The STEM Girls were lucky enough to be invited to exhibit all our hard work at the Women in Engineering Day at Liberty Science Center this February 17, 2018. See the article that the Record wrote about our story and our message below!
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We can all make a paper airplane, but can you design a paper airplane that can carry "cargo" pennies? The girls planned their designs, tested them, tweaked them, and tested again. They recorded their distances in proportion to the weight, in grams, of coins that their paper airplane could transport. This is a fine example of persistence... If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again! In today's meeting, the girls used kits to design their own roller coasters, testing out new heights, new paths, and new arrangements of the track to create optimal scream-factor in a way that wouldn't compromise the car's attachment to the track. Another group made a mini roller coaster using tiny balls as the roller coaster cars, in a Rube-Goldberg-esque expedition in learning. Check it out! For this project, Kareena, Ashley, and Emily worked together to construct a solar powered helicopter from the kit that was provided by STEM Girls. The instructions came in Japanese, which certainly made it more challenging, but the girls found other ways of understanding them. They put together each tiny piece and later on, when it didn't work quite right, used the skills of future engineers and found ways to improve what they had created. Great job, girls! In this project, the girls learned how to follow directions, while also being able to be creative and make good engineering decisions. From kits provided by STEM Girls, the girls broke into pairs and designed a car with a motor that was powered by the sun. The girls separated into two groups and wrote "code" for a dance that they could perform in a setup of colored paper, chairs, and desks. After the groups finished tailoring their choreography to the "stage," girls who were working on a different project stepped in to dance the "code" and see how computers understand commands. The Tiny Dancer Programming Challenge is a twist on the Program a Friend Challenge we did in 2015. At STEM Girls, we like to serve tasty treats alongside a heaping plate of knowledge. It's always fun to share a snack with friends, but it's even more fun to make them at home with your family! Here's my all-time favorite cookie recipe (except for the fabulous chocolate chip cookies you can find in the recipe section of our blog).
The STEM Girls club is starting up again for the 2015-16 school year, and we're looking forward to welcoming a new group of talented, passionate STEM girls. If you are a girl in grades five to eight at St. Brendan School, please take the initiative to apply!
Print the application form here.
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Welcome!STEM Girls is a club that reveals the wonders of STEM to middle school girls. This is where you can keep up with what we're doing and how you can become a part of it! Click through our categories for the most comprehensive tour of our site. CategoriesArchives
February 2018
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