Off to summer camp! (or not really...)
So the engineering summer camp I was participating in as a mentor is over. The camp was on the base so no extra travel, but I did have to get up earlier which was rough. There is another session next week, but I was only signed on for one week. I probably could've done the second week, but I hadn't done it before and wanted to take it slow. I didn't know if I'd hate it or not. I might sign on for the stuff they do during the year. Maybe.
What it was:
-7th and 8th graders from area schools who volunteered. I think it was free/subsidized.
- Focus was on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
- Students got to meet engineers and scientists and build towers of balsa wood, water rockets, imagine a bio-sensor of the future, and program LEGO robots to complete "missions"
- A scientist or engineer paired with a middle school teacher as group leaders
My Group:
- A sullen-yet-loud 13 year old boy ("R") who would randomly start reciting video game levels...out loud. Or who, even though no one was listening, would start talking about how mean his teachers were or whatever. Are teachers trained to deal with kids like this? Did he need more attention or less?
- A quiet but very smart 13 year old boy ("L") who was also a boy scout. He was respectful and quiet but so helpful
- A quiet but very weird 13 year old boy ("J") who is totally going to be weird in high school and could end up evil...maybe not. He was just a little odd and there wasn't enough time to explore his issues.
- A loud and hyper 13 year old boy ("A") who had ideas but not much focus or stick-to-it-ness and was more interested in flirting with...
- A pretty and smart 13 year old girl ("M") who despite her "popular girl" look, was really nice and helpful. Seriously, I was so impressed with her. She was even nice to..
- A random 6th grader (11 year old) girl ("C") who was pretty sharp, but still younger than the rest. She seemed to hold her own though. (But still, I was SO impressed by M (the 13 year-old girl) because she could have made it really terrible for the 11 year old, but she didn't. She included the younger girl in everything and gave the boys the attention they were seeking but not in a way that made anyone uncomfortable.)
So four boys and 2 girls and they worked fairly well together. On the one hand they were loud and not very efficient, but when they did get going, they did just about everything very competently.
The different tasks:
- Figure out a team name and make a team poster. Our team decided on being DOOM because we were assigned as Team D. Their poster was really cool and they were given first runner up which in the real world is second place, but in this instance was fourth place. Whatever, their poster was better than the second place teams.
- Water Rocket: We built three for testing. The goal was to find a balance of water and pressure that would yield the highest values. A (loud and hyper) either sanded a hole or melted the plastic with the hot glue gun because one of the rockets had a leak. Which made for an interesting dud--except for me because I was down at the launching device holding it steady and I got a shower. The other rockets did pretty well and at the end of the week our team was recognized for being the best at collecting data (which is thanks to the teacher because I think she was keeping them in line pretty well)
- Robotics: There were 8 different missions. You took LEGO Mindstorm robots and used the computer to program moves and sensors to complete the different missions. We got one mission done the first day but nothing the second. Each group had two robots so our six team members were split into 3s that just kinda formed up. My team of 3 was having trouble focusing and they wanted to do the hardest missions first. Which is why nothing was accomplished on the second day. On the third day, I split them further and let the two older ones (A and M) work on ideas for one of the missions while C (the 11 year old) and I stepped out one of the easier programs. We got that done and the other group of 3 also got a mission done so having 3 total was enough for the teacher and me. Pressure was off. They managed to get a fourth one done on Thursday and on Friday we ALMOST got a fifth one. All the steps were right but we needed to redesign our robot a tiny bit but didn't have the time. So I count that as a win also.
- Bio-sensor Design Problem: The whole thing was pretty open-ended. We were supposed to come up with a bio-sensor that could detect a bio-hazard and neutralize it. It could be totally off the wall in feasibility so our group decided on going with something to neutralize Agent Orange leftovers in Vietnam. It was a hovercraft that would take soil samples and spray a decontaminant. The kids then had to stand up and give a presentation about it in front of a panel of VIPs. Our group did really well and was awarded second place.
- Balsa Wood Tower: We had to design and build a tower that would hold the most weight. It was about ratios so a lighter tower that held more was ideal. There wasn't really enough time to do all the designing, but for the first day of designing, they decided on a style and basic dimensions. It had to span an 8" hole and be at least 12" high but also hollow in the middle to accomodate the chain holding the bucket. So having the top width, the bottom width, and the height, I came home and did the math to figure out the length of the support braces. They were the ones who said to use the Pythegorean Theroem but we just didn't have the time. We also didn't have a white-board to do it for everyone to see. So I figured it out at home. On our second building day, we had one kid measuring, two cutting, and the rest gluing. There was a lot of stress getting things even and reducing glue blobs and not burning fingers with the (mildly) hot glue. We didn't really succeed in making it pretty, but we finished what we wanted. The next day, I picked off some of the extra glue blobs while the kids worked on their presentation. Today was the final testing for it. We weighed in at 24 grams. which was one of the heaviest of all the ones weighed and then we had to wait until 3 other groups tested theirs so it was a bit stressful. Team C held quite a bit so the bar was high. I was the bucket-filler. It was a 50 lb bucket of sand I had to transfer from into the hanging bucket. I ended up transferring about the whole darn thing! Our tower held 17.79 kg of sand! That gave us a sand/tower ratio of 741. Which was good enough for first place by a mile! The next best team was Team C and their ratio was like 630. The third place team was down in the 400 range.
So overall: We got 4th on our poster, an award for our rocket data collecting, nothing for our robots, 2nd place for our biosensor hovercraft, and 1st place for our tower. And with 16 competing teams, the fact that we got four different awards is incredible. So, while some of the groups were blessed with quite kids, our loud and somewhat obnoxious ones did a great job of pulling together when necessary. And during lunch they usually ate with their friends, but during the snack break recess, they pretty much hung out together. Again, so impressed with the 13 year-old because she did have friends there at the camp and she could have totally done the clique thing and ignored the 11 year-old for her own friends, but she didn't.
The teacher I worked with was really nice and down to earth and nicely sarcastic. Both she and I were frustrated with our sullen kid (R) and very impressed by the girls and one of the boys (L).
Wednesday (water rocket testing day) was the most stressful because our first rocket was a dud, our second had trouble fitting on the launching pad and the kids were running amok and not helping. And I kept getting sprayed by it and the sun was beating down. Stressful.
And that was my summer camp experience.
What it was:
-7th and 8th graders from area schools who volunteered. I think it was free/subsidized.
- Focus was on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
- Students got to meet engineers and scientists and build towers of balsa wood, water rockets, imagine a bio-sensor of the future, and program LEGO robots to complete "missions"
- A scientist or engineer paired with a middle school teacher as group leaders
My Group:
- A sullen-yet-loud 13 year old boy ("R") who would randomly start reciting video game levels...out loud. Or who, even though no one was listening, would start talking about how mean his teachers were or whatever. Are teachers trained to deal with kids like this? Did he need more attention or less?
- A quiet but very smart 13 year old boy ("L") who was also a boy scout. He was respectful and quiet but so helpful
- A quiet but very weird 13 year old boy ("J") who is totally going to be weird in high school and could end up evil...maybe not. He was just a little odd and there wasn't enough time to explore his issues.
- A loud and hyper 13 year old boy ("A") who had ideas but not much focus or stick-to-it-ness and was more interested in flirting with...
- A pretty and smart 13 year old girl ("M") who despite her "popular girl" look, was really nice and helpful. Seriously, I was so impressed with her. She was even nice to..
- A random 6th grader (11 year old) girl ("C") who was pretty sharp, but still younger than the rest. She seemed to hold her own though. (But still, I was SO impressed by M (the 13 year-old girl) because she could have made it really terrible for the 11 year old, but she didn't. She included the younger girl in everything and gave the boys the attention they were seeking but not in a way that made anyone uncomfortable.)
So four boys and 2 girls and they worked fairly well together. On the one hand they were loud and not very efficient, but when they did get going, they did just about everything very competently.
The different tasks:
- Figure out a team name and make a team poster. Our team decided on being DOOM because we were assigned as Team D. Their poster was really cool and they were given first runner up which in the real world is second place, but in this instance was fourth place. Whatever, their poster was better than the second place teams.
- Water Rocket: We built three for testing. The goal was to find a balance of water and pressure that would yield the highest values. A (loud and hyper) either sanded a hole or melted the plastic with the hot glue gun because one of the rockets had a leak. Which made for an interesting dud--except for me because I was down at the launching device holding it steady and I got a shower. The other rockets did pretty well and at the end of the week our team was recognized for being the best at collecting data (which is thanks to the teacher because I think she was keeping them in line pretty well)
- Robotics: There were 8 different missions. You took LEGO Mindstorm robots and used the computer to program moves and sensors to complete the different missions. We got one mission done the first day but nothing the second. Each group had two robots so our six team members were split into 3s that just kinda formed up. My team of 3 was having trouble focusing and they wanted to do the hardest missions first. Which is why nothing was accomplished on the second day. On the third day, I split them further and let the two older ones (A and M) work on ideas for one of the missions while C (the 11 year old) and I stepped out one of the easier programs. We got that done and the other group of 3 also got a mission done so having 3 total was enough for the teacher and me. Pressure was off. They managed to get a fourth one done on Thursday and on Friday we ALMOST got a fifth one. All the steps were right but we needed to redesign our robot a tiny bit but didn't have the time. So I count that as a win also.
- Bio-sensor Design Problem: The whole thing was pretty open-ended. We were supposed to come up with a bio-sensor that could detect a bio-hazard and neutralize it. It could be totally off the wall in feasibility so our group decided on going with something to neutralize Agent Orange leftovers in Vietnam. It was a hovercraft that would take soil samples and spray a decontaminant. The kids then had to stand up and give a presentation about it in front of a panel of VIPs. Our group did really well and was awarded second place.
- Balsa Wood Tower: We had to design and build a tower that would hold the most weight. It was about ratios so a lighter tower that held more was ideal. There wasn't really enough time to do all the designing, but for the first day of designing, they decided on a style and basic dimensions. It had to span an 8" hole and be at least 12" high but also hollow in the middle to accomodate the chain holding the bucket. So having the top width, the bottom width, and the height, I came home and did the math to figure out the length of the support braces. They were the ones who said to use the Pythegorean Theroem but we just didn't have the time. We also didn't have a white-board to do it for everyone to see. So I figured it out at home. On our second building day, we had one kid measuring, two cutting, and the rest gluing. There was a lot of stress getting things even and reducing glue blobs and not burning fingers with the (mildly) hot glue. We didn't really succeed in making it pretty, but we finished what we wanted. The next day, I picked off some of the extra glue blobs while the kids worked on their presentation. Today was the final testing for it. We weighed in at 24 grams. which was one of the heaviest of all the ones weighed and then we had to wait until 3 other groups tested theirs so it was a bit stressful. Team C held quite a bit so the bar was high. I was the bucket-filler. It was a 50 lb bucket of sand I had to transfer from into the hanging bucket. I ended up transferring about the whole darn thing! Our tower held 17.79 kg of sand! That gave us a sand/tower ratio of 741. Which was good enough for first place by a mile! The next best team was Team C and their ratio was like 630. The third place team was down in the 400 range.
So overall: We got 4th on our poster, an award for our rocket data collecting, nothing for our robots, 2nd place for our biosensor hovercraft, and 1st place for our tower. And with 16 competing teams, the fact that we got four different awards is incredible. So, while some of the groups were blessed with quite kids, our loud and somewhat obnoxious ones did a great job of pulling together when necessary. And during lunch they usually ate with their friends, but during the snack break recess, they pretty much hung out together. Again, so impressed with the 13 year-old because she did have friends there at the camp and she could have totally done the clique thing and ignored the 11 year-old for her own friends, but she didn't.
The teacher I worked with was really nice and down to earth and nicely sarcastic. Both she and I were frustrated with our sullen kid (R) and very impressed by the girls and one of the boys (L).
Wednesday (water rocket testing day) was the most stressful because our first rocket was a dud, our second had trouble fitting on the launching pad and the kids were running amok and not helping. And I kept getting sprayed by it and the sun was beating down. Stressful.
And that was my summer camp experience.