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.

Day 1 Week 2 is off to a steamy start!

 

It was another great day 1 at the See Blue STEM Camp! It was a little steamy outside, but we are thankful the rain went north of campus and kept us dry as we walked to the different activities. We are very excited to welcome 228 campers this year! One hundred twenty-four of them started today! Registration went very well this morning and we really appreciate everyone’s patience as we got everyone checked 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. 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! You can read about some of our work here.

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.

Red/Blue Groups

Today the students split their time between Dr. Bruce Walcott and his graduate students today. 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. They also tested out their design engineering skills by building a boat out of aluminum foil and seeing how many pennies it held. There was time left for them to explore a different type of robot, the Ozobot. They had a lot of fun exploring the Ozobots and why they worked! 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.

Green/Yellow Groups

The green and yellow groups got to spend time in our beautiful new science building – the Don and Cathy Jacobs Science Building. They were in one of the labs and got to explore solar energy and how much electricity can be generated. The students got to collect data and make observations about the different panels in different types 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 then start on some basic challenges of getting to move their robots…on a UK football field this year! They had to move their footballs forwards and backwards.

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 🙂 

  • “I learned that STEM can be used for a lot of real world problems”
  • Would like to learn more about this topic (Dr. Graham) “…because t is a way to produce more energy + that is useful.”
  • “I like that we learned about a type of clean energy which we will need more of in the future”
  • “Diffrient boyencys can hold diffrent weights on water.”
  • I learned the calculas method and the Engineering Design method”
  • I would (like to learn more about this) becasue for all my life I ahve been interested in aircraft and I want to be a Aeronautical Engineer.”

Conversation Starters… 

We know 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.” “I didn’t do anything.” So, each day we’ll post some suggested conversation starters centered on camp activities or STEM-related themes.

Red/Blue Groups:

  • 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?
  • How did the Ozobots work?
  • What did the inside of the solar car look like?

Yellow/Green Groups:

  • Tell me about how you assembled your robot. Did you follow instructions? Did you just try to figure out what parts went together?
  • What is solar energy? What can it do for us?
  • What did you measure today using your multimeter? What did you find out?
  • Was there a difference in the panels you looked at today?

Photo of the Day…

Each day we’ll post a camp highlight.  Click the picture and it will take you to the weekly photo album. 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! 

Motors, bridges, polymers and more!

It was a beautiful day outside and a perfect day for some intense explorations inside. The students have picked up on camp routines quickly and all were happy to wear their camp tshirts on campus. The groups switched presenters today, so they got to do some modeling, design engineering, and chemical engineering today.

Red/Blue Groups

The students split their time between Dr. Bruce Walcott and Dr. Isabel Escobar’s graduate students today. (If you like TED talks, you can view hers here https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-wbHD77kMWE) In both sessions students were introduced to different fields of engineering and got to use their hands to design, build, explore, and test models just as engineers do. In Dr. Walcott’s group, students got to build simple motors and talk about what electrical engineers do. They also tested out their design engineering skills by building a boat out of aluminum foil and seeing how many pennies it held. Dr. Escobar’s graduate students led the students through some fascinating polymer explorations today. They took polymers found in disposable diapers and used hydrochloric acid to break it back down, finding its saturation point. The students loved getting to explore and test! Their favorite part was feeling the particles and getting to smash them.

Green/Yellow Groups

The students worked on design engineering and building models using their mathematical skills with Dr. Thomas. They had a variety of supplies to choose from, but there were stipulations so they really had to get creative. Boy, they really did get creative! From building the tallest tower they could, do discovering their bridge could not even hold an eight-pound infant, they had a lot of fun testing and learning about why bridges are built the way they are.

All four groups…

In robotics, students really dug deep into the programming today. They worked on the football challenge, getting their robot to perform certain tasks. The favorite was figuring out how to make the grabbers work using a different motor! Tomorrow they will start some new challenges and probably get into the Green City and Space Challenge building.

In their words…
Blue/Red Group
  • I learned about polymers, calculous, different types of engineers, and chemical enginee’s roles in everyday life.
  • Polymers can react in interesting ways. Concrete can float if thin and big. we got to actually try it with aluanimum foil.
  • polymers absorb water and a boat with mor volume can hold more wight
  • When some polymers interact with water they turn into jell, when they interact with acid they turn into liquid.
  • That being an engineer is fun
  • How to make a faraday flashlight.
Yellow/Green Group
  • How to build a bridge with Posterboard, Popsickle sticks, and tape
  • That paperclips are super strong
  • Tape and sticks can be very strong
  • I learned about different types of bridges, and how they support weight.
  • Simple structures can Hold a lot of weight.
  • That triangles are a key to architexture.

Conversation Starters…

Red/Blue – Drs. Walcott and Escobar:

  • 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 happened when you mixed the powder and water and turned it upside down?
  • What did the polymers feel like when you touched them? What happened when you tried to smash them?
  • What did you want your robot to do today? How did you get your robot to do what you wanted it to do?

Yellow/Green Groups:

  • What do bridges need to be strong?
  • How did you decide what materials to use for your bridge?
  • How did you decide on your design for your bridge?
  • How did your bridge do when you tested it?
  • How tall was your tower you built?
  • What did you want your robot to do today? How did you get your robot to do what you wanted it to do?

Picture of the Day…

Click the picture to access the rest of camp photos

Week 1 Rainy Day Kick Off!

 

 

Even with the rainy start today the day, there was quite the excitement and buzz in the air to kick off the first of our two weeks of 2017 UK See Blue STEM Camp! We are very excited to welcome 228 campers this year! One hundred twenty-eight of them started today! Registration went very well this morning and we really appreciate everyone’s patience as we had to move things inside because of the rain. 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. 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! You can read about some of our work here.

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 (NOTE: my camera battery died tonight so most of the pictures will be uploading in the morning 🙂 ). 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.

Yellow/Green Groups

Today the students split their time between Dr. Bruce Walcott and Dr. Isabel Escobar’s graduate students today. (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. In Dr. Walcott’s group, students got to build simple motors and talk about what electrical engineers do. They also tested out their design engineering skills by building a boat out of aluminum foil and seeing how many pennies it held. Dr. Escobar’s graduate students led the students through some fascinating polymer explorations today. They took polymers found in disposable diapers and used hydrochloric acid to break it back down, finding its saturation point. The students loved getting to explore and test!

Red/Blue Groups

Today the students got to experience mathematical modeling and bridge building with Dr. Thomas! They had a variety of supplies to choose from, but there were stipulations so they really had to get creative. Boy, they really did get creative! They got to test out their bridges as well.

All four groups…

In robotics, students started by engineering their robots. They got to build their robot and get to know it. They then start on some basic challenges of getting to move their robots…on a UK football field this year! They had to move their footballs forwards and backwards.

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. Thomas

What did you learn about today that you did not know before?
  • I learned about how bridges support weight and how to hold up a tower.
  • I learned about structures and the best way to support budlings.
  • I learned that you always need to have a foundation.
  • How a beam can affect the rigidity of a bridge
    the weight of a paper clip can make a big difference
  • sometimes simpler things work better
  • I learned that a bridge need a strong cord.
GREEN & YELLOW -Drs. Walcott and Escobar
What did you learn about today that you did not know before?
  • That polymer could be your hair.
  • You can find the N and S pole of a magnet using a compass.
  • Polymers are molucules with repeating units.
  • That we can make polymer out of anything
  • that polymers are created from monomers linked together to make a pattern
  • That you could make a motor with wire, batteries, and magnets.

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 – Drs. Walcott and Escobar:

  • 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?
  • What happened when you mixed the powder and water and turned it upside down?

Red/Blue Groups:

  • What do bridges need to be strong?
  • How did you decide what materials to use for your bridge?
  • How did you decide on your design for your bridge?
  • How did your bridge do when you tested it?
  • 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! 

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