Week 2 Comes to a Close

It’s hard to believe we had to say goodbye to another set of campers this week! As one student stated when we were leaving – “Well it just feels like Monday to me! I can’t believe we’re already leaving!” There were some tears shed because it was the last day – extra hugs were given and we took it as a good sign that they had a great week together!

Working together to build their simple motor.

The red and blue groups got to spend the day with Dr. Bruce Walcott and his team exploring the different fields of engineering, building simple motors, and playing with Ozobots – a small robot that uses light sensors to read where to go. The students were surprised at the small amount materials and effort needed to make a motor! The purple and brown groups spent their day with Dr. Janet Lumpp and got to dive deep into circuits. They learned why circuits work, what it means to be open and closed, and got to build some of their own circuits. The small challenges were fun for the students and they loved the lights and noises when they successfully completed a circuit! In robotics, today was creative build day. And boy were the students creative! This group this week really embraced the idea of creativity. They had awesome stories to go along with their builds and were very excited to program it to do quite a variety of things. I hope they shared about it with you tonight!

In the yellow and green groups, the students got to spend time in the engineering makerspace with Doug Klein. They saw the 3d printers in action and got to design some pieces themselves. The laser cutter was another favorite! The students brought home a 3d printed cube they got to watch being printed. In robotics, they wrapped up the Trash Trek FLL challenge. There were some great successes, especially around using the medium motor to pick up objects and move them to another spot! This group of students really excelled in programming this week.

Intently watching the 3D printer create a cube.

In their Own Words…

Electro magnets help make motors
I like leaning about engnieens
What Parallel/series circuits are
I would [like to learn more] because my dad works with electricity somtimes and I can help him!
I liked when we put the pieces together and mad the propeller.
That some woodcutters use lasers to cut wood.
I like that I got to see many engineering tools
I would like to learn more about 3-D printing because it is interesting and useful for models in the medical field.
I liked learning how to work different machines.
I did not know you could use A sla printer to help people with problems with their bones and stuff.

Conversation Starters…

Red/Blue Groups

What type of engineering might interest you?
How did you make a motor today? How did you know it was working?
How did you get the Ozobots to move? What did they look like?
What did you build with your robot today? What did you program it to do?
What was your favorite part about camp this week?
What do you want to learn more about?

Brown/Purple Groups

What kind of circuits are there?
How do you know a circuit is working?
How did you get your circuits to work?
Why are circuits useful? What do we use them for?
What did you build with your robot today? What did you program it to do?
What was your favorite part about camp this week?
What do you want to learn more about?

Yellow/Green Groups

What was your favorite machine today? How did it work? What did it make? How would it be useful in the future?
What did you design for the 3d printer?
How does a 3d printer work?
What challenges did you complete with your robot today? What sensors or motors did you use? What did you program it to do to complete the challenge?
What was your favorite part about camp this week?
What do you want to learn more about?

Photo of the Day…

June 11, 2019June 11, 2019

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…

June 10, 2019June 11, 2019

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!

June 6, 2019June 6, 2019

Sticky and Humid Fun!

It’s hard to believe it’s almost the end of the week! We’ve had a blast with this first group this year! We managed to keep the rain away for another day. It got a little close at the end of pick up 🙂

The red and blue groups did circuits today with Dr. Lumpp. They did an awesome job! There was quite a bit of upper mathematics in it and they did a fabulous job. It’s amazing what learning in context does for the kids! They solved a variety of challenges presented to them on their circuit boards. There were lots of smiles and shouts of glee when they connected a circuit correctly! In robotics, they did another creative and open build today. A majority chose to do some sort of doodle bot, which they figured out could actually do spirographs!

The yellow and green groups experienced how we use STEM in measuring human body performance with Dr. 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. In robotics today, they worked on the maze and the C-A-T-S – CATS – CATS – CATS challenge. For the students who finished that, they jumped into the Lego Challenge mats. Everyone is doing such a great job programming and tinkering with their different variables!

In Vex Robotics today, they did some more moving blocks and using the arm. They dove deeper into the coding. It’s different code – they use C – then what many are used to with the Ev3 or WeDo 2.0 coding. They are having a competition tomorrow and so we are going to LiveStream it for families to see.

In their words…

Red/Blue Groups

I Learned all about sercits.
whats inside a computer.
I learned that computers have fans to keep them cool.
[I want to learn more about circuits because] it was interesting and sparked my creativeity.
I wan’t to be a inventer when I grow up!
it helps your mind grow.

Yellow/Green Groups

I learned that wenn the diagram goes down the lungs expand and whent the diagram goes up the lungs close in. [diaphragm]
I Learned how to check my pulse.
I liked when we made lungs out of a bottle and balloons
I liked how we got to learn about us and not just about generalized human diarama.

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?

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…

Click the picture below and it will take you to all the pictures from the week! If there is one on there you do not like for us to have posted, please let us know and we’ll take it down.