Show Youth introduced to sciences at all summer lona Iona Ion a Susan Roylance Contributing Writer Last summer year old Madison Buckley attended After one week on the Redwood Campus she decided she wants to become a mechanical engineer Madison and her hex sister took part in the 2007 Slick Science Summer Workshop I liked working with my hands with science Madison said She and her sister gained on hands-on experience learning what a robotic engineer does as they built a robot and programmed it to move and make sounds Other youths learned about civil engineering They built toothpick bridges capable of holding up to pounds This is the sixth year that the School of Science Mathematics Engineering has sponsored the Youth Summer Science Workshop for youth ages 11 The Workshop features four days of activities including bridge III building robotics coding through mathematics and astronomy We want to give kids a glimpse of what the sciences are about and what career options are out there What does a civil engineer do What does an astronaut do said Marion Howe Howe- Taylor the Manager of Community Outreach and STEP MESA Initiatives Shawna Haider an Associate Professor of Mathematics will be conducting the Slick Science sessions on ciphers and coding My son had attended the program for three years and I thought it was a great program so I decided to become involved this year she said The registration fee for forthe forthe forthe the program is An Early Bird Discount is available until June 16 reducing the registration to Employees and staff of can register their children or grandchildren for 75 The four-day four program will have four different sessions June 26 23 July f 7 10 July 17 14 and July 28 The first day will focus on bridge building by constructing a bridge with toothpicks and glue The mini bridges will be 12 to 14 inches long and three inches wide Once the bridge structures have dried they will be compressed in a tensile compression machine to measure which structure is the strongest The second day will feature robotics Students will be paired off in groups of two and given Lego Robotics Kits from which they will build a robot The constructed robots will be computer programmed to todo todo todo do various maneuvers or tricks The third day will teach coding through mathematics Students will learn about Cryptology the science of making and breaking codes Students will look at examples from history and create simple devices for creating codes and ciphers The last day will focus on astronomy Students will learn leam through hands- hands II V Q a islet Ti n bys 4 ho r K n MA Y c r 4 f i r ralso also avail d S Sei en on activities what causes the seasons of the earth the phases of the moon and other everyday phenomenon Students will learn facts about the solar system and what scientists are learning through manned and un-manned un NASA space missions currently operating Shirley Alfred i is the Workshop Coordinator Its a fun time for everyone involved she said All sessions have Space available About 80 future scientists and engineers attend the program each summer |