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Fun with STEM
Stem students participate in Junk Box Wars
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Usually adults discourage children from throwing their food, but STEM Explore is different.
During an activity Friday in the weeklong program at Youngstown State University, it was encouraged.
In Junk Box Wars, 34 sixth-through-eighth-graders from throughout the Mahoning Valley built catapults out of recycled materials. The catapults hurled marshmallows through the air and into a target. The team to accumulate the most points won.
Sixth-graders Carlie DiRenzo of Austintown and Carli Osiniak of Lowellville, both 11, said the program is fun but they’re also learning.
They’re members of Terminators 2.0, an all-girl group that earned the most points in Junk Box Wars.
They used two plastic bottles, empty paper towel rolls with a rubber band wrapped around and stretched between the bottles.
“You need a rubber band,” Carlie explained. “It’s elastic and it stretches” launching the marshmallow.
Junk Box Wars followed a presentation earlier in the week about the importance of recycling.
Other activities during the week included 3-D printing, building solar cars, bottle launchers and chemistry experiments.
“We built solar cars that have a solar base,” Carli said. “When the sun shines it moves the cars.”
Mackenzie Solic, 12, a sixth-grader at Austintown Middle School; and Claire Colbaugh, 13, and Belle Gasior, 12, both eighth-graders at St. Christine School; rounded out the Terminators 2.0 team.
This marks Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Explore’s fourth year. It’s a collaboration between YSU’s STEM College and the Beeghly College of Education.
Some activities are new this year while others return from one year to the next.
“We do a lot of reflecting,” said Kathleen Cripe, assistant professor of science education, one of STEM Explore’s coordinators.
The coordinators and education students who work with the program evaluate each activity, and students and parents also provide input.
One new activity this year was 3-D printing at Applied Systems & Technology Transfer (AST2) in the city, said Robert Korenic, associate professor of civil and construction engineering technology and a STEM Explore coordinators.
Students designed a logo for their team, drew it using a computer program and then printed it on the 3-D printer.
“3-D printing technology is so ‘right now,’ we decided we needed to include it,” Cripe said.
Toasted Waffles, another team of Lowellville seventh-grader Alexander Watson, 12; Sid Ruley, 12, Liberty seventh-grader; and St. Christine sixth-graders Seth Gavalier, Rocco Pilolli and Hayden Dorion, all 11, filled two two-liter bottles with water to provide the base of their catapult. They used a rubber band to throw the marshmallow.
“We don’t know how it’s going to work, but we think it’s going to be amazing,” Rocco said.