On Monday December 12, K-5 Delran families and STEM enthusiasts enjoyed an educational evening of fun in the FabLab at Delran High School, led Mrs. Hutchinson and Mrs. DeMichele, DelranSTEM teachers Mr. DeLoche and Mr. Maraldo, and our DHS STEMbassadors.
The evening began with a read-aloud of the book Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty, of which each family received a copy to keep. Beaty is the author of many other high-interest STEAM story books as well. The books help demonstrate the six step Engineering Design Process for children: Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, Experiment, Improve, and that it can take many tries when we are creating and problem-solving. "I loved that you said 'you have to try more than one time for things to work. It doesn't always work the first time.' It allowed my son to know that he doesn't have to get frustrated if what he was creating didn't work the first time!" noted Victoria Spulock, parent of a fifth-grade participant.
Next, each participant received a Lego kit and was challenged to build their own design to finish an amusement park ride. Students first were guided to build a model base and then challenged with how to finish the ride. See some of their creations in motion and how they support the engineering design process on our Instagram!
In the final hands-on activity of the evening, participants learned about circuitry to light an LED on top of a robot’s head. This electrical engineering activity involved circuits, copper tape, and batteries and was a little challenging. Throughout the activities, our STEMbassadors helped families. "It was amazing watching all the kids engage with both mechanical and electrical engineering. They overcame so many challenges and many of them were successful in lighting up their robot," commented Samantha Dix, one of our high school STEMbassadors. More photos of our robot creations are on our Instagram page.
To conclude the evening, Delran Alumna Julia Ma spoke about her software engineering career at Lockheed and the path she took towards that career by chronicling her experiences at DHS, college, internships, and explained her position. Additionally, Emmanuel was in attendance to tell us about his position as a Communications Engineer. It was very informative to hear the pathways towards careers in STEM from Lockheed Martin. Each family received a copy of "Rosie Revere, Engineer" as well as a Lego Education Personal Learning kit: Essential 102-piece kit to keep creating at home.
Would you like to attend a family night in the future? Our events page details upcoming events and registration information.