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Science of STEM
Photo
Miles Spearman deposits the sample of bacteria he collected from the door handle to the men’s restroom inside Beeghly College of Education at Youngstown State University during the STEM Explore event last week. STEM Explore is a collaboration between YSU’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and education colleges. Sixth- through eighth graders interested in STEM got the opportunity to learn more about the fields of study.
YSU program lets students explore
By Denise Dick
Youngstown
Future engineer Jacob Stanko, 11, dabbed a cotton swab on the handle to the men’s restroom on the second floor of the Beeghly College of Education building at Youngstown State University.
Jacob, a sixth-grader at Campbell Middle School, is one of 25 aspiring scientists, technology experts, engineers and mathematicians participating in YSU’s first STEM Explore program, which runs through this week.
“I really like it,” he said.
Math is his favorite subject in school.
“I want to be an engineer when I grow up,” Jacob said.
STEM Explore is a collaboration between YSU’s STEM and Beeghly Education colleges.
The idea was to invite students who are interested in STEM and expose them to a broad array of what that includes.
“Some students don’t know what STEM is,” said Kate Cripe, a professor in the education department. By showing students at a young age many areas of STEM it gets them interested in the subjects and thinking about careers in the field, she said.
Cripe; Bobby Korenic, assistant civil and construction engineering technology professor; Sherri Lovelace-Cameron, assistant chemistry professor; Martin Abraham, STEM College dean; and Mary Lou DiPillo, former interim Beeghly College of Education dean, came up with the idea for the program.
This year, the two colleges funded it, but Cripe said the professors have written a grant in the hopes of securing funding to continue it next year.
The three professors developed the activities, and Korenic and Cripe said several professors are participating in the demonstrations and events.
Cripe said it couldn’t happen without the help of six recent graduates from the education college: Nicole Lariccia, Megan Christie, Victoria Cook, Walter Baber, Ashley Teagarden and Nate Wilson.
The middle-schoolers spent part of Thursday morning collecting bacteria around campus. They swabbed their hands and inside their mouths and high-traffic areas within campus buildings.
Besides the handle to the men’s restroom in Beeghly, Jacob’s group also collected samples from the women’s restroom, a railing and a button in one of the elevators.
They deposited the samples in petri dishes and will watch as bacteria grows through the week to see which area proves the dirtiest.
“I think the boys’ bathroom will have the most bacteria,” said Adie Cortes, 11, and a sixth-grader at Campbell Middle.
Activities stretch across many STEM fields including medicine, astronomy, forensics, geography, physical therapy, biology, energy and meteorology.
Adie said she’s enjoying STEM Explore and her favorite activity so far was the YSU Planetarium.
“We talked about the constellations and the stars and how stars blow up and how stars are created,” she said.