A turn of the wheel; STEM camp returns to Austin
Published 10:39 am Thursday, June 12, 2014
Vanesa Ortiz, 9, and Zoe Kuzukis, 9, work on making a spinning ride spin at Riverland Community College. The ride they named the Flixer was built on the second day of STEM camp. — Jenae Peterson/jenae.peterson@austindailyherald.com
On Tuesday, Evan Kuzukis, Carrie Whiteaker, and Emma and Riley Haugen designed a ferris wheel ride they called the Awesome Blossom with seats at different prices and food stands underneath the ride.
“It’s pretty much a ferris wheel that we designed to go really fast,” said 9-year-old Evan, who is going into fourth grade.
But this wasn’t just for fun and games. This was one of the hands-on ways children learned about science, technology, engineering and mathematics at Riverland Community College this week during the annual STEM camp, part of the Gifted and Talented Symposium.
While the symposium generates a lot of excitement for teachers, parents and education leaders, the program also generates excitement for children too.
The STEM camp, for children in fourth, fifth and sixth grades, was designed three years ago to help teachers see some of the best STEM practices in action, according to Doug Paulson a STEM specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education. Paulson and Joel Donna are the two instructors that helped the children build their projects during the camp.
“[We] developed the lab camp to allow for students to experience interactive STEM lessons from Monday through Wednesday, and teachers to see some different practices in action,” Paulson said.
Aliew Alyab, 9, and Mei Nguyen, 9, roll marbles down a roller coaster they built Monday as part of the STEM camp for children in fourth, fifth and sixth grades.
The camp features a different theme each year, and this year’s was amusement parks. Twenty-six children attended the camp, and each group of about three or four built a roller coaster on the first day and a spinning ride on the second day.
“The kids designed a roller coaster and learned about kinetic and potential energy on the first day, and learned about the transfer into mechanical energy with circuits and designed a spinning ride on the second day,” Paulson said. “And then today [they] have kind of put it all together.”
The children also helped create dry ice root beer. Although the instructors dealt with the actual dry ice, the children were able to help mix the solution, taste the product, and were involved in the whole process and how it worked.
“Because you always need to have food at an amusement park,” Paulson said.
