Today was quite exciting with Dr. Jen Eli. She had the students create and experiment with several different optical illusions. Then she had them creating mathematical models (and other models!) with 3D pens. The students really enjoyed today’s creative outlet session; some probably brought some of the STEM art home with them today!
In robotics, they began their programming and started some basic challenges. While Lego has some really nice basic challenges to begin with, Mr. Evans and Mr. Randall like to change it up each year and provide students with challenges more appropriate towards the final challenge they will be doing at the end of the week. So today they worked on driving around curves without hitting walls. There were lots of great successes!
In their words…
What did you learn about today that you did not know before?
How to draw a art that tricks the eye. How to use a 3-d pen to make things
How neutral colors impact optical illusions.
That complementary colors are what mostly make illusions pop out
I learned about the parts of a 3-d pen
What did you like about what you learned today?
That optical allutions [sic] take the mind and eye to work
I liked learning about how 3-D pens work
I like making the 3d shapes
I used the 3-D pen to draw a shape and decorate it
Was there anything you did not like about what you learned today?
Nope! Except that we had to stop! I could have gone on forever!
No, i had a great time!
Would you like to learn more about this topic? Why or why not?
Yes, because it is AWESOME + FUN!
Yes because i want to learn more about what shapes you could do
Yes i like making 3d stuff
Yes because there’s so much to learn and it interests me
Conversation Starters…
What is an optical illusion?
How do colors affect optical illusions?
What did you make with the 3D pen?
How does the 3D pen work?
How could you use a 3D pen to build a model?
Photo of the Day… We took our STEM Camp photo today! Not all of our helpers are in here, but this is all the students and some of our helpers! Aren’t they a great looking bunch this week? Click here to view the rest of the photos from yesterday and today!
We had beautiful weather to kick off the first of our two weeks of 2016 UK See Blue STEM Camp! We are very excited to welcome 216 campers over the course of the next two weeks. Seventy-two 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.
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.
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.
Dr. Walcott – What I learned today…
We used a slinky as a demonstration of sound waves.
I learned that the first woman that graduated from engineering helped invent AC.
I learned that weight matters less than volume when it comes to making boats.
I would like to be an engineer.
The testing of new designs.
Dr. Escobar – What I learned today…
That if you mix a type of powder and water and turn whatever you put it in upside down it will not spill.
I liked that we did hands-on things instead of just talking about it.
You got to play and touch it and experiment with it.
I liked that we got to learn things chemical engineers get to experience.
I want to learn more about the powder and water because it was really cool watching the powder form into a solid.
I liked that we got to do the experiments that went with the lesson.
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.
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?
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?
Photo of the Day… Each day we’ll post a camp highlight. Clicking on the picture will also link to all of the pictures taken at camp – It’s not working right now because I forgot to bring the camera home to download 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! (We did not do too well at taking pictures today with it being day 1, but we promise to do better tomorrow!)
Thursday was another eventful day at See Blue STEM Camp. The students are really engaging well with the content and material and the loudness of the chatter is increasing exponentially, which we view as a good thing. They usually come in pretty quiet and reserved at the beginning of the week, and as they get more comfortable with their groups, the structure of the camp, etc., they really start to come out of their shells. STEM Camp has a knack for bringing out the smiles and voices of even the ones who don’t usually talk!
The Blue and Red groups got to explore the wide and wonderful world of engineering today with Dr. Bruce Walcott, a professor in electrical engineering and one of the co-founders of STEM Camp. The students dove deeper today into the design engineering process they learned about on Monday and got to apply it further through small investigations. From a lesson on buoyancy to building small generators to looking at how sound waves move, many were inspired to consider a career in engineering. They got to tour the engineering complex and several of the laboratories where the UK students and faculty really get to build and test their ideas. They got to talk to the UK students and faculty; our students asked them some great questions! The favorite on the tour again today was the anechoic chamber!
The Yellow/Green Groups explored and learned about materials science today with Dr. Brett Criswell, a science education faculty member in our Department of STEM Education. He kept them very busy the entire time, conducting mini experiments, testing their hypotheses, discovering electrical properties of different mediums via squishy circuits, and even got to make their own gak! If the cornstarch in your pantry goes missing, you might check your child’s room… 🙂
In robotics today, each group started their challenge…red and blue groups started the Green City challenge which focuses on ideas around sustainability and energy. The yellow and green groups started the Space Challenge today which focuses on ideas around physical science and astronomy. Since it was new, there were some frustrations, but as they got the hang of the concept of the new challenges, there was some great excitement in the air. All are looking forward to the final day tomorrow where they will really get to put all of their skills together for some more complex programming.
It’s hard to believe tomorrow’s the last day! We sure have enjoyed having them this week. They are truly a great group this year!
In their words…
Red/Blue Groups
What did you learn about today that you did not know before?
that it is possible to create a room without echos
that slinkies have different sound waves
I learned how a boat floats
that concrete could float
dencity and how it works [sic]
how engineers solve their problem
What did you like about what you learned today?
learning about echolocation
making aluminum foil float
I love engineering!
calculus
how we got to build a genorator [sic]
Yellow/Green Groups
What did you learn about today that you did not know before?
glue+water+Borax = Slime!
I learned about how to make electricity out of playdough, the different sands and how to make goo
That kinetic sand can’t absorb water in any way
that scientists have to catigor things based on structur and characteristics [sic]
what material science is, how to make silly putty, different kinds of sand
that you could make a solid out of water and glue
You can make putty using borax, water, and glue. Also, magic sand is hydrophobic (water resistant)
What did you like about what you learned today?
Getting to make my own gak. An learning about the field of material science
I liked that I got to keep this gooey stuff and you could bounce it
you can turn corn startch into science
I liked making all the slime
the scientists can use the materials to make better modified items to change and solve problems
materials science is awesome. I’d like to learn how to make more mixtures
Conversation starters…
Blue/Red Groups:
What was your favorite part about the engineering tour today?
What is an anechoic chamber?
How many pennies did your boat hold? If you could build it again, what would you do differently? (The red group didn’t have time to get to this today)
Is there a particular field of engineering that you think might interest you?
What challenges did you work today in programming your robot for the Green City?
Yellow/Green Groups:
What is materials science? What makes it special?
You did an experiment with several different types of sand today…what were you trying to figure out? Did your results match your hypothesis?
I heard you watched a really cool video about corn starch…can you tell me about it?
What is so special about the Gak you made…and wait, you made gak!!??
What challenges did you work today in programming your robot for the Space Challenge?
Day 3 was so intense and great I don’t even know where to start! One teacher leader from the Yellow/Green groups summed up our thoughts pretty well: From programming a robot to handling a human heart: that’s pretty good breadth of experience for a day.
Today the Yellow and Green Groups got to visit Dr. Robin Cooper’s biology laboratory where they were immersed into the world of stereology. They learned about tumor sizes, especially how they determine them from 2-dimensional slices such as from a MRI machine. They also got to practice 3d modeling using Sketchup today. Then they got to handle some human organs, including the brain, use an EMG to discover electricity in their muscles, and talk about the human body in general through the outreach center.
The red and blue groups got to experience the world of mathematical modeling with Dr. Jen Eli today. They heard the buzz about this session yesterday, so many were very excited about today. They first got to work on their mathematical vocabulary and communicating with a partner through a series of short challenges. Then they dove right in to 3 dimensional figures and used 3D pens to create models of figures such as pyramids, tetrahedron, and even some did the dodecahedron! They really enjoyed using the 3D pens and seeing how the world of modeling has opened up with recent technology devices such as the 3D pens coming down in price.
In robotics today, all four groups continued to work on their challenge mats. We had lots of successes today and the students are feeling confident going into their challenges tomorrow. The most favorite mat has definitely been the “K mat” where the students get the robot to spell out C-A-T-S (and when achieved there are lots of “CATS CATS CATS” shouts of joy 🙂 ). Tomorrow, the yellow and green groups will be doing the Space Challenge and the red and blue groups will be doing the Green City Challenge.
In their words…
Yellow/Green Groups
What did you learn about today that you did not know before?
The leg has the most pulses
I learned that they take a picture of different sections of the brain to comoe up with the size of a tumor. [sic]
I learned about different parts of the organ and different diseases.
How the brain works and about the different brain sections.
That there is air and water in ur head [sic]
I learned about the human body, lie detector tests, the brai, and what foods have in it.
Sick hearts actually get larger.
I didn’t know kidey made urine [sic]
I learn about the differences of a healthy heart and a heart that’s sick
What did you like about what you learned today?
I like that I can use this in real life
I liked learning about the human body, also I liked touching the preserved organs.
It is something I could use in my career
I got to play on sketchup and see lots of things
It was fun to hold the organs, and the people were very willing to answer questions. I was never bored.
Red/Blue Groups
What did you learn about today that you did not know before?
I learned about a hexagonal prism.
How to use a 3 dimensional pen and how to draw connected cubes
that you can melt plastic safly [sic]
I learned how to draw 3-D shapes with isonic paper.
That there was more 3d shapes than regular
What did you like about what you learned today?
It was really fun to draw cubes and 3 dimensional shapes on 2d objects
I liked using 3-D pens
how to use math for archutechual things [sic]
it was really hands on
Conversation Starters…
Yellow/Green Groups
How big do tumors actually get? How do they know how big they are?
What was your favorite organ to learn about and touch? Why?
What did you find out when you did the EMG?
What challenges did you work on today in robotics? How comfortable are you with the programming now? What did you get your robot to do today?
Red/Blue Groups
What polyhedra did you build today with your 3D pen?
How successful were you and your partner at communicating during the mathematical challenges today?
What challenges did you work on today in robotics? How comfortable are you with the programming now? What did you get your robot to do today?
What was your favorite part about using the 3D pen?
It’s hard to believe that we’re already at the end of the week! Today was an even busier day since it was the end of the week and the students were extra alive today from all the activity this week. The blue and red and groups got to experience Dr. Brett Criswell’s wonderful awe-inspiring world of nanotechnology. From experimenting with peach fuzz and different types of plants, to talking about polymer-chains found in over-the-counter indigestion medicines, the students were taken to the teeny tiny world of nano-land. They had a great time conducting different experiments and even remembered such things as Congo Red! In robotics, they wrapped up an awesome week with finishing many challenges in the green city challenges. There were lots of screams of excitement, joy, and high fives going around as the students became more communicative within their groups and more confident in their programming skills. We tried to capture some video of it today. Clicking on the video will take you to our YouTube Channel where you can view more videos from today.
The yellow and green groups got to experience the wonderful world of engineering with our resident engineering expert, Dr. Bruce Walcott. The students got to tour the engineering complex at UK and got to go into many of the different laboratories that UK College of Engineering has. There were faculty and graduate students onsite in the laboratories so they were able to show the students some of their latest research discoveries and experiments and let the students tinker with some of the lab materials as well. Seeing real research happening is always inspiring to the students and they really ask great questions that sometimes even stump the researchers! Of course the favorite again was the sound proof room. I’m not sure what it is about that room, but they always enjoy it! They also built mini motors and talked about simple machines with Dr. Walcott. They really enjoyed the various engineering design activities and applying their content skills. They ended their engineering time with some teamwork activities, including the favorite Hula Hoop Challenge. Students often forget that in the real world, most of our work is done in teams and communication is vitally important. So the students had a great time learning to communicate and talk to each other more.
Lego robotics for the yellow and green groups was much more successful today. We even had a couple of groups do all the challenges on the Space Challenge! The Space Challenge and EV3 programming is definitely a lot different from the NXT programming, so some were frustrated a couple of days ago, but were much more confident today. It was such a joy to watch them grow over the past week in this area. They really enjoyed the Space Challenge…it is definitely more complex than the Green City they were used to before!
We all had such a great and enjoyable week with the students. It would not at all have been possible without the tremendous staff that we had this year! I had a bit of a panic moment when (because of snow days) we decided to combine both camps into one week; but some quick creative thinking brought on an awesome opportunity for our preservice teachers in our middle and secondary programs and our doctoral students at UK. Some of the college students took a Robotics class with me prior to camp starting and assisted Mark Evans and Robbie Randall in the robotics rooms and some of the college students just wanted to help out with the camp. I would like to take the opportunity to introduce you to and thank our staff this year.
We have a great group of graduate students in the STEM Education department at UK and these 5 are no exception!
L-R Back – Kayla Blyman, Floyd Broughton, Thomas Roberts; L-R Front – Maranda Miller, Marla Lemmon
Our inservice teachers are priceless! Robbie and Mark take the lead on the robotics, Brooke (Green Group), Tavin (Yellow Group), Megan (Blue Group), and Candice (Red Group) were our team leaders this year, of course Craig is the inventor, creator, and director of the See Blue STEM Camp. The camp is a way for our inservice teachers to stay connected to the university, provide high quality mentoring to the preservice teachers involved, and even have the opportunity to engage and learn new content and materials alongside the students.
L-R Back – Robbie Randall (Beaumont MS), Mark Evans (Jessie Clark MS), Candice Cprek (Henry Clay HS); L-R Front – Brooke Powers (Beaumont MS), Tavin Feheley (Jessie Clark MS), Craig Schroeder (Beaumont MS). Not pictured – Megan Vogel (Tates Creek MS)
Since we were going to 1 week with 144 students, we knew we had needed to have more help. It was an obvious choice to offer the opportunity to the preservice (future teachers) middle and secondary mathematics and science students in our College. Through this unique experience, they got to work with the students in a smaller, low-stakes setting that allowed them to really practice their classroom management skills, their questioning techniques, and work on developing appropriate relationships with students. They were mentored through this process by the high quality inservice teachers as well as the college faculty we had involved. Although they were exhausted by the end of the week, they all stated this was the best learning experience they have had thus far and really enjoyed the opportunity to grow as future educators and felt they gained a lot of STEM content knowledge alongside the students as well.
L-R Back – Andre Henderson, Brian True, Alex Freeman, William Schooler, Michael Delfino, Eric Garwood, Zeke Edwards; L-R Middle – Ben Wolfe, Maria Richards, Brittney Denton, Lydia Speler, Amy Allen, Tyler Waters, Chris Rogers, Clay Rehmel, Shelby Cameron; L-R Front Row Katherine Poe, Alanna Briggs, Jamie Kosel, Michael Plas
Craig, myself, Christa Jackson, Mark Evans, Gabe Brown, and Bruce Walcott are the team that make up the directors of the camp. We do everything from logistics to food to parent communication to anything else that needs to be done to help things run smoothly.
L-R Craig Schroeder, Christa Jackson, and Margaret Schroeder; Not pictured- Mark Evans, Bruce Walcott, and Gabe Brown (they were making sure everything was running smoothly while we were snapping pictures!)
Conversation starters…
Red and Blue Groups
What is nanotechnology?
What kinds of things repel water? Why do they need to repel water?
How do you make magic sand?
Peaches reflect water? I’ve never heard about that. Tell me more!
What challenge(s) did you complete in the Green City Challenge?
How do you and your partner(s) work together to program and complete the challenges?
What was your favorite part about STEM Camp?
Out of all the things you learned this week, what was the most interesting?
What career do you want to pursue when you get older? What kinds of classes are you going to need to take in order to be successful in your career?
Yellow and Green Groups
What is a sound proof room? What makes it sound proof?
What was your favorite lab you visited? What made it your favorite?
What challenge(s) did you complete in the Space Challenge?
How do you and your partner(s) work together to program and complete the challenges?
What was your favorite part about STEM Camp?
Out of all the things you learned this week, what was the most interesting?
What career do you want to pursue when you get older? What kinds of classes are you going to need to take in order to be successful in your career?
Video of the Day… This video really exemplifies why we do this and why we feel it’s important for students to have these opportunities.
We thank you for a wonderful week with your students and hope you have an enjoyable rest of the summer!
Next year’s camp dates are tentatively set for June 8 – 12, 2015 at the University of Kentucky Colleges of Education and Engineering for rising 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.
Today was quite exciting with Dr. Jen Eli. She had the students create and experiment with several different optical illusions. Then she had them creating mathematical models (and other models!) with 3D pens. The students really enjoyed today’s creative outlet session; some probably brought some of the STEM art home with them today!
In robotics, they began their programming and started some basic challenges. While Lego has some really nice basic challenges to begin with, Mr. Evans and Mr. Randall like to change it up each year and provide students with challenges more appropriate towards the final challenge they will be doing at the end of the week. So today they worked on driving around curves without hitting walls. There were lots of great successes!
What did you like about what you learned today?
Conversation Starters…
