{"id":127819,"date":"2017-07-24T10:23:55","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T14:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=127819"},"modified":"2017-07-25T13:51:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-25T17:51:37","slug":"new-program-immerses-teens-stem-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2017\/07\/new-program-immerses-teens-stem-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"New Program Immerses Teens in STEM Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wolff-Zackin Natatorium\u00a0at UConn\u00a0is a hive of activity. Girls from junior high through high school sit at the pool\u2019s edge, some dangling their feet in the water, all focused intently on operating underwater robots using\u00a0the remote controls in their hands.<\/p>\n

They are participants\u00a0in the Engineering Diversity and Outreach Center<\/a>\u2019s new\u00a0SPARK engineering camp<\/a> for girls, and they built the robots themselves.<\/p>\n

“At first I was like ‘I\u2019m going to make that robot?’ But I did it and I\u2019m proud of myself,\u201d says Monica Robinson, a student from Glastonbury who was poolside.\u00a0\u201cIt was overwhelming at first, but I didn\u2019t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Keerthi Kongani, 13, of Orange, makes an adjustment to her underwater remotely operated vehicle at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium during the SPARK camp for girls on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a123\"<\/a>
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Wendy Zhang, 14, of Woodbridge, operates her underwater remotely operated vehicle at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium during the SPARK camp for girls on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a083\"<\/a>
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Xiyue Chen, 13, of Storrs, operates her underwater remotely operated vehicle at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium during the SPARK camp for girls on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a043\"<\/a>
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Skylar Dodge, 11, of Woodstock, adjusts the buoyancy of her underwater remotely operated vehicle at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium during the SPARK camp for girls on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a014\"<\/a>
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Skylar Dodge, 11, of Woodstock, adjusts the buoyancy of her underwater remotely operated vehicle at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium during the SPARK camp for girls on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a070\"<\/a>
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Emily Brown, 14, of Glastonbury, right, and other girls operate their underwater remotely operated vehicles at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium during the SPARK camp for girls on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a039\"<\/a>
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An underwater remotely operated vehicle is piloted though a hoop by a SPARK camp for girls participant at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a126\"<\/a>
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A pair of underwater remotely operated vehicles built and operated by SPARK camp for girls participants underwater at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a245\"<\/a>
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Thea West, 12, of West Cornwall, seen from underwater while operating her underwater remotely operated vehicle at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium during the SPARK camp for girls on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a251\"<\/a>
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SPARK camp for girls participants build underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and tested them at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a248\"<\/a>
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Ellie Sanders, 12, of West Cornwall, seen from underwater while operating her underwater remotely operated vehicle at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium during the SPARK camp for girls on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div>\"ROV170719a138\"<\/a>
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Keerthi Kongani, 13, of Orange , left, and Wendy Zhang, 14, of Woodbridge, react after their underwater remotely operated vehicles collide underwater at the Wolff-Zackin Natatorium during the SPARK camp for girls on July 19, 2017. (Peter Morenus\/UConn Photo)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

The camp, launched this summer, comprises three, week-long sessions where teens are challenged by creative\u00a0STEM experiments. It is the outreach center’s mission to develop\u00a0efforts such as this, that are aimed at increasing student diversity within engineering and other STEM fields.<\/p>\n

Programs like these strive to help close the gender gaps that exists in some STEM disciplines, such as engineering and computer science. According to the camp’s\u00a0website, the presence of women in computer science is now half of what it was in the mid-1980s. The site also notes that the world\u00a0benefits from a diverse workforce, and cites women’s accomplishments in STEM\u00a0fields, including practical innovations such as safer airbags in cars.<\/p>\n

The SPARK camp also capitalizes on the fact that research has shown girls learn better if they are taught by women. That’s why the participants are taught and mentored by female undergraduate students. And there is evidence that building these skills early, ideally as early as junior high, is important for keeping girls in STEM fields.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our new initiative to reach out to younger female students and promote engineering topics and introduce them to different engineering disciplines,” says Callie Robinson ’19 (ENG), a UConn junior in computer science and engineering, who began the camp with classmate Ashley Leung ’19 (ENG), and Kevin McLaughlin, director of the Engineering Diversity and Outreach Center.<\/p>\n

Each week of the new program focused on a different subject area: Week one\u00a0covered computer coding skills; week two, robotics; and week three, 3-D printing. Participants could join one, two, or even all three sessions.<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s development was a learning experience for its creator, too.<\/p>\n

Robinson says it was difficult at first to get the word out to teens, given that the camp is new. Existing connections with teachers in some underserved areas of the state helped with outreach. The Engineering Diversity and Outreach Center also offered fellowships, which allowed anyone to consider the camp, regardless of their financial circumstances.\u00a0Other assistance came in the form of robot kits containing motors and PVC pipes, donated by the\u00a0SeaPerch program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a challenge to start up a program like this,” Robinson says. “We\u2019re all undergraduates, and we’re learning a lot as we run it.”<\/p>\n

She notes that her own experience as a student in another program run by the Engineering Diversity and Outreach Center, the BRIDGE program<\/a>, ignited her enthusiasm and desire to spearhead the new camp. \u201cAs an incoming student, the BRIDGE program was an amazing, vigorous, program that was a great way to get connected with the professors. It made a big impact for me. I know these diversity and outreach programs have really made an impact on other students too, they can really redirect someone\u2019s life.”<\/p>\n

There’s clearly a strong sense of community among the camp’s participants and the group leaders. The leaders help, as the girls tweak and make adjustments to their robots and troubleshoot everything from buoyancy issues to Super Glue mishaps.<\/p>\n

Before competing, the girls have a chance to perfect their robots, and this involves a lot of trial and error.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like what engineering is all about: find the problems and fix them,\u201d explains Wendy Zhang, a student from Woodbridge, who says she hopes to participate in the camp again in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d love it to go forward again next year,” says Robinson. “We want it to continue to grow in numbers like our other programs have. I see a bright future for this program.\u201d<\/p>\n

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