In celebration of Engineers Week, Northeastern University Center for STEM Education hosted a variety of activities and events for aspiring K-12 students interested in the STEM field. During the week, the students learned about engineering through a variety of activities, experiments, and demonstrations.
Eye on the future.
Day 1- Tuesday February 20, 2018: 25 fourth, fifth, and sixth graders from various schools around the greater Boston area visited campus today to learn a little more about engineering through the Intro to Engineering videos. They also did the paper rockets activity and egg drop to expand their mechanical engineering knowledge. Next up, the students performed an Industrial engineering activity.
Day 2- Wednesday, February 21, 2018: Today, the children explored chemical engineering, bioengineering, and electrical/ computer engineering. In the morning, they had the chance to visit some on campus sites, including Egan Engineering/ Science Research Center. Professor Marilyn Minus from the mechanical and industrial department at Northeastern lead an activity on nanoscale coding. Next, along with IEEE, they performed a snap circuits activity. The kids also visited Yongmin Lui’s lab to look at his robotic arm and participated in Kaushik Chowdhury’s (ECE) egg hunt activity which uses an app to find virtual “eggs” around campus. In the afternoon, the students visited the Egan Engineering/ Science Research Center for games & activities such as Nitrogen Ice Cream, DIY Lava Lamp, DIY Slime, Elephant toothpaste, and an Interactive lab tour.
Learning about Civil Engineering.
A student learns more about the robotic arm.
Day 3- Thursday, February 22, 2018- The next two engineering disciplines covered were Civil and Environmental Engineering. The students first learned about Civil Engineering by visiting the earthquake shake table where students had the opportunity to see what an earthquake simulation looks like. Later in the day, they completed the Who Polluted the Charles River/ Water Filters activities along with the Wind Turbines. The students then visited the First-Year Learning Center for a tour of projects completed by first-year engineering students such a Arduino robots. Also, they had the chance to see and experience the different mechanical components offer to first year students such as 3D-printers. In the afternoon, the kids completed the snap circuits activity and a movie about engineering was played.
A volunteer helps set up a snap circuit design.
Building structures to be tested out on the shake table in the Earthquake Lab.
Day 4- Friday, February 23, 2018- During the last day of the program, the students learned about the history of engineering shown by a transportation timeline. The Engineering for Everyone Expo occurred in the afternoon with tables from various student groups, including Water Filters from STEMout and Making Oobleck from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
