Whether it’s a Saturday during the busy holiday shopping season or the week between Christmas and New Year’s, MU College of Engineering has fun and challenging sessions for students 6 through 18. Through hands-on, problem-solving activities, they will learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
“We’ve expanded our offerings to meet student and parental interest,” said Jack Samuelson, coordinator for engineering outreach. “Some students are back for their fourth or fifth time, so we’re always developing new programs to maintain their interest in STEM. We also try to reach out to younger audiences through the utilization of new teaching materials, such as the LEGO WeDo.” Samuelson suggested the academies, which are also offered in spring and summer, as a gift for students.
For the youngest children, ages 6-10, there’s an introduction to robotics Dec. 5 and 12 using the new LEGO WeDo system. This system uses real robots to teach problem-solving skills in the areas of science, technology, math and language. Children ages 8-16 can experiment with catapults in a mechanical engineering session Dec. 19. They’ll build and take home three different types of catapults — trebuchet, mousetrap and pneumation.
Middle and high school students ages 12-18 have their choice of two robotics sessions over the Christmas break. The all-day session on Dec. 28 will introduce students to robotics using the NXT generation of LEGO Mindstorms. The following two days is a new sumo-wrestling style competition using the Mindstorms NXT. Also on Dec. 29 is a new academy that will help prepare students for the FIRST Robotics competition, which will be held at the U.S. Cellular Arena March 11-13.
More detailed information and registration form are available online at http://tinyurl.com/MUEng-Fall2009. Or call Lori Stempski at 288-6720.
