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Feb. 13, 2008
Junior engineers for a day
By CHRISTINA EICHELKRAUT
Students at Mt. Charleston Elementary spent a day learning about science and engineering Wednesday, Feb. 6, when the Junior Engineering Program from Utah State University came to visit. In the gym, kindergarten students learned about driving battery-powered cars and crossing the streets of a "city" painted on a giant, rolled-up mat on the floor. Meanwhile, fourth-grade students learned about hydraulics and pneumatics by using robots controlled by water-filled tubes. Fifth graders in another room learned about electricity through a plasma ball and later received a small shock by creating a human circuit. Other fourth-grade students constructed and launched rockets they built using two-liter soda bottles. Interactive projects the students participated in included sticking their arms in quicksand, "bubbleology," and constructing bridges and building mini-foundations for buildings. "We're teaching them the basics," Levi Phippen, program coordinator said. "When you're getting your hands shocked and sinking your hands into quicksand, you're definitely going to remember that day and think about science a little differently." The program started about 15 years ago during engineering week at Utah State University, an event meant to introduce high school juniors and seniors to the disciplines of science. From there, Phippen explained, the program evolved a credo of "bringing science to the people." Now the program travels regionally to elementary and middle schools, setting up science kits in various classrooms and giving kids a chance to learn with a hands-on approach. The students rotate from classroom to classroom, and as such, to different experiments and disciplines of science. Primary students spent about 35 minutes at each display and fourth and fifth graders 45 minutes. "The kids have loved it," Phippen said. "And I think the teachers have had a very good time." |
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