MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- STARBASE Maxwell conducted a summer STEM program here from June 10, 2024, to July 25, 2024.
The program ran six sessions with three four-day classes per session, and each class taught STEM concepts to 18 children per class for a grand total of 303 participating students through the entirety of the program. The program taught three subject cores consisting of robotics, engineering, and a combination of virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence.
The engineering design camp touched on several engineering disciplines, include environmental engineering, structural engineering, and the engineering design process.
The scenario presented to the students was that they were new employees of a Mars exploration company, and had to design living quarters, infrastructure, and other needed items for their stay on Mars. Additionally, they had to design a product using computer-aided drafting and AI and pitch it to their instructors in a Shark Tank-style business proposal.
“We saw everything from sports watches designed to work in Martian gravity, to space suits with customized coloring,” said Ted Welch, STARBASE Director.
The students, whose ages ranged from 9-14 years old, were allotted a hypothetical budget for their structural designs and had to made shrewd decisions when purchasing supplies for their designs from their instructors, and sometimes had to alter or re-think their concepts to stay on-budget.
“If you tell the kids they are going to learn math, they aren’t always excited to hear that. We taught them math in kind of a sneaky way, by making them choose what supplies they could and couldn’t afford for their designs and having them stay in their budget,” said Welch.
After completing their structural engineering projects with various building materials, the designs would be tested on a shake table to simulate an earthquake. If the design fails, it’s ok.
“That’s part of it…scientists and engineers always fail. That’s just part of the process of fixing flaws in the design,” said Welch.
For the robotics program the students programmed Sphero Bolt robots to navigate obstacles and mazes in their simulated Martian environment. They would have to measure on a large map, distances, and turning angles, etc., and through another trial-and-error process write code for their robots to navigate their way to the end of the course.
“It’s rulers and protractors…if the robot wouldn’t make a turn correctly, or stopped short, they just go out and re-measure the distances and angles and reprogram the robot,” said Welch.
“It’s great to see the kids getting to be hands-on while applying the STEM concepts they’ve learned, while also learning teamwork and having a lot of fun,” said Welch.
The STEM summer program is free, and registration for the 2025 session will begin around February of 2025. Learn more by visiting www.starbasemaxwell.org/summer-programs.