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Show Tuesday, March 26, 2013 DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE 3 CONFESSIONS Continued from page 1 KIMBERLY ROACH/The Daily Utah Chronicle Rose Creek Elementary students compete in building towers with straws during Engineering Day held on Monday in the Union. SCIENCE Continued from page 1 The STEM subjects have had a recent push from all parts of education, and this particular event allows students to see what engineers actually do with knowledge of these subjects. "Everyone thinks math and science are so hard, and it's a hard mindset to change," said Deidre Schoenfeld, coordinator for outreach and diversity with the College of Engineering. "We want to impact them while they are young, so when it does get hard, they don't get scared, but [instead] see it as a challenge." While doing fun activities, students and faculty from the college sneaked in engineering principles at a fifth or sixth grade level, such as energy transfer in the catapults. Schoenfeld said it is important for the young stu- dents to come to a university setting, but it also benefits the U's engineering students who get to interact with the kids at the stations. They can see the children's energy and be reminded why engineering is so cool, she said. Garrett Meeks, a sophomore in material science and engineering, was one of the student volunteers helping with demonstrations. He was surprised at how engaged the kids were. He believes the event helps introduce engineering from an early age and wishes he would have had the chance to see the types of technology they were showing when he was in grade school. The elementary students all seemed to enjoy the hands-on activities. While making aerodynamic fish for the fish blitz, Abby Palmer and Alana Williams, fifth graders at Midas Creek Elementary School, said they were having fun thinking about things in a new way. While learning about these subjects in classrooms, it is different for the kids to come here and have these resources. Katherine Earl, a teacher at Rose Creek Elementary School, said it is sometimes hard to teach engineering principles because of the time and supplies you need. She continues to bring her classes to the U because they can see what is in store if they pursue engineering, math or the sciences, and she gets new ideas for teaching strategies. Phillips 66 provided a $10,000 donation, but since the College of Engineering funds the event, the money was given to the elementary schools for math and science supplies, Schoenfeld said. The event began Monday and will continue until Friday in the Union Ballroom. c.webber@ chronicle.utah.edu KIMBERLY ROACH/The Daily Utah Chronicle Midas Creek Elementary fifth graders experiment with clay fish during Engineering Day on Monday in the Union. system and overall health. It is unclear in this situation if onetime disclosure could have the same benefit or if it needs to be repetitive, Aspinwall said. People rely on others in their community to understand what is normal, and this is a really interesting way people can find that out, by looking at how other people respond, Aspinwall said. "It can create the sense of what is normal among peers, but it's not really representative of peers or is deliberately slanted in a way," said Carol Sansone, a professor of psychology. "It provides a false sense of what is the norm." The U's page was created in February and receives between 20 and 4o anonymous submissions per day. The page administrator sorts through and posts only information that would not directly harm the school because pages for other schools are being shut down. "There are always critics telling you how to do it better or what I should do, but overall, people seem to be enjoying and taking advantage of the page," said the U page administrator through Facebook. A page surfaced for BYU in February as well and has experienced similar popularity. "I average 10-30 responses per day," said the administrator of the BYU page through Facebook. "We are still growing, so it varies greatly." The theories for sharing all seem to be the same. "I feel like people choose to share things because when you do something embarrassing or screw up, it is intimidating to tell people," the BYU page administrator said. Because of the unique culture at BYU, another page surfaced for them: BYU Uncensored Confessions. "When I was at BYU, I wanted to vent and rage, but had nowhere to do it," the BYU page administrator said through Facebook. "It is just the culture of the school in Provo. I saw the BYU page that said "keep it modest," so I figured, what if there is an outlet for BYU students who want to vent without the honor code getting in their way?" Sansone said the anonymity of the page removes social inhibitions posters might feel and allows them to tell things they normally would not feel comfortable revealing. In effect, what we are left with is more people airing their dirty laundry. "The benefit of the internet is being able to get access to social support and resources and information without violating your privacy in your own social environment," Aspinwell said. "The costs of behaving badly are greatly reduced. If you were to make fun of somebody [to their face], people would say you were mean, but if you do so online then you don't get that feedback." One belief is people like to share their stories with others. The U page's administrator happened to be the one that made the page for this campus first. "I think in some ways, there's nothing new about what's going on," Sansone said. "There's been graffiti way back, and so this anonymous posting of things has been around a long time. What's different is the accessibility." m.clark.chronicle.utah.edu . %:u I VII 1.11 need more tweets? d I. V V t twa I ermaltweeted tW twl C eak tvaer twe need rfrore mothertv twe tier id @the he speak twitter twi maltweeted twee d ter s- speak twitter tweet a ittle harderspeak twitter need more tweets? -nothertw cker tw i speak twitter maltweeted twittertw tweet a Iitt need more twee Tlothertwuc speak twitter ttertweet actwidlo t w'jtk'Zi ker R1 ucker narael witte |