Outreach - February/March 2011

Spark Slime Speed, Feb 20th at the science museum, we are positioned to have a great event w/ everything planned and volunteers settled. Should be an exciting new experience in a free section of the museum!

Tech Fest, Feb 26th

Wow! That's Engineering Committee Members Needed 

Outreach - Recap and Upcoming Events - January/February 2011

Upcoming Events

Events Recap

Read more about the Girl Scout Patch Day here

Outreach - Recap and Upcoming Events - November 2010

Girls BEST Recap

On Saturday October 9th, a group of SWE-MN volunteers spoke to a group of young women at the annual girls BEST Convening held at Dunwoody College in Minneapolis. Girls BEST (girls Building Economic Success Together) is a fund of the Women’s Foundation of MN which is focused on grant making to girl led/driven programs which serve under served/under represented girls ages 10-18 throughout MN.

The SWE-MN Outreach group spent some time introducing the girls to engineering by telling them what we do as engineers, sharing with them what kind of education is required to be an engineer, and expanding on the reasons why someone would want to be an engineer. We had a lot of great conversation and were able to get in a lot of question and answer time.

After our presentation, we divided the girls into teams and participated in a communication activity involving Lego’s. Each girl had an assigned role of a customer, a builder, or a designer. The objective of the activity was to have the builder correctly build a Lego structure with only verbal instructions from the designers. The designers were only given verbal instructions from the customer who was in charge of the final product. Only 2 out of 8 teams were successful on the 1st try. Afterwards, we had a discussion with the girls on what worked and what didn’t and why communication and teamwork was so important.

~Sara, Lesley, Kalyani, Amy, Cassie~

GSPD Recap 

This year’s Girl Scout Patch Day was excellent! On Saturday October 30th we hosted 130 Girl Scouts, along with their parents and troop leaders for Zoom! Into Engineering!
This year we had over 35 volunteers help in preparation, set-up and execution of the event! We could not have done this event with all of wonderful volunteers. THANK YOU! 

Special thanks to Boston Scientific for providing the funding for this great event for the 8th year in a row!

Silly Putty: Girl Scouts were able to combine household ingredients (Borax, water, glue, and food coloring) to turn molecules into polymers! The elastic properties of the silly putty showed the girls that when certain substances are combined (in a specific order), a change occurs and a product is yielded. The girls made their putty in a variety of beautiful shades; as they explored the material properties of the putty, they compared their creation to properties of commercial silly putty.
Bug Circuits: Circuit Bugs are simple little electro-mechanical insects that respond to movement, wind, and vibrations by blinking their LED (light-emitting diode) eyes. This experiment allowed the girls to bring out their creative sides. They first designed a bug with pipe cleaners; then it was on to the engineering! They created a circuit with a coin-cell battery, copper tubing, music wire and colored LEDS. They then attached the circuit on their bugs and learned that when the circuit was closed, the eyes lit up!
Egg Mobile: In the Egg Mobile car design activity, girl’s experienced working in a team to solve an automotive engineering design problem. Each team designed a vehicle to transport a raw egg to safety in both a speed challenge and a downhill crash test! This challenge involved budgeting, material selection, design, safety and teamwork to bring the team to victory. Fun was had by all as the cars raced and, luckily for the cleanup, only one or two eggs were broken!
Oil Spill: In light of the recent Gulf oil spill, the girls each created a mini oil spill of their own to develop greater understanding of the challenges posed by oil cleanup and risks to our environment. They investigated clean-up and containment options like environmental engineers through trial with several different materials. They also learned the difficulty of cleaning oil from wildlife by cleaning off a feather - the only successful way was to wash the feathers with soapy water!
Parents’ Track: In addition to teaching 130 Girl Scouts about engineering, SWE-MN also reached out to over 40 parents! A parent session was held at the event and led by SWE-MN volunteers. The parents were introduced to the World of STEM and challenged to go beyond GSPD and do more! Parents were told that SWE can be a resource at any age group and encourage them to get involved. This year, we also hosted a college admissions panel to start exposing parents to the joys and challenges of choosing the right school. The parents then got to do a little engineering on their own! They made lip gloss and were given the recipe to do with their girls at a future troop meeting. The parents left the session with a better understanding of how to reach out to their own kids and most importantly why it is important to promote Women in Engineering!

Outreach Update - September 2010

credit

SWE Girl Scout Patch Day is coming up. We need volunteers for this great event that hosts 150 Girl Scouts and gets them involved and excited about engineering! Here are some pictures from last year's event. Please contact Sara at volunteer@swe-mn.org to volunteer

Date: October 30
Time: 7:30am - 2:30pm
Location: Boston Scientific (Building 3)
4211 Lexington Ave N, Arden Hills

Experiments (subject to change)

• Egg Mobile (Engineering Design)
  
• Oil Spill (Environmental Engineering)
  
• Bug Circuits (Electrical Engineering)
  
• Silly Putty (Chemical Engineering)
  

There will be an option to attend volunteer training in order to become familiar with the experiments before the event.

Outreach Update and Welcome - August 2010

Amanda Porter…

Having only been a member of SWE for one year, I'm both surprised and excited to be co-chair of the Outreach Committee. Of course, I was in SWE during my college years (seems like eons ago) but at the time, I was more interested in completing school and then finding a job, and didn't manage to be involved in sharing the joys of engineering. Working with the girls at Girl Scout Patch Day and WOW, That’s Engineering was such fun in FY10 that I can hardly wait for the events in FY11. I now understand the need for encouragement with girls in science and math and of course engineering.

We have been transitioning the responsibilities for the Outreach Committee and I have to say a BIG Thanks to Lesley and Kalyani. They have been very helpful and are really great to work with. Our next meeting is to clean out the storage locker. While it will be a lot of work, considering the ladies involved, there will be plenty of laughs.

Stay tuned for more information on our next upcoming event, Girl Scout Patch Day at the end of October.

- Amanda and Rachel

Outreach Upcoming Events - June 2010

Join SWE-MN Outreach for an end of the year celebration!

We have worked so hard this past year that now we deserve a break! Hope to see you all there!

Details:

Picnic with Twin Cities Engineering Societies

Join the SWE-MN PD Committee & MFESTS for our upcoming event on Thursday, June 17th. The SWE-MN PD Committee & MFESTS are planning a picnic with some of our fellow Engineering societies. It will be a relaxing opportunity to eat some good food, play some games, and learn about other engineering society activities across the Twin Cities.

The burgers and hot dogs will hit the grill at 6pm.
If you have any yard games, feel free to bring them with. There is a playground at the park for children to play at as well.

We are looking for a couple people who are willing to help with grilling. If you are interested, please email Katrina or Jacalyn at pd@swe-mn.org.

Link to Park Map: http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/NR/rdonlyres/0BA291A2-6393-4565-A3DD-38DDC50FC679/3779/Island_LakeConverted.pdf

Outreach Event Recap - June 2010

On Thursday, June 20th SWE-MN did Spool Racers with sixty 4th graders and fifty 5th graders at Higher Ground Academy in St. Paul. The kids had fun learning about potential and kinetic energy, while also learning what a washer and spool was. It was a great hands-on activity!


Thanks Rachel Borchers, Kay Hatlestad, and Sara Beck for volunteering during the work day.

Thank You to our VOLUNTEERS!

Outreach - May 2010

Here’s a closer look at the day’s event:

Brilliant Bracelets
Hosted by volunteers from the Institute of Industrial Engineers, this session exposed the girls to process improvement and efficiency strategies. The girls first began by assembling bracelets with a difficult system (supplies unorganized and no roles assigned). Then the teams made improvements to simplify the assembly process and get the job done much easier and quicker. With the defined roles and instructions, it was obvious that the assembly procedure would go much quicker and without as many mistakes! At the end, all the girls were able to take home a bracelet they had made.

Egg Mobile
The Egg Mobile is one of SWE-MN’s favorite activities mainly because it provides students will different aspects of engineering besides the technical and scientific parts. The goal of the Egg Mobile is to design a Lego car that can safely travel down a ramp carrying a very fragile passenger, Mr. Raw Egg! Girls must work in groups to design the best and safest car that not only will go far but will also pass the safety crash test. Groups must design the car with a budget and schedule in mind as well. Although we did have some car crashes and Mr. Raw Egg experienced some injuries, the girls left this session with a better understanding of how engineers must work together under strict limitations.

Silly Putty
Girls were able to combine household ingredients (Borax, water, glue, and food coloring) to turn molecules into polymers! Before getting their hands dirty, girls learned about chemical engineering and material properties. They even got to play around with the original Silly Putty before making their own. The elastic properties of the silly putty showed the girls that when certain substances are combined (in a specific order), a change occurs and a product is yielded.

Circuit Bugs
Circuit Bugs are simple little electro-mechanical insects that respond to movement, wind, and vibrations by blinking their LED (light-emitting diode) eyes. This experiment allowed the girls to bring out their creative sides. The girls first created a circuit with a coin-cell battery, copper tubing, music wire and colored LEDS. Once their circuit was made, the girls got to be creative and make a bug out of pipe cleaners. They then attached the circuit on their bugs and learned that when the circuit was closed, the eyes lit up!

Engineering Press Conference
During the Engineering Press Conference, girls were able to ask questions to real live female engineers! Questions ranged from “what do you wear to work?” to “how much money do you make?”. The girls were challenged to take time to think about what they want to do when they grow up and to make this decision wisely. The girls were also introduced with some great resources online and in the area for more opportunities to learn about science, engineering, and technology fields for women!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

SWE_MN Outreach at the Normandale STEM Equity Initiative Spring Event

Egg Mobile and Panel with STEPS Camp!

Spool Racers with Higher Ground Academy!

Any questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions, please let us know!
Lesley and Kalyani

Email us at outreach@swe-mn.org

Outreach Committee News

Date: Saturday April 24th 9am-4pm
Location: Boston Scientific CRM (formerly Guidant) Building 3 (Same building as Girl Scout Patch Day)4100 Hamline Ave N St. Paul, MN 55112
Experiments:
Bracelets (Industrial Engineering)
Egg Mobile (Systems Engineering)
Butterfly Circuits (Electrical Engineering)
Silly Putty and Lip Gloss (Chemical Engineering)

Volunteer Positions (all on April 24th)
· Experiment Volunteers (24 needed) from 9 AM to 4 PM: work directly with the girls to do the hands-on experiments. You will receive
training material ahead of time (optional training April 6th 6 PM). If you are able, we ask that you help setup your room on Friday, April 23rd at 6pm
· Experimental Leads (4 needed) from 9 AM to 4 PM: lead the experiment by making sure all of our experiment volunteers know what to do, preparing the presentation ahead of time, setting up your room the night before, and making sure all supplies have arrived and the
experiment runs smoothly.
· Group Leaders (5 needed) from 9 to 4 PM: Lead a group of 40 girls around to each of the experiments.
· Registration/Check in (4 needed) from 9 to 11 AM: set at a table and check off who arrives, ensure the proper paper work has been turned in and give group assignments.
· Door Greeters (2 needed) from 9 to 11 AM: as the girls arrive greet them at the door and give them a warm welcome
· Lunch servers (4 needed) from 11 to 1:30 PM: get lunch ready for the girls (take it out of boxes and put it on the table), ensure that the girls all receive a lunch, and then clean up

If you cannot make it on Saturday, you can help on Friday, April 23rd:
· Setup volunteers from 6 PM to 8 PM
· Goodie bag stuffers from 5 PM to 6 PM
If you would like to volunteer, please contact Sara at volunteer@swe-mn.org

Family Science Night

Normandale STEM Initiative Spring Event

Any questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions, please let us know!

Lesley and Kalyani
Email us at outreach@swe-mn.org