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Tuesday STEM Fun!

What another awesome day! The students have really settled into the routines of the day and are having a good time learning while they are playing. The cooler weather has just been an added bonus this week!

The red and blue groups got to spend the day with Dr. Janet Lumpp and investigating circuits. They had a blast building their own circuits and completing the different challenges to see how to open and close circuits. The purple and brown groups spent time with Dr. Bruce Walcott today. They played with some of the arduinos and talked about some circuits. They investigated Faraday flashlights and talked about all the different kinds of engineering opportunities there are and the different types of engineers. They also got to build simple motors and were amazed about how easy it was! In robotics, they were very creative and got to build different animals today. They decided how they wanted their animal to move and planned from there. While there were some basic building directions the students followed, this is a very creative group and they liked to add embellishments 🙂

The yellow and green groups had a blast with Dr. Haley Bergstrom and her team. They learned about how different parts of the body work together and how we can maximize performance with our bodies. They did some modeling and exercised outside – completing some investigations to gauge reaction time, etc. Thank goodness for the cooler weather today! In robotics, they dove deeper into their challenges. Most got through the maze challenges today and are ready to string together more components tomorrow. We have some more advanced groups this week, and our robotics instructor has been awesome at differentiating the challenges to make sure the students are building on their previous knowledge.

In their Own Words…

  • Circuits have a lot of cipes
  • I didn’t Know what was inside a remote.
  • Yes, it was fun codeing and creating place ments for electric-circuits
  • I thought it was cool how you chose what you wanted your ozobot to do and it would do it.
  • how to check your pulse.
  • I would like to learn more about my heart rate and how my heart works.
  • Electro magnets are so strong.

Conversation Starters…

Red/Blue Groups

  • What does the inside of a computer look like?
  • How did you build your circuits?
  • What makes the circuits work?
  • What did you build with your robot today?
  • What did you get your robot to do?

Purple/Brown Groups

  • What is an electromagnet?
  • How did you make a motor? Did it go fast or slow?
  • What did you build with your robot today?
  • What did you get your robot to do?

Yellow/Green Groups

  • How do our lungs and diaphragm work together?
  • How did your jump compare to an NFL athlete?
  • How did you build a model of the lungs and diaphragm? What did it show you?
  • What challenges did you complete with your robot today? What do you want to accomplish tomorrow?

Picture of the Day…

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Week 2 is off and running!

And we’re off and running for the second week of UK See Blue See STEM Summer Camps 2019! It was a bit of a muggy start, but the cool breeze and weather this afternoon was a welcomed event! We have another 160 students this week, including our partnership with Burgin Independent Schools and Consolidated Baptist Camp coming this week.

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 the blue and red groups experienced how we use STEM in measuring human body performance with Dr. Haley Bergstrom and her team. They were amazed at all the facts and had a lot of fun collecting their own data and conducting their investigations. Many were surprised about their reaction times!

The purple and brown groups got to spend time in Dr. Robin Cooper’s labs and the medical outreach facility. They learned about their nervous system and about the electricity that runs through their muscles. Some may have brought home their own pictures of their nervous system. They got to look and touch organs today as well!

In robotics, all four groups 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.

In the yellow and green groups, they explored a variety of engineering fields and did some slinky-math and arduinos with Dr. Bruce Walcott. In robotics, students built their robots and dived right into programming. We were so impressed by how far the teams got today, even starting on some of the challenges! Our robotics instructors have some fun new challenges up their sleeves this week, so we’re excited to see where the students take them!

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 🙂

  • Touching the organs was wired [weird]
  • They were squishy!
  • The diafram goes up and down with the lungs
  • I liked my pulse
  • I didn’t know there were different types of engineers.

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

  • How do our lungs and diaphragm work together?
  • How did your jump compare to an NFL athlete
  • How did you build a model of the lungs and diaphragm? What did it show you?
  • What did you build with your robot today? What code or program did you write to make it do something?

Purple/Brown Groups

  • Did you touch any organs today? What did they look like? What did they feel like?
  • What did you do with the cinnamon activity today?
  • What does the electricity in your muscles do?
  • What did you build with your robot today? What code or program did you write to make it do something?

Yellow/Green

  • 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!

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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!