learn about today that you did not know before?
  • Whats in diapers and that food can be chemestry
  • I learned that the chymical engeneers also work with food not just everyday stuff
  • I learned that many things contain polymers even some surprising things
  • I learned that sodium polyacrylate, when mixed with liquid, becomes gel-like and is used in diapers
What did you like about what you learned today?
  • I liked the exeriments and using different chemicals to see a reaction
  • It was fun to do experiements with sodium polyacrylate
  • I like that i learned a variety of things that have to do with the job of a chemical engineer, and that i now know about a new, intriguing option for my future
  • I like that we did many hands-on activities as well as relations to real life
Would you like to learn more about this topic?
  • Yes it is quite interesting learning about polymers and reactions
  • I would because i like to experiment with different chymicals
  • Yes because I get to learn all about the things I use every day and the value of it
  • Yes, because i want to learn more about how does the sodium polyacrylate get into solid that quick
  • Yes because i know now that chemical engineering is very versatile and has a very wide variety
  • I absolutely would. i love learning new things about how the world works and different compounds and mixtures as well

Conversation Starters… We know that your child is getting to the age where it might be like pulling teeth to get them to talk about their day beyond “It was fine.” “It was fun.” Each day we’ll post some suggested conversation starters centered on camp activities or STEM-related themes.

Yellow/Green – Dr. Walcott:

  • Tell me about how you assembled your robot. Did you follow instructions? Did you just try to figure out what parts went together?
  • Is there a particular field of engineering that you think might interest you?
  • How many pennies did your boat hold? If you could build it again, what would you do differently?

Yellow/Green – Dr. Escobar:

  • What happened when you mixed the powder and water and turned it upside down?
  • What does a chemical engineer do?
  • Is there a particular field of engineering that you think might interest you?
  • Tell me about how you assembled your robot. Did you follow instructions? Did you just try to figure out what parts went together?

Red/Blue Groups:

  • How did your fruit flies react to light? What did they do? How did you measure their movement?
  • What was your favorite body organ you learned about? What kinds of things affect its size?
  • Tell me about how you assembled your robot. Did you follow instructions? Did you just try to figure out what parts went together?

Photo of the Day… Each day we’ll post a camp highlight. Click here to go to the pictures. Please note that we try to capture pictures of all the campers, but we cannot guarantee that we will get every single one. We try our very best to though! Also we are STEM teachers and not full time photographers, so our pictures are not perfect and we leave them unedited, so if you love to edit photos…feel free! 

IMG_7226 reduced

Fruit Flies, Fighting Robots, Oh my!!

Today the students got to go across campus to the Old Pharmacy building that has now been converted into a “multidisciplinary building” that houses several biology laboratories, including Dr. Robin Cooper’s. Dr. Cooper and several of his graduate students led the students through a series of different experiments involving neuroscience, specifically our senses and the sense of fruit flies. Students explored heart rates using sensors and computer programming – they were able to see an echocardiogram of their heart. They analyzed their heart rates at rest and when they were excited.

They also worked with fruit flies, conducting a variety of experiments with them. They gathered data and analyzed their results to produce scientific conclusions. One of their favorite experiments was inducing a coma:

Robotics proved to be exciting today with the mini-challenges over and the rings taped on the floor…it was “fighting” time today! The students took turns having their robots competing against each other…the last robot standing won! Most of the competitions were one vs. one, but I heard through the grapevine there were about 6 robots competing against each other at one point…

In their words… We ask the students the three questions below each day…here are some of their answers.

What did you learn about today that you did not know before?

 

  • That your heart rate changes when your scared rather than relaxed.
  • Flys can last 3 hours in cold temperatures
What did you like about what you learned today?

 

  • I made flies pass out…
  • I thought that looking at fruit flies’ behaviors was really neat because you could learn about why it is that they do the things they do.
Would you like to learn more about this topic?  Why or why not?
    • Yes, if I want to be a surgeon this will be vital to my success

Conversation Starters…

  • What are the rules of the sumorobots competition? How do you win? Do you program your robot for different moves or how do you take out your opponent? 
  • What does the light sensor on the robot do?
  • What did you learn about your heart?
  • What was the most interesting experiment you did on the fruit flies? What did you learn from it?
  • How long was your fruit fly in its coma?
  • Has this camp made you think about a career in mathematics, science, technology, or engineering? Why or why not?

Video of the Day…

Don’t forget about the pictures we have here! Can you believe tomorrow is the last day!!??

Brainiac Tuesday at STEM Camp

Have you ever held a brain in your hands? Have you ever thought about what it would feel like? Our bodies are amazing functioning machines, with the brain and spinal cord at the core of that functioning. The students got to learn all about that today at STEM Camp and even got to hold a brain and a spinal cord. There was even a brain cut in half so you could actually get a glimpse of what the inside looked like! The students were really surprised at really how “squishy” the brain is. They learned about the importance of the dura covering the brain in addition to the skull itself. The students were also amazed at how narrow and flimsy the spinal cord was. They really enjoyed today…even the students who weren’t too sure about having a real brain in the room at first. In addition to the exciting hands-on features of today’s events, the students conducted nerve experiments on each other.

In robotics today, they finished building their robots if they needed to and then started on their first challenges. The students had a lot of fun trying to figure out the initial challenges and changing up the program code on their robots. It’s always great to see the students working together to problem solve and test their new solutions!

In their words…

  • When you are right handed you use the left half of the brain
  • The brain has a protective cover called the Dura mater
  • You have the same number of brain cells when you are a baby as when you are grown up
  • The frontal cortex is not essential to living
  • There was a man who had a train spike impaled through his head and lived

Conversation Starters…

  • So what was it like to hold a brain today? Was it what you thought it would be?
  • Why is the frontal cortex not essential to living?
  • What is important about the dura matter?
  • What challenges did you work on today at Robotics?
  • How do you like programming the robot?

Photo of the day…

IMG_1784Aren’t they a great looking group!!??

Click here to check out all the pictures we took today. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @seebluestemcamp for real-time updates about what your kids are experiencing throughout the day!

Day 2 See Blue STEM Camp – Week 1

IMG_1474Today was another exciting day at the See Blue STEM Camp! Ms. Carolyn Crowdus, a graduate student in the College of Medicine, brought real human brains and a real spinal column over to the College of Education today to help students understand more about neuroscience. Her presentation was, “Got brains? A journey through the human mind”. Campers had the opportunity to hold and touch the brain and spinal column (with gloves on of course!) if they wanted to. They also completed sensory activities with colored pencils and a partner to explore the different nerves and effects of touch on the human brain/body.

IMG_1513In robotics, the students began programming their robots. They worked more on trying NOT to knock down their Lego figures (the goal was to give them a close shave), but also added in turns and basic robotic movements. They had a lot of fun programming and trying out new and different techniques with their robots!

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During lunch today, Dr. Tim Knauer – Director of the McAdams student observatory, brought his special telescopes and the students were able to view various parts of outer space, including looking (safely) at the sun! Dr. Knauer also shared a wealth of knowledge tonight to campers and their families during the night sky viewing. It was a little cloudy, but there was still a lot to see!

We were able to somehow rangle all the kids together and get all 70 of them to look at the camera for the camp picture! Aren’t they a great looking group?!!?

IMG_1467More photo highlights today can be found by clicking the image below:

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