- NSF Award #1239995
- Registration Current Noyce Scholar
- First Name Maria
- Last Name Bryan
- Institution Xavier Unviersity
Abstract
In summer 2016, four STEM-major college students created a STEM camp for kids aged 9-14. Students were broken up into teams, whose task was to design an obstacle course. The obstacle course was used to see which invertebrates (such as hissing cockroaches, super worms, and hermit crabs) would complete the course quickest.
The interns supplemented this engineering task throughout the week with other STEM based lesson plans. The lessons included anatomy, physics, chemistry, and math. At the end of the week, the campers held a ‘Bug Olympics’ where they watched their creatures race for the gold medal.
Through the vigorous activities that accompanied the camp, such as lesson planning and working with the kids, I committed to being a high school chemistry teacher. The camp mirrored situations in which a teacher may have in her classroom. Due to this, the mentors of Xavier University taught me skills in classroom management, lesson planning, and collaboration with outside resources.
