On April 19 we went to the Clayton High School for the first ever STEM day. STEM stands for: Science Technology Engineering and Mathmatics.
We were broken up into two groups: group A and group B. Group A did Lego Mindstorms first until lunch. In the Lego Mindstorms we got a kit with Legos and a instruction manual and we built a robot with a partner. After we built the robot, we hooked it up to the computer and programmed it to do what ever we wanted it to do like do a 360 degree turn, respond to noise, or turn around when it made contact with a wall!
Group B first went to the gym and they did many engineering challenges. One challenge was to build something to launch a cotton ball. Once we built them, we competed to see who could launch the cotton ball the farthest. You were given a certain amount of time and certain materials. Then there was another challenge to make something out of paper that would hold a big textbook. We were supposed to try to use the least amount of paper and tape. This challenge was supposed to simulate being a real engineer in that we had limited funds, could only use certain materials, and were on a budget. It was amazing how much paper and tape could hold. At lunch the groups switched so each group got to do everything.
By Emma
