Valley 6th through 8th-graders explore STEM at YSU

YOUNGSTOWN

They learned precision and accuracy by shooting basketballs, honed measuring skills by throwing a Frisbee and used Pringles cans to create solar ovens.

Thirty-five sixth- through eighth-graders from throughout the Mahoning Valley are participating this week in the third STEM Explore program at Youngstown State University. It’s a collaboration between YSU’s STEM College and Beeghly College of Education.

“I really like science so I was really interested,” Olivia DeSantis, 12, a seventh-grader at St. Nicholas School in Struthers, said of why she signed up for the program.

Kathleen Cripe, professor of teacher education, and Robert Korenic, assistant professor in civil and construction engineering technology, two of the program’s coordinators, said new activities were added this year and some activities continued from the program’s previous years.

The crime scene condo was new this year where students learned about analyzing a crime scene, gathering fingerprints and examining blood spatter.

“Blood spatter was the hit,” Cripe said.

Another addition was 3-D printing.

Read more about the event in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.