Creativity and Motors!

Another great day at STEM Camp came to a rainy and stormy end. The kids really settled into the routines well and were excited about the different sessions today.

Red/Blue Groups

The students got to be with Dr. Jennifer Eli, an alumnus of our program and current Associate Professor at University of Arizona, today! She loves to talk to the students about mathematical modeling and what tools we can use to model mathematics and other things. Today they specifically talked about polyhedra and made one of their own using a 3D Pen. Then they get to get creative and build and create their own items…this group this week is very creative! We loved seeing their personalities come out in their creations and then watching them wear them around proudly the rest of the day. In robotics they dove deep into the program, working the See Blue Football challenge. There were lots of celebrations and hard thinking.

Yellow/Green Groups

Today the students split their time between Dr. Bruce Walcott and his graduate students. In Dr. Walcott’s session, students were immersed in the wonderful world of engineering…using their hands to build and explore just as engineers do. The students got to build simple motors and talk about what electrical engineers do. The motors were definitely a favorite!They also tested out their design engineering skills by building a boat out of aluminum foil and seeing how many pennies it held. The students also got to tour the College of Engineering facilities, including a stop in the anechoic chamber, and ending with an up close and personal look at the solar car and how the college students designed and made it! The students had fantastic questions they asked today. In robotics they dove deep into the program, working the See Blue Football challenge. There were lots of trials, re-programming, and finally some celebrations 🙂

In their words…

Red/Blue Groups:
  • “I really like the fact that we got to get a lot of hands on experience with 3D printing.”
  • “I learned that 3D drawing is hard, I didn’t think it would be hard, but I was wrong.
  •  “I like how we got to be creative and how we made shapes”
  • “Plastic can go from solid to liquid to solid again very fast.”
  • “3D pens are fun to work with if you’re careful.”
  • “I learned more about geometric shapes”
  • “I did not know how useful a 3-D pen could be so helpful”

Yellow/Green Groups

  • I would becasue with 3d-printing you can help alot of people.
  • “I would becasue with 3d-printing you can help alot of people.”
  • “That solar cars can get up to 90mph and weigh less than 1000 lbs. Also, canoes can be made out of concrete.
  • “Solar powers cars are clean and efficient. People race these and concrete canoes.
  • “It taught me how to make soemthing I use every day
  • “I liekd how we learned how to make a motor with househeld items because it show that you could do this easily at home.
  • “I learnt how to remove enamel from copper wire.”
  • “Whenever you put a magnet near the copper(on the north) it starts to spin)”
  • “I liked constructing the motor.”
  • ”We learned through trial and error and got to conduct experiments”
  • “I liked using materials/hands on! The solar car was awesome!”

 

Conversation Starters…
Red/Blue Groups:
  • What can you use 3d pens for?
  • Why is it important to build models of things?
  • How did you build your polyhedra?
  • What challenges did you have in programming your robot today? How did you overcome them?
  • What successes did you have with your robot today?

Yellow/Green Groups:

  • 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?
  • What did the inside of the solar car look like?
  • How did you build a motor?
  • What challenges did you have in programming your robot today? How did you overcome them?
  • What successes did you have with your robot today?

Photo of the Day… Click the photo to access all the camp pictures.

The Coming Meltdown in College Education & Why The Economy Won’t Get Better Any Time Soon « blog maverick

The Coming Meltdown in College Education & Why The Economy Won’t Get Better Any Time Soon « blog maverick.

At my senate committee meeting yesterday, our group debated about online courses, programs, and learning for nearly 1 1/2 hours. It was very interesting to see and listen to the various perspectives out there on online learning. There were definitely a lot of misconceptions stated, most notably “students take online courses because they are easy” or “students want to take the easy way out” or even “students can’t REALLY learn online”. IMHO, if online courses are done correctly, they can be pedagogically equivalent or even richer than face-to-face learning.

We also discussed the big push for online learning course and modules because of budget issues and constraints. Let’s face it, universities make more money through offering courses online than they do face-to-face. Why is this? It was purported that this was the case because of the extra charges for each student. I don’t buy this though because while $10 per credit hour per student DOES generate extra revenue, it would not make THAT much of a difference for a University. I think the more important thing is the reach of the audience. Simply put, if you offer an online course, you are inevitably going to be able to reach a wider audience than you would face-to-face. As a land grant institution, IMHO I believe that the university should continue to look into and explore pedagogically sound strategies for offering a variety of online courses in order to help reach a wider audience.

I think the other comparisons in this blog post are interesting…will higher education (as we know it) really “go away” and come back as something different? Is that possible?

The student debt is absolutely appalling. As someone who is still paying on their student loans (and I pay ahead!!) 10 years later, I agree that something does need to be done. However, is it really the university’s fault that they are charging more and more for tuition? At our recent university senate meeting, lots of numbers were shared with us, one of which what was the cost to the university for a student to attend. Even after tuition/loans were accounted for, it still cost the university almost $1500 a student. With over 28,000 students a year attending, this number becomes obscene. As a mathematician, this does not even make sense! Can and should universities be making cuts? Absolutely. Where? I’m not sure. Whatever it is, it cannot be at the cost of a quality education for the students and the communities we serve.

Systems Thinking for Sustainability – a true Multi-disciplinary course

Systems Thinking for Sustainability is multi-disciplinary course (architecture, engineering, marketing, and STEM education) that will offer UK students a unique opportunity to develop projects in sustainability as members of collaborative teams. Together, these teams will tackle sustainability issues involving complex systems where economic, social, and technical factors interact in dynamic and challenging ways. Team-taught by faculty from four colleges (Education, Engineering, Business, Design), STFS will be an essential preparation to the student’s senior capstone projects and application of content to K12 classrooms.

I am excited and happy to be a part of this fabulous project! Stay tuned for more!

Unbridled Learning: College and Career Readiness for All

Senate Bill 1 (2009) has a new name…Unbridled Learning: College and Career Readiness for All. As in everything education, I have acronym’d it…UBL. At University of Kentucky, we’re working on creating a resource page for everything around UBL/SB1. We have the basic structure and basic links up now: http://sites.education.uky.edu/sb1/

We’ll be adding lots more to it in the coming weeks. Enjoy!

Education Reform in Kentucky

http://tinyurl.com/3nqbag4

Here is a news clip on some of the Education Reform happenings going on in Kentucky. It is currently being aired on Cable Channel 2. Yes that’s me facilitating a workshop 8 months pregnant earlier this year!