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…
- “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.”
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“I like how we got to be creative and how we made shapes”
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“Plastic can go from solid to liquid to solid again very fast.”
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“3D pens are fun to work with if you’re careful.”
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“I learned more about geometric shapes”
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“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!”
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What can you use 3d pens for?
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Why is it important to build models of things?
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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… 
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