Camp designed to build students' interest in engineering
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| SNP photo by Tim
Johnson Kyle Huffman (left) and Brendan Hopkins work on their NXT robots during the Gateway Pre-engineering Academy day camp held at McCord Middle School last week. The camp is designed to get younger students interested in engineering concepts and careers. |
By PAMELA WILLIS
Where can students build two-liter bottle rockets, magnetic
levitation trains, robots and more?
At the Worthington City School District's Gateway Pre-engineering Academy, which just finished a two-week-long summer day camp.
Worthington Kilbourne High School teacher Jon Baird said the camp is a co-ed day camp that provides "fun and challenging hands-on projects, valuable teamwork experience and a real-world view of engineering and technical careers."
This is the third summer Worthington schools has held the summer engineering camp.
"Our goals for the camp are for kids to learn basic pre-engineering concepts," Baird said. "We want them to begin to understand what STEM is: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
"Our No. 1 goal was for the kids to have fun, while at the same time learning pre-engineering and getting them interested in science and technology-related fields."
He said the camp rosters were full this year, with 22 students per weekly session.
"This was by far the best camp we've had," Baird said. "We had so many positive comments from kids and parents and the kids were really engaged in making fun projects and didn't realize they were learning mathematics, science and engineering concepts because they were having so much fun."
The camp sessions began July 5 and ended Friday, July 16, at McCord Middle School.
Each weeklong session was limited to 22 students in grades 5-7, with all supplies and field trips included in the $75 tuition.
The program is designed and sponsored by Project Lead the Way and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and is taught by Worthington engineering and technology educators Baird, Mike Miller, Randy Ross and Deb Voisin and student instructor Joey McEnery.
The district has a Project Lead the Way program in the middle schools that is designed to teach engineering concepts and get students interested in engineering and a four-year program of engineering courses at both high schools.
Funding for the summer camp comes from grants from Project Lead the Way and the engineering society, with expenses of $2,000 for each camp week, Baird said.
Baird said the student-built magnetic levitation trains consisted of "basically a track with magnets that you run electricity through."
"The train runs just like the magnetic lev trains you can see in Europe and Japan," he said. "We tie the project in with problem-solving by including study of the high-speed rail in Ohio, which is a problem we have that might be solved by mag-lev trains."
He said students designed the trains in 3-D software.
"The project also introduced software that costs thousands of dollars to the students, which they could use again in Project Lead the Way classes," he said.
Teachers emphasized problem-solving, Baird said.
"We want to expose students to problem-solving concepts, because that is what engineers do -- they solve problems," he said. "We live in a world full of science and technology, and students really have to learn these concepts so when they get older, they can solve the world's problems."
Baird said the Project Lead the Way teachers hope to reach out to elementary teachers with offers to assist them in engaging kids in pre-engineering concepts and STEM projects.
"The younger we can get these kids to understand engineering can be fun and engaging, the more they will learn these concepts, which will help lead them to more engineering knowledge in middle school, high school and beyond," he said.
Next summer's camp funding is in question, however.
"We hope to engage business partners for support for next year's program, whether it is helping us with supplies or money," he said. "You can get grant money for the first few years for these programs, but after that, they want you to be self-sustaining.
"Frankly, I think we could expand the program, because the demand is there, but we want to keep the fees as low as possible," he said.
The teachers also hope to attract more girls to the camp and to Project Lead the Way classes.
"We had girls in the first camp week, but not in the second," he said. "In my experience, females can do everything and more than the males can. Maybe down the road, we should offer an all-girls engineering camp."
Baird said he had a good gender mix in one class he taught at Perry last year: seven boys and seven girls.
"I think we could work on doing a better job of recruiting females for the program," he said.
At the Worthington City School District's Gateway Pre-engineering Academy, which just finished a two-week-long summer day camp.
Worthington Kilbourne High School teacher Jon Baird said the camp is a co-ed day camp that provides "fun and challenging hands-on projects, valuable teamwork experience and a real-world view of engineering and technical careers."
This is the third summer Worthington schools has held the summer engineering camp.
"Our goals for the camp are for kids to learn basic pre-engineering concepts," Baird said. "We want them to begin to understand what STEM is: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
"Our No. 1 goal was for the kids to have fun, while at the same time learning pre-engineering and getting them interested in science and technology-related fields."
He said the camp rosters were full this year, with 22 students per weekly session.
"This was by far the best camp we've had," Baird said. "We had so many positive comments from kids and parents and the kids were really engaged in making fun projects and didn't realize they were learning mathematics, science and engineering concepts because they were having so much fun."
The camp sessions began July 5 and ended Friday, July 16, at McCord Middle School.
Each weeklong session was limited to 22 students in grades 5-7, with all supplies and field trips included in the $75 tuition.
The program is designed and sponsored by Project Lead the Way and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and is taught by Worthington engineering and technology educators Baird, Mike Miller, Randy Ross and Deb Voisin and student instructor Joey McEnery.
The district has a Project Lead the Way program in the middle schools that is designed to teach engineering concepts and get students interested in engineering and a four-year program of engineering courses at both high schools.
Funding for the summer camp comes from grants from Project Lead the Way and the engineering society, with expenses of $2,000 for each camp week, Baird said.
Baird said the student-built magnetic levitation trains consisted of "basically a track with magnets that you run electricity through."
"The train runs just like the magnetic lev trains you can see in Europe and Japan," he said. "We tie the project in with problem-solving by including study of the high-speed rail in Ohio, which is a problem we have that might be solved by mag-lev trains."
He said students designed the trains in 3-D software.
"The project also introduced software that costs thousands of dollars to the students, which they could use again in Project Lead the Way classes," he said.
Teachers emphasized problem-solving, Baird said.
"We want to expose students to problem-solving concepts, because that is what engineers do -- they solve problems," he said. "We live in a world full of science and technology, and students really have to learn these concepts so when they get older, they can solve the world's problems."
Baird said the Project Lead the Way teachers hope to reach out to elementary teachers with offers to assist them in engaging kids in pre-engineering concepts and STEM projects.
"The younger we can get these kids to understand engineering can be fun and engaging, the more they will learn these concepts, which will help lead them to more engineering knowledge in middle school, high school and beyond," he said.
Next summer's camp funding is in question, however.
"We hope to engage business partners for support for next year's program, whether it is helping us with supplies or money," he said. "You can get grant money for the first few years for these programs, but after that, they want you to be self-sustaining.
"Frankly, I think we could expand the program, because the demand is there, but we want to keep the fees as low as possible," he said.
The teachers also hope to attract more girls to the camp and to Project Lead the Way classes.
"We had girls in the first camp week, but not in the second," he said. "In my experience, females can do everything and more than the males can. Maybe down the road, we should offer an all-girls engineering camp."
Baird said he had a good gender mix in one class he taught at Perry last year: seven boys and seven girls.
"I think we could work on doing a better job of recruiting females for the program," he said.
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