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Weather Free Day 3!

Aside from the morning rain during drop off, we were able to avoid the rain and storms yesterday! The students are really enjoying the cooler weather this week, especially when walking across campus.

In the red and blue groups today, they worked with Dr. Haley Bergstrom and her team investigating Human Body Performance and how we can use STEM to learn and improve. They got to do some of their own testing and investigations, doing some physical activities and recording their stats along the way. In robotics, they tried their hand at building a car and see if they could get it to move. There were lots of successes today and they were pretty happy with their work! Some were dismayed that the robots didn’t move as fast as cars in real life do 🙂

In the yellow and green groups, they got their turn with virtual reality. They learned about what virtual reality is, why it is useful, and how people build VR worlds. Students got to be creative and build their own VR worlds and show them off. Many of the students actually found the VR to be relaxing and took advantage of the moment. In robotics, they dove deeper into the challenges, working with some of the sensors they can use to help get their robot to do things. They are really loving the challenge of figuring out what’s working and not working on their robots. Their persistence is amazing to keep trying and trying!

In Vex Robotics, they worked with their robots to use their claw and move boxes around. They scored points based on how their robots performed in the field.

In their Words…

Red/Blue Groups

  • That we have energy in are body.
  • I learned that blood is actually blue, but when it touches oxygen it is red.
  • I would like to learn more so when I get musch older, and my children feel sick, I can identify what is wrong with their bodies.
  • That an NFL player has to jump and run 114.3 cm and 3.81 sec

Yellow/Green Groups

  • I didn’t know that there were two cameras to fils a vr.
  • I learned how to create your own VR/360 video.
  • it’s very interesting and it could eventually help evolve the world.
  • There are 3 VR tales VR ar and 360 and how to make 360 video

Conversation Starters…

Red/Yellow Groups

  • What was the most interesting thing about the heart that you learned?
  • What color is your blood in your body? What causes it to change colors?
  • How high does a NFL player have to jump?
  • Tell me about the car you built today? How did you get it to move? How far did it go?

Yellow/Green Groups

  • What was experiencing Virtual Reality like?
  • Did you feel like you were in a room or in a different place when you had the goggles on?
  • If you could create a VR world, what would it be? Why?
  • What challenges did you complete today with your robot? What were you trying to get your robot to do?
  • Did you try out any of the sensors? How did you get them to work?

Vex Robotics

  • How did your robot do in the field today?
  • How did it capture the boxes? Were you able to use your claw at all?
  • Did you have to make any modifications to your robot to get it to move better or differently?

Photo of the Day…

Enchanted by VR
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Circuits and Airplanes!

Today was another adventurous day on University of Kentucky’s Campus! Students have settled into the camp routines. The beginnings of summer hyperness and jitters settled down…a little bit 🙂 We are so thankful for another great group of students this year!

The red and blue groups were busy today with Dr. Thomas and making flying objects. They used the engineering design process and lots of mathematics (surface area) and physics to create a flying object out of different types of materials and did some challenges around how far they could get it to fly. They brought home some of the creative flying inventions today. I hope they explained them to you and why they used the materials they did! Many were amazed about how airplanes fly in the air! In robotics, they got to do some fun open builds, trying out the different motor and movement capabilities. They got creative and built dinosaurs, caterpillars, snakes, etc. They were quite impressed with themselves!

The yellow and green groups got to play with circuits and even create their own circuit boards with their wires and soldering irons. Their precision and attention to detail as they soldered was truly amazing! In robotics, they started the first of their challenges and had fun trying out the programming features and trying to complete the challenge. Tomorrow they will dive into creating their own robot challenge!

The Vex robotics group continued their building today. Many of the groups finished and got to start trying out their builds with their remotes. The groups were excited about the claws on their robots and are anxious to get into programming and the field tomorrow to really test their robot design and programming skills!

In their own words…

  • I would like more about this topic so I can maybe one day build a real airplane.
  • I likeD the forses. of flite.
  • that there is something called air moliclaos
  • I learned how to solder, and the difference between bread bords and circet bords.
  • How do circuits affect in the real world because it is really important.

Conversation Starters…

Red/Blue Groups

  • What are the 4 forces of flight?
  • How does an airplane fly in the air?
  • What different materials did you use to build your airplane today? Did your designs work the way you thought they would? What was frustrating about building your airplane? What was fun about designing your airplane?
  • What animal or insect or reptile did you build with your robot kit today? What did you make it do? How did you make it do that?

Yellow/Green Groups

  • What’s the difference between a circuit board and a breadboard?
  • Why are circuits important?
  • Tell me how you soldered today. What did you solder together? How does your circuit work?
  • What challenge(s) did you complete with your robot today?

Vex Robotics

  • How far did you get in building your robot base today? What changes did you make to your robot as you were building it today?
  • What was it like to drive your robot?
  • How do you think your robot will do tomorrow when you start programming it?

Photo of the Day…

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Week 1 2019 Kick off!

And we’re off and running for the first week of UK See Blue See STEM Summer Camps 2019! It was a bit crazy with many of the students just finishing on Friday, many of our teachers out because of required work days this week, but we made it all run today with our awesome staff and students! We really appreciate all of your patience today as we checked in over 160 students for this week’s camps.

We have a goal to post a blog post each night this week with some highlights from the day and some conversation starters. [Admittedly, our family obligations can get in the way, so please bear with us!] The conversation starters are meant to help you get over the “What did you learn today?” “Nothin’” or <shrugging the shoulders> we often see with our school-age students. 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.

Please make sure and check Twitter throughout the day this week – https://twitter.com/SeeBlueSTEMCamp – we’ll post more pictures and updates throughout the day the rest of the week. No account is needed! We are also on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/seebluestemcamp/) and Facebook.

Today in the Vex Robotics, they dove into building their robots. For most students, this is much more complex as many have not built with Vex before. We liken it to a Kinex set…lots of small pieces, screws, and plates. Some have their bases built and got to start playing around with the remote and seeing how they robots move. They will continue building and exploring tomorrow as they figure out the different ways they can get their robot to move and the different arms they can build.

In the red and blue groups today, they got to experience virtual reality. They learned about what virtual reality is, why it is useful, and how people build VR worlds. Students got to be creative and build their own VR worlds and show them off. Some of them brought them home today 🙂 There were a lot of wows and wonderment today! In robotics, they started out with the We Do 2.0 robots. They got to build right away and start programming to see what they could get their robot to do. For many, it was their first time seeing a robot and programming, so they really enjoyed just exploring today and investigating how to make things work in different ways.

A possible VR world created by a student

In the yellow and green groups, they explored a variety of engineering fields and did some slinky-math and arduinos. In robotics, students built their robots and got started on talking about some programming. Our robotics instructors have some fun new challenges up their sleeves this week, so we’re excited to see where the students take them!

Slinky Pulsing and Math!

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 want to make my own VR.
  • (I liked) Writing storys together
  • I learned that you can make your one (VR) show.
  • I learned about and, not, and or circits.
  • There are different kinds of gates ind circuits.
  • I didn’t know about the pulse with the slinky.

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.

Vex Robotics

  • How is building the Vex robot different than the other robots you’ve built before?
  • How far did you get in building your robot today? What was the most fun about it?

Red/Blue Groups

  • What was experiencing Virtual Reality like?
  • Did you feel like you were in a room or in a different place when you had the goggles on?
  • If you could create a VR world, what would it be? Why?
  • What did you build with your robot today? What code or program did you write to make it do something?

Yellow/Green

  • What are arduinos?
  • What was the purpose of pulsing the slinky? What did you find out?
  • What are important words in circuits?
  • How did robot building go today? What are you excited about getting your robot to do this week?

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! We leave them unedited, so if you love to edit photos…feel free! If there is a photo you wish to have removed, please email me and we’ll take it down!

The wonders of Virtual Reality!
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Rainy STEM Day!

Well we made it through another day of STEM Camp…except we all got a little soaked along the way today. The students were great sports about it! We’re thankful the storms held off and it was just rain today. Unfortunately it looks a little iffy tomorrow still, but we will forge ahead with our STEM fun!

Today in the red and blue groups, they did some mathematical modeling with origami and 3D pens with Dr. Jong. The students really enjoyed the challenge of the origami and many practiced lots of patience with the paper folding. It was fun to learn about how to fold the paper in different ways and to put the nets together to form the 3d shapes. 3d pens are always a big hit every year. Not only do they help students build their own models, they also tap into their creative side. They take a lot of pride and ownership in their creations! We love seeing the uniqueness of the students come out!

In the green and yellow groups, they visit Dr. Escobar and her graduate students in Chemical Engineering. They conducted some investigations with different types of absorbency materials. Then they got to make their own bouncy balls and chapstick! I’m sure they were eager to show you their creations tonight.

In robotics, both groups started the First Lego League Challenge today. They were eager to start the different challenges and string all the knowledge they learned the previous 3 days. There were lots of successes and high fives today!

In their words…

  • I DiD not know about some shapes
  • How to make oragamis, cube, and shapes.
  • 3D pens are awsome
  • How people make rubber balls & chap stick
  • I learned that there is powder in dipers and that it reacts to water.
  • chemical engineers have a wide variety of jobs
  • Everything! It was all awesome!
  • How many differnt chemicals we use
  • I loved everything that I learned today and I might want to be a chemical engineer

Conversation Starters…

Red/Blue Groups

  • What shapes did you use to put together your big origami shape? How did you know how to fit the pieces together?
  • What did you create with your 3d pen?
  • What robot challenge did you start with today? What made you feel successful?

Yellow/Green Groups

  • What happened when the diaper powder mixed with water?
  • How did you make the bouncy ball?
  • What did you have to combine to make the chapstick? If you wanted to make the chapstick more firm, what would you add more of?
  • What robot challenge did you start with today? What made you feel successful?

Photo of the Day…

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Exploration Tuesday!

We had another fabulous day at STEM Camp! The sea of green looked awesome walking across campus, especially since freshmen registration and orientation started today all across campus!

The red and blue groups had a fabulous day with Dr. Walcott in the College of Engineering. They learned about the different types of engineering (Dr. Walcott likes to call them flavors) and toured several of the research labs where the graduate students showed them the latest research they were working on with the professors. They also made robots today called Scribble Bots…the students had a blast building their robots and learning about circuits. They may need some hope taking the battery in and out as the case is really tight for it.

The yellow and green groups took a turn in Dr. Cooper’s lab today with him and his graduate students! Many came home with tracings of their body – they traced themselves and then drew pathways of the nervous system. They then did some investigations with sensitivity, the nervous system, and crawfish. They also visited the medical education center where they looked at different human organs, some were diseased and some were healthy. The students were surprised at how heavy the brain was!

In robotics, all groups dove right into programming today. They learned about the FLL challenge they’ll be doing on Thursday and goals for programming this week. They started on the maze challenge and color sensor challenge. Tomorrow they will start stringing more code together and adding on different sensors.

In their words…

  • By making a lobsided moter it creates more vibration.
  • That non-flat walls take away or capture more sound then flat walls, flat walls make an echo
  • that dead brains look disgusting
  • I learned about nuerons and synapse
  • heat can change when you take your hands off nose
  • I didn’t know that the signals from the brain react to your body when you get hurt.
  • that crawdads have a tail reflex

Conversation Starters… 

Red/Blue Groups

  • What was your favorite part of the engineering tour? What did you learn about engineers today that you did not know before?
  • Tell me about how you assembled your scribble bot. How did you know how to connect things? What did your scribble bot do when you connected the motor to the battery? What does the glue stick on the end of the motor do?
  • 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:

  • How do muscles in your arm move? What is the path of the signals?
  • How do you create electricity with your arm?
  • What was the most interesting thing you learned about the human organs today?
  • What did you want your robot to do today? How did you get your robot to do what you wanted it to do?

Photo of the Day…