September 9, 2008

  • Girl Scout Summer Camp, on the steps of Patrick F. Taylor Hall.
  • Girls in the Summer Camp with John Scalzo learning about energy transfer.
  • Lauren Hill assists Summer Dann in testing Kennedy Halpin's and Jaime Lynn Hotling's bridge.

The LSU College of Engineering (CoE), College of Basic Sciences, and the Southeast Council (formerly the Audubon Council) Girl Scouts hosted their fifth summer of the science and engineering camps, Science Smorgasbord. The activities for the girls included learning the engineering design process and building with "6 simple machines," how to make polymers, learning the scientific process through "the number of drops on a penny," making a "trash pizza" (reduce, reuse, recycle), and examining and determining the patterns of their fingerprints (DNA). Special presentations at the camp were provided by Dr. Heather Smith of Civil Engineering, who taught the Girl Scouts about forces and stresses with bridge building, followed by a competition, and a presentation by Linsey Jones, senior in chemistry, who made liquid nitrogen ice cream to demonstrate the effects of liquid nitrogen on various materials.

The camp offers two field trips: one to LSU and one to a science-based facility. At LSU, campers visited one biology lab, with Ms. Adrienne Lopez, and four engineering labs:

  • Industrial Engineering with Dr. Gerry Knapp,
  • Electrical & Computer Engineering with John Scalzo,
  • Biological Engineering with Dr. Todd Monroe, and
  • Environmental Engineering with Sarah Jones.

The campers learned about energy transfer, worked in an assembly line, analyzed their gait, and determined the amount of nitric acid in water. At the Scope on a Rope Lab, campers viewed parameciums and protists with the Scope on a Rope, a hand- held microscope. In addition to these various inquiry-based learning experiments, the older girls visited LIGO (Laser Interferon-meter Gravitational Wave Observatory) with hands-on activities with Kathy Holt and toured the control room with Dr. Amber Stuver, while the younger girls visited the Louisiana Arts and Science Museum and the Louisiana State Museum.

As part of the camp, the Girls Scouts kept daily journals about what they did and their thoughts about the activity. The Girl Scouts were enthusiastic in their assessment of the camp: "We did circuits, an assembly line, and a foot force plate. I had so much fun and it was awesome!" Madison, age 8

"We had so much fun! We worked together to make as many monkey cards as we could and we made circuits and we turned ourselves into a battery and we also saw how we all walk different ways!" Phoenix, age 7

"Today, we ate ice cream, met real engineers and played. I had fun today." Rae, age 8

"I was going to be a meteorologist when I grow up, but now I am going to be a biological engineer; I think it is awesome to see how athletes and dogs run." Hayley H, Age 10 (Hayley was one of the camp assistants).

“Me and Kennedy worked together and Bam! We made a bridge. I love this camp!" Ceci, age 7

There were two camps this year, one for first through third grade students, and one for fourth through sixth graders, for a total of 49 elementary-aged girls. With four teenage assistants and three middle school assistants, Ms. Anna Haldane, a gifted and talented teacher, and CoE’s Summer Dann have organized and taught this camp for five years. Dann stated “It is a wonderful experience to encourage young people to discover the wonders of science and math in a fun filled, hands-on learning environment.”

Article by Summer Dann-Johnson, STEP Coordinator, LSU College of Engineering, 225-578-8195, sdann1@lsu.edu

-30-

 



  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Digg
  • Delicious
  • Reddit