STEM Summer Camp: Be an Engineer!
In this three week camp, students will meet twice per week to learn and participate in STEM Engineering Design Challenges based on the Engineering Design Loop.
Susan Laforet, M.Ed Curriculum and Instruction
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:(165)
Star Educator
What's included
6 live meetings
5 in-class hoursMastery Evaluation
1-2 hours per week. After a mini-challenge during the class time, students will be presented with a design challenge. We will brainstorm possible solutions and students will have a plan before class ends. They will complete the challenge on their own prior to the next class.Grading
Certificate of Completion provided at the end of the course.Class Experience
Beginner - Intermediate Level
Each lesson in this camp will guide students through the engineering design process, using the same steps professional engineers use in the real world. They will work on part of the challenge together in class, and then finish it on their own, upload pictures or video and be prepared to share with camp mates at the beginning of the next lesson. Week 1: Lesson 1: The Mission: Your engineering firm has been hired by the city to find a way for a threatened population of turtles to cross a road without being run over. Can you design a pathway or bridge for the turtles to get safely from one side of the road to the other? Lesson 2: The Mission: You are a Mechanical Engineer working in the toy development department of a major toy company. They are in the process of designing a new target game and have asked for your input. Your challenge is to design, build, and test a toy catapult that will hit a target with accuracy and precision. Week 2: Lesson 3: The Mission: You’re a team of engineers given the challenge of designing and building a chair lift out of everyday materials. The chair lift must carry a ping pong ball up a rope/wire line from the valley to the mountain and back down from the mountain to the valley without the ball falling out of the chair Lesson 4:The Mission: Design and build a transportation system to move heavy materials from one place to another. The catch is that you will be traveling back in time a few thousand years! You have been hired as a lead engineer in ancient times to arrange the transportation of stone for a huge project — the building of an amazing pyramid! Week 3: Lesson 5: Lesson 6: The Mission: The World Relief Organization has asked for your help in designing efficient ovens using renewable energy for remote villages in Africa. There is no electricity in these areas, and villagers have been cooking over open flames, which creates more carbon emissions and is sometimes difficult due to a lack of firewood. Can you create an efficient solar oven for the villagers to use? Lesson 6: This challenge will combine all of the engineering skills and concepts we have learned to build a Tower to the Moon!
Learning Goals
Students will learn about the engineering design loop and use the process to solve a series of design challenges.
Syllabus
Curriculum
Follows Teacher-Created CurriculumStandards
Aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)6 Lessons
over 3 WeeksLesson 1:
Turtle Crossing
After an introduction to the Engineering Design Process, students will work as environmental engineers to create a safe passage for turtles to cross a busy road. We will work together during the class to research possible challenge solutions, then engineers will work outside class to build and test their solutions before the next class. 50 mins online live lesson
Lesson 2:
Hit the Target
We being by learning what a mechanical engineer does and explore the concepts of potential and kinetic energy. Students are challenged to build a prototype of a new toy that will hit a target accurately. We will conduct research and brainstorm possible solutions during class. Students will complete the challenge on their own prior to the next class and be ready to share their results. 50 mins online live lesson
Lesson 3:
The Chair Lift Challenge
This session will focus on transportation engineering using the principals of mechanical engineering learned in the previous class. After conducting research and brainstorming as a class, students will design a chair lift to specifications. They will build and test the chair lift on their own prior to the next class and be ready to share results. 50 mins online live lesson
Lesson 4:
Move it Along
In this challenge, we will travel back to the time of the Pharaohs and the construction of the giant pyramids. Students will use the principles of force and motion to design a conveyor system to move giant blocks of stone from one place to another. We will conduct research and brainstorm in class and then students will build and test their transportation systems prior to the next class. 50 mins online live lesson
Other Details
Parental Guidance
Lessons will be presented through Nearpod. All You Tube videos are either teacher created or pre-screened and will be presented from the teacher's computer. Review games with Kahoot may be used to reinforce scientific and design principles.
Supply List
For a complete supply list, follow this link https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DJ2VXTe2m8-gyMG9VljfDflC2SBmP0xR/view?usp=sharing
Joined July, 2021
4.9
165reviews
Star Educator
Teacher expertise and credentials
Texas Teaching Certificate in Elementary Education
Master's Degree from Grand Canyon University
I have been sharing my love of science and math with elementary students in public schools for over 26 years. I served most of that time in the classroom and then moved into Instructional Coaching to help other teachers improve their practice in those areas. I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction.
Science classes with Ms. Susan are fun, engaging, and hands on, with an inquiry approach in everything we do. My goal is to latch on to the natural curiosity children have about the world around them and use that to explore science and math concepts in a rich and meaningful way. I believe in teaching in ways that children learn, using strategies and activities that foster a love of learning. As a retired teacher, I am not bound by district or state policies and I am able to use fun, creative lessons to instill the academics that children need to master, not the ones they need to pass state assessments.
One of my favorite quotes from Carl Sagan sums up my approach to science education - "Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge." In Ms. Susan's Super Science and Math classes, students will be challenged to think!
When I'm not teaching, I enjoy nurturing butterflies in the garden and baking with my grandchildren.Reviews
Live Group Course
$17
weekly or $50 for 6 classes2x per week, 3 weeks
50 min
Completed by 21 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 8-12
1-8 learners per class
