Roller coasters, climate change, rockets, robots, invasive species, and drones are just some of the topics K-12 students immersed themselves in as part of summer programming through Clarkson’s Institute for STEM Education. All programs were supported by Clarkson students, created by CU faculty and staff, and implemented via strong partnerships with local teachers.
CU undergraduate intern Alexandra Brenton instructs Team Survival Science students in creating a range of model campfires out of edible materials.
Dr. Mary Margaret Small spearheaded nine unique camps for students in grades 1 through 8. Clarkson students mentors visited Massena Central School’s Raider Academy for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Aerospace concepts were tested with straw rockets and then “real” rockets streaked across the sky. Load bearing towers challenged students’ understanding of design and civil engineering concepts. The effects of combining different substances led to explosions of elephant toothpaste and balloons being blown up from chemical reactions.
Can you balance a robot on your nose? Or launch a rocket ship with your breath? The students at Heuvelton Central School’s STEM camp could. They also explored chemical reactions by writing notes with invisible ink and making bouncy balls. There was a competition to see whose ball could bounce the highest. Climbing robots tested the students’ ability to have them “walk” up the walls. Students built anemometers and gathered data about wind speeds around their school. They even caught magnetic fish in a special pond and got to take their catches home. Plant science was explored as students grew flowers and vegetables in two different media- peat pots and water with nutrients, measured their growth, and compared the data.
CU student mentors led two robotics camps at Lafargeville Central School, teaching design and programming principles to build, and program unique robots using UB Tech industry- based materials. The high school students used the advanced UB Tech materials to learn C++ programming.
For the 12th year Dr. Small provided STEM Day camps through the Extended Day partnership with St Lawrence BOCES, students in three local districts enjoyed thematic activities in aerospace, chemistry, and physics.They calculated the angle and force required to land a straw rocket on a designated target, collected data and determined the optimal settings. Combining different substances exploded elephant toothpaste and inflated a balloon in a “no hands” experiment. Students were challenged to design a vehicle that converted potential energy to kinetic energy and win the Grand Prix trophy. And, of course, there was slime! Lots and lots of slime made with different formulas.
This summer, Clarkson University’s Horizons Program successfully closed its 35th program year with 90+ students entering 7th-12th grade attending the camp. The Horizons Program is directed by Dr. Melissa Richards and participants are taught by a diverse staff of educators and are mentored by program assistants who are undergraduate or graduate college students who excel in STEAM disciplines.This was the first year the program resumed full operations after the impacts of COVID-19. The idea of Horizons was conceptualized in 1986 in order to inspire and create more access for demographics typically underrepresented in STEM. Our aim is to provide tools to help our participants excel in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics) fields and to attend college well prepared to pursue employment or advanced degrees and eventually assume leadership roles in STEAM.
The program is composed of three levels: Horizons I (rising 7th-9th graders), Horizons II (rising 8th-10th graders), & Horizons III (rising 10th-12th graders). This summer, Horizons I participants were challenged to address the United Nation Sustainable Development Goal #6: which is “ensuring access to clean water and sanitation for all.” The participants collaborated in teams to propose a feasible plan on how this issue could potentially be addressed while taking classes like Forensic Science, Water Science, and Statistical Mathematics.
Horizons II attendees tackled on UN Sustainable Development Goal #13: “Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.” Courses and workshops such as Engineering & Sustainability and Wilderness Survival were offered to aid their understanding of the project theme. This year, Horizons II was provided the opportunity to participate in an immersive environmental engineering curriculum where they visited the nearby Bowdish Property in Lisbon. The students were able to conduct forest inventory work and learn about topics like carbon capture and sequestration. They were also able to go turtle-seeing as the property is also a successful home to the endangered Blanding’s turtle.
Horizons-III students were issued a natural disaster scenario in which emergency disaster aid was crucially needed. The students collaborated as a team as subunits of various types of civilian consultants for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to propose an economic and effective solution. While undertaking their tasks, Horizons III participants took courses such as Negotiation, Public Speaking, and Ideation.
This year marked the 17th Clarkson University Roller Coaster Camp, funded by a New York State Education Department Science Technology Entry Program (NYSED STEP) grant that supports a full year academic program for 7-12th grade students to support and inspire them on a pathway to STEM college majors. New this year was a satellite camp in Beacon, NY and another hosted by the Saratoga Innovation Center providing hands-on STEM activities for over 60 students all together. Between the three camps, students learned about the math and physics behind roller coasters, experienced the scientific method through authentic research experiments, designed their own rides that were thrilling and safe, created virtual simulations of coasters and amusement parks, and collected data at Six Flags Great Escape. The Potsdam camp was supported by two CU graduate students, six undergraduate students and teachers from Beacon Central School District, Harrisville, Brasher Falls, Heuvelton, Malone, Ogdensburg, and Gouverneur. Faculty from the Institute for STEM Education, the School of Health Sciences, and the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences all helped judge a research project showcase at the end of the week. Potsdam campers were invited back to campus at the end of July for a CU student research poster presentation and to hear Malone students pitch their solutions to an open ended problem in collaboration with German students from the Universitat Siegan.
CU Mathematics Graduate Student Freddie Amoah-Darko with Beacon High School students at IMPETUS Roller Coaster camp at Six Flags Great Escape.
At Beacon, three Clarkson undergraduate summer interns helped to develop and deliver three programs from May-August. They include the 5th annual TEAM Survival Science at Denning’s Point, 2nd annual Horizons at Peekskill, and the first IMPETUS Roller Coaster camp at Beacon High School.
Serving 50+ Hudson Valley middle and high school students across 6 weeks, Clarkson’s STEM Ed summer outreach programs at Beacon receive sponsorship from 3 public school districts, including Beacon, Newburgh, and Peekskill, as well as support from NYSED. Each program is thus free for families, creating fewer barriers to attendance for students from backgrounds currently underrepresented in STEM fields.
TEAM students explore the Hudson River on a boat tour with Tony Shenderovich, Beatrice G. Donofrio Environmental Education Fellow at Clarkson’s Beacon Institute.
At TEAM Science, students beat the heat wave by getting in the Hudson River to seine for fish and remove invasive plant species. Horizons at Peekskill provided 30 hours of drone pilot training to young enthusiasts, who learned about FAA flight rules along with the myriad career opportunities in the drone industry.
Project WHIRL students taking part in a guided paddle on the hunt for local invasives (organized by the Nature Conservancy’s SLELO Prism)
Project WHIRL (Protectors of the Watershed in the Indian River Lakes) successfully completed its second summer. High School student’s from Ogdensburg Free Academy, with help from Clarkson undergrad mentors Victoria York, Katie Bonk, and Cheilidh Kiegle, and an amazing high school teacher from Free Academy Lisa Beldock, completed a 9 week crash course to apply math & stats to problems associated with managing local invasive species. The credit-bearing program, developed by Diana White (Clarkson Mathematics), the Indian River Lakes Conservancy, and Michael Twiss (Clarkson Biology), involved collecting data from local lakes to use as inputs into a predictive model for biocontrol efficacy to control invasive watermilfoil (the most invasive aquatic plant in the US!). Aside from collecting data and learning about modeling, students also partook in experiential field trips with members of the Nature Conservancy (SLELO Prism) and SUNY ESF’s John Farell, where students paddled through the grass river identifying both aquatic and terrestrial invasives, and performed seining at the Thousand Islands Biological Station.
This year’s success was due to the extensive planning of many individuals. Special thanks to the participants and their families, the area guidance counselors and educators, and the St Lawrence Lewis BOCES. Many thanks to the Clarkson University Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office, Clarkson University Community of Underrepresented Professional Opportunities (CUPO), Clarkson’s Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), Leigha Burkhalter, Marcy Bennett, University Marketing staff, Dining Services, Facilities, and Residential staff for their logistical support. Furthermore, this year’s instructors, Dr. Taeyoung Kim, Sara Morrison, Mohammed Hassan, Dr. Alex Cohen, Maddalena LoDico, Abrahm DiMarco, Ashley Sweeney, Horizons program assistants and our undergraduate program coordinators Eric Zheng, Vivian Fernandez, and Kevin Ho without whom this program would not have been possible.