Math And Science Summer Fun

Alex Taylor went back to school this week geared up to appreciate her math and science classes even more than before, all thanks to a Robotics Summer Day Camp held Aug. 13-17, at Wiesbaden High School.

“I like to learn new things and robotics seemed like a really good program,” Taylor said on the last day of the camp. “I have a better understanding of science as it is right now and I’d say that’s great.”

Taylor was one of 31 students to participate in the camp, which taught participants how to build a robot and program it, said Frank Pendzich, instructor of engineering technology at Wiesbaden High School and the camp’s organizer.

He is also adviser to the school’s RoboWarriors team, which competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition each year.

Campers, who were in grades 7-9, also learned the beginning steps of the engineering design process, Pendzich said.

This was the camp’s second year, Pendzich said, and members of the RoboWarriors team acted as camp counselors. In addition, members of the Air Force 485th Intelligence Squadron volunteered, as well as parents.

Taylor, 13, said she was glad to learn not only how to build a robot, but how to program it as well.

Max Johnson, 12, said he enjoyed the camp because he got to build a robot and compete against other campers with it. “I’m interested in robots and computers,” he said, and he plans to learn more about robots in the future.

The camp culminated in a game on the last day called “Not in My Backyard,” where teams of two students each had to try and shove balls and robots from one side of a playing field to another, all while navigating seesaw bridges at mid-field, Pendzich said.

The game is based on the social observation that when people do not like something, they often try to move it into someone else’s back yard, Pendzich said.

In order to play the game, students had to program the robots to act autonomously for 30 seconds and then switch to remote control mode, Pendzich said.

At the end of the three-minute match, teams could receive points if they were successful in balancing their robot on a seesaw bridge, Pendzich said. Winning teams had the fewest balls in their yard.

The game was a scaled-down version of some of the games at the FIRST Robotics Competition, and the room was packed with campers and their parents during the event. Campers laughed, called out and sometimes shook their heads as they first watched the robots during autonomous mode and then controlled the robots from laptops.

Demi Colon-Rios, 12, said she liked being able to program the robot to make it do what she wanted.

She has always liked robots and electronics, Colon-Rios said, and she and her father built a robot together when they lived in Georgia. She hopes to work on them more in the future.

Matthew Taylor, 13, said he decided to participate in the camp because he thought it would be a challenge and he wanted to earn the Robotics Merit Badge for Boy Scouts. “It was great,” he said.

He particularly liked it because the camp organizers focused on what campers could do with the robots, and not what they could not do, Taylor said.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Ryan Hunter said he and four other volunteers from the 485th helped build robots, supervise students and make sure everyone was operating safely.

Hunter said he was interested in volunteering for the camp because computers and technology are a hobby for him, and he was happy to help the campers learn about those subjects.

“It helps students develop teamwork skills and learn how to overcome obstacles,” Hunter said. “It’s a good outlet for learning and applying new skills.”

By Wendy Brown, USAG Wiesbaden

 From www.army.mil

Mission Possible: Adding Engineering to the K-12 Curriculum

Museum director's dream to teach young students engineering spurs effort to bring technological literacy to all, with support from NSF

The eighth-grade class buzzed when Ioannis (Yannis) Miaoulis, a young mechanical engineering professor at Tufts University, finished describing how he made superconducting materials in his lab. A girl who'd taken copious notes during the talk approached Miaoulis and asked if he would help with her science fair project. Before he could respond, her teacher took Miaoulis aside and told him not to waste his time with the girl. Three "science boys" in the class should receive attention.

Surprised by the teacher's actions, Miaoulis not only helped the girl with her project--which won the science fair that year--but committed himself to changing the climate and curriculum of science education. "The experience opened my eyes and got me totally engaged," says Miaoulis who went on to serve as dean of engineering at Tufts, and is currently the president and director of the Museum of Science in Boston.

Over the last 20 years Miaoulis has racked up countless frequent flyer miles jetting around the country and abroad describing the need to teach students about the human-made world as well as the natural world. "He is always on a mission," says colleague Wayne Bouchard, COO of the museum. Miaoulis's passion for education and engineering has created opportunities for both K-12 students and teachers. Over the years he has received numerous grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his research in thermal analysis of materials processing, as well as for education outreach programs. One of his first NSF grants--a Presidential Young Investigator award--provided considerable support for the foundation of what is becoming an international movement to teach engineering in K-12 settings.

"We started with a thematic approach, reconfiguring the local curriculum and creating a Cape Cod farmhouse that allowed K-8 students to experience different engineering processes that were grade level appropriate," explains Miaoulis.

A hands-on approach that helps students make connections between engineering concept and application permeates all of the education projects Miaoulis pursues. Some of his early teacher-training efforts showed teachers how to introduce technology to elementary and middle school students using two common technologies--bicycles and bathrooms. Other projects created hands-on museum exhibits and specifically targeted programs for young women.

While at Tufts, Miaoulis wanted to create a course that would engage students and highlight the principles of heat transfer in materials. He didn't need to look far for inspiration. A gourmet cook and native of Greece, Miaoulis developed "Gourmet Engineering"--essentially a class in which students learn about thermodynamics while creating delicious dishes. The course was an instant success, says Bouchard. Miaoulis also developed a class on fluid mechanics that explained the movement of fluids from a fish's perspective.

Although Miaoulis's efforts to introduce engineering in the K-12 curriculum gained steam through the 1990s, he knew that to make a real difference he would need to reach out not only to schools but to the general public and policy-makers. In 2001, because of his advocacy efforts, Massachusetts became the first state in the nation to develop a K-12 curriculum framework and assessments in the area of technology/engineering. "That was our first big victory," says Miaoulis. Though he was making progress, he needed partners to extend his vision and take it to a national level. But finding those willing to sign on was a challenge, he says, because the project was viewed by deans at other schools as a Tufts initiative.

When the director's position became available at the Museum of Science in 2003, Miaoulis knew he'd found the right platform for his cause. In just 10 years, Miaoulis has transformed the museum and in the process created a home for his engineering education efforts. The big engine driving this change is the National Center for Technology Literacy® (NCTL®). Established in 2004, the NCTL supports several initiatives promoting formal and informal engineering education.

NSF funds have played an integral role in helping these initiatives achieve one of Miaoulis's goals for the museum: Introducing engineering and technology to schools and at least one science center or informal education organization in every state by 2015.

- To promote elementary engineering curriculum development, NCTL has created Engineering is Elementary® which engages elementary school students through stories about children in different countries who face engineering design problems in their daily lives. Hands-on experiments help students solve the problem. The lessons foster reading skills and social studies awareness as well as science, technology, engineering and math concepts.

Since the program began in 2003-2004, the museum estimates it has reached nearly 3 million students and over 40,600 teachers in all 50 states. The program also includes a professional development component for teachers to familiarize them with the engineering concepts and story format.

- To heighten awareness about nanotechnology, NCTL developed a national nanoscale initiative--the Nanoscale Informal Science Education NetworkTM (NISE Net). Launched in 2005 with the Science Museum of Minnesota and San Francisco's Exploratorium, NISE Net brings together researchers and science museum educators to create activities that explain the world at the scale of atoms. It offers a range of activities such as NanoDays-a nationwide festival of activities celebrating advances in nanotechnology research, short plays like "Attack of the Nanoscientist" and museum exhibits such as the Nano mini-exhibition that explores the basics of nanoscience and engineering. NISE Net also conducts original research and evaluation of the network's impact on informal science education.

- To familiarize the public with current and future engineering technologies, the museum produced a traveling exhibition Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, created with Lucasfilm Ltd. Robots, virtual reality and other technologies introduced in the Star Wars movies come to life in this exhibit that allows visitors to discover parallels between these fantasy technologies and those used in the real world. Museums throughout the U.S. and Australia have hosted the exhibit.

The NCTL also advocates for curriculum change through state education bodies and policy makers. "We have to open the eyes of decision-makers that engineering is as important in people's lives as science," he says. Since its inception in 2004, the NCTL has helped create or add engineering and technology standards and assessments throughout the U.S.

The NCTL, for instance, has played a critical role in developing the National Assessment of Education Programs (NAEP) Technology and Engineering Literacy Framework of 2014. The framework lays the foundation for the first technology and engineering literacy assessment of students in the U.S. In 2013, a nationally-representative sample of eighth-graders will participate in a pilot to prepare for the 2014 assessment. The NAEP--run by the National Center for Education Statistics--assesses what U.S. students know in a range of subjects. "If we are assessing students' engineering knowledge, it may motivate states to introduce engineering into the schools. We have to use every trick to make it happen," says Miaoulis.

These and other efforts have not gone unnoticed in the international science community. A consortium led by the Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem in Israel and funded by the European Commission will use the Engineering Is Elementary® curriculum as a model to introduce engineering into European primary schools and science museums. The attention from international organizations is not surprising to Miaoulis who points out that "engineering literacy is a global issue. Many people are clueless about 98 percent of the world around them which is made by humans."

To drive the point home about the importance of engineering in everyday life, Miaoulis likes to ask listeners to look around the room and consider what it would be like if all of the human-made items were removed. He even suggests that the listener may not exist. He then reminds his listeners that engineers have created advances in drug production and sanitation processes to extend our life span.  For these reasons Miaoulis says "it's critical to introduce technology and engineering as a core discipline beginning in kindergarten."

Although his engineering initiative has made much progress Miaoulis says the biggest challenge is that "a lot of people still don't get it." They don't realize that the current science curriculum largely remains the same as it was in 1892 when a group of education leaders dubbed the "Committee of Ten" and led by Harvard University President Charles Eliot determined science education should include biology, chemistry, physics and earth science. Until the curriculum includes a balance of science and engineering, Miaoulis will continue to advocate for change.

The consequences of accepting the status quo are far reaching. Miaoulis notes that industry leaders such as Google, Intel and Lockheed Martin are clamoring for engineers. "You could outsource these jobs, but national defense and infrastructure projects require U.S. citizenship," he says. "American ingenuity is going to fade away if we lose our innovative knack."

For a boy who failed physics in high school, the determination he showed learning his subject and passing with the highest grade in the class the next semester created a drive he continues to put to use so others will benefit. "Kids should have the opportunity to see how interesting a subject is," Miaoulis says. He also notes that he's had a great life because of his choice of professions. "You only live once so you have to have fun."

-- Susan Reiss, (703) 536-4529 smreiss@verizon.net

NASA’s Family Welcomes Its Extended Families

To kick off a memorable summer, one would hope will never end, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., recently hosted a "Bring Your Family to Work Day" celebration to welcome employee families and student interns who will work here this summer. The day’s events allowed employees to share their excitement of working at NASA, and demonstrate technology developed here.

A bright and balmy summer’s day was the backdrop for NASA’s family day. Attended by approximately 1,000 guests, they strolled from exhibits to tour stops, which included the Ames Exploration Center, a Robonaut exhibit, the Ames Exploration Encounter (AEE) Center, a robotics laboratory and national research facilities. In addition, more than 3,500 guests and employees took a break from the tours, exhibits and work to share a bite of lunch at the free barbeque picnic, donated by the Ames Exchange Council, in the historic NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) Park.

“We had a fantastic event at Ames,” said Carolina Blake, acting deputy director of the New Ventures and Communications directorate. “It was great to see so many children and students and their families take advantage of such an outstanding opportunity to see what happens here in our workplace.”

NASA’s family day started 9 a.m. sharp in the Ames Exploration Center, where visitors and guests viewed high-definition videos on a 14-foot-by-36-foot screen in an immersive theater. Videos included Mars missions and simulated flights through the Milky Way and beyond. Education outreach specialist Cara Dodge was there to guide these arm-chair space travelers through the universe. Profiled against a red planet on a multiplex screen and in front of an audience of about 50 people, she asked: “Why is Mars red?”

“There’s iron oxide in its soil,” said an older gentleman in the audience.

“Very good,” said Dodge. “But does anyone know what is iron oxide?”

“It’s rust,” said Addyson Dasso, an eight-year-old who recently graduated from second grade at Wilkinson School in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

Many children and their families were captivated by images of space that moved them toward the sun and planets in our solar system, and far away to the very outer limits of the universe. To help make the experience even more real, small mockups of the Pioneer spacecraft, built at Ames, are displayed in the visitor center. In addition, an actual lunar sample from the moon’s Hadley-Apennine region is exhibited. Retrieved by the Apollo 15 crew, it is part of the 169 pound lunar sample they brought back from the moon.

Next stop was the Robonaut exhibit in the foyer of the main auditorium. Robonaut is a humanoid robotic development project. It is different from other NASA robots in that it is designed to move large objects with sophisticated dexterity. To highlight other work performed at Ames, the center now is producing a video series, called Destination Innovation, which was featured in the main auditorium for guests to view throughout the day.

Not far from the main auditorium is the newly renovated Ames Exploration Encounter (AEE) center. Located in a renovated six-foot-by-six-foot supersonic wind tunnel building, the facility provides a unique educational program to inspire positive attitudes about science, technology, engineering and math for students from 4th through 6th grade. Students are given an opportunity to operate rovers on a simulated lunar regolith and visit various stations on the International Space Station. Students experience science in action and soon realize its connection to their lives.

“There were several hundred people who toured our facility. For some kids, this may be the first time they had a positive experience learning about science and space, seeing things only talked about before,” said Daniel Likins, acting operations manager for the AEE.

Across the street from the AEE is the robotics laboratory, housed in building 246. It is a modified warehouse with equipment and materials used to build and operate robots designed to compete in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. For the last 14 years, NASA Ames mentored a robotics team called The Cheesy Poofs (Team 254), from Bellarmine College Preparatory School, San Jose, Calif. In 2011, it won the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) World Robotics Competition Championship Winning Alliance. Guests were given a demonstration of how robots work and allowed to maneuver a robot up and down a gymnasium-like court, while flexing its arm used for throwing and picking up objects.

As part of the NASA experience, employees and their guests also were invited to view the world’s largest vertical motion simulator, called the VMS. It has an unequaled range of motion, moving as much as 60 feet vertically and 40 feet horizontally. While the VMS offers much that is unique, two capabilities stand out. First, engineers can customize the system to simulate any aerospace vehicle, whether existing or in the design stage. Second, simulations occur with high fidelity; that is, the simulator reproduces the flight characteristics of the vehicle with a high degree of accuracy. The Space Shuttle Program used it to train the astronauts to fly the space shuttle.

After a long and stimulating day of fun and excitement, it truly became a day many wished that summer could always be here.

“It was incredible day! We are deeply appreciative all those that contributed their time and efforts to making this event so successful,” said Blake.

Ruth Marlaire

Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

650.604.4789

ruth.marlaire@nasa.gov

STARBASE Wisconsin seeks to build on early success

By 1st Sgt. Vaughn R. Larson

Wisconsin National Guard

Two months after the first class of Milwaukee fifth-grade students entered a hands-on environment for science, technology, engineering and math, officials cut the ribbon for the Department of Defense-funded education initiative, STARBASE Wisconsin.

Administered by the Wisconsin Air National Guard and based at the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Milwaukee, STARBASE Wisconsin provides 25 hours of interactive learning over the course of five weeks. Dr. Charisse Sekyi (pronounced SAYchee), STARBASE Wisconsin director, said the academic outreach program has exceeded her expectations.

"The activities are so engaging," Sekyi said. "It's such a rich curriculum, but it's very rigorous so there's some work that we have to do to meet the kids where they are and bring them up to where the curriculum is."

STARBASE is an acronym for Science and Technology Academies Reinforcing Basic Aviation and Space Exploration. The program began in Michigan - a collaboration between an elementary teacher and the Michigan National Guard - and was adopted by the Department of Defense to address the need to raise the interest and improve student knowledge and skill in science, technology, engineering and math. Sekyi said teachers and school principals have told her that no similar program is offered in Milwaukee schools.

"A lot of elementary science education is not hands-on - it's paper-pencil-book," she said. "To be able to bring this level of activity down to the elementary level is really phenomenal."

Reginald Lawrence of the Milwaukee Public School system said the district is excited to be part of STARBASE Wisconsin.

"In school, kids don't always get a chance to do hands-on activity," Lawrence explained. "This is going to be a great opportunity for them to experience science, technology, engineering and math in a fun, hands-on way."

Mary Staton, MPS science curriculum specialist, agreed.

"We in science education plan a curriculum from the textbook, identify the work that students will do in science, but one of the biggest pieces is having a community to support that work," Staton said. "The curriculum runs directly with the work we're doing in science. Our fifth-graders will be able to build on those concepts through STARBASE. They'll also be able to have an application of the science, which is sometimes something we miss in our classroom. We can do it here at STARBASE."

Brig. Gen. John McCoy, commander of the Wisconsin Air National Guard, said STARBASE Wisconsin has enjoyed early success.

"The buzz in the room when they're here is just so exciting to watch," McCoy said. "To actually be able to talk about something and then step aside and actually do it and see the results … that's what this is all about."

Maj. Gen. Don Dunbar, adjutant general of Wisconsin, joked that the purpose of this program was not to recruit fifth graders into the military. However, he noted that many people seeking to enter the Wisconsin National Guard today lack the skills and knowledge required, relaying that one of the program's goals is to help fire the imagination of young students and help them develop technical skills for civilian and military opportunities.

"Our standards are incredibly high," Dunbar said. "If you wear this uniform, you have to be somebody special. So a chance for us to do something in partnership with the Milwaukee School District and in partnership with the community here in Milwaukee, and we're very excited about it.

"We won't solve all the problems with this little class," Dunbar continued, but we're going to solve some."

Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch echoed Dunbar's sentiments.

"Wisconsin's economy is based on the bright young minds that we are raising up through programs like STARBASE," she said. "What you are doing here is raising our next generation of manufacturing leaders as well as military leaders. What you are doing here is assuring that Wisconsin's economy and the protection of our United States of America and the great state of Wisconsin will continue in the hands of today's youngsters." 

Students learn basic robotics programming, Newton's laws of motion, molecules, mapping and navigation with GPS, conduct physics experiments, work with 3-D computer-aided design software, and interact with civilian and military professionals. Since opening in April, STARBASE Wisconsin has worked with 146 students from seven schools. They will serve 1,500 students annually beginning this fall - a significant portion of the estimated 5,000 fifth-grade students in MPS. In addition, STARBASE Wisconsin's location puts the program in proximity to 17 elementary schools.

"We're a small program, but we have a huge mission," Sekyi said, "to motivate, inspire and nurture the intellectual capacity of our national treasure - our youth, Milwaukee's future innovators."

Areial Dubai, STARBASE Wisconsin office manager, said the program has made a positive impact on students.

"They love STARBASE - there's nothing boring about it," she said. "The teachers have said that kids who miss school never miss the day they have to go to STARBASE. They also get to school on time the day they have to go to STARBASE. The kids, to me, are little pieces of success."