June 15, 2018 | UHCL Staff
In a new summer science camp geared toward middle school students, the College of Education’s Center for Educational Programs at University of Houston-Clear Lake is hosting two weeklong Hawk STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) Academy camps. Campers will work in research and development teams as they explore Newton’s laws of motion through interactive hands-on activities while engaging in missions to solve real-world problems. Roger Rovekamp, a robotics engineer at Dexterous Robotics Laboratory at NASA Johnson Space Center, discussed the importance and various applications of robotics technology with the student engineers, parents, faculty and staff at a lunch presentation on June 5, which is part of the camp’s ‘Lunch with a STEM expert’ series.
Rovekamp discussed his research in ‘wearable robotics’ with applications utilized on earth as well as in space. He also stressed that engineers must work collaboratively in teams in order to take an idea or concept, move it from sketch to prototype to final product.
Hawk STEAM Academy instructors Don Becker and Meghan DiBacco worked with the students in teams of three to to work collaboratively as engineers through various challenges centered around the principles of flight and travel to the moon.
“Students completed tasks using the engineering design process,” said DiBacco, who is currently working towards her master’s degree in geophysics from the University of Houston and will begin teaching science at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy Independent School District this fall.“This week’s camp is titled, ‘World of Motion,’ so the concepts explored are all physics-based. In the second week, the students will learn robotics and coding through inquiry-based activities focused on a mission to Mars.”
Tonya Jeffery, director of the Center for Educational Programs along with COE faculty Professor of Educational Foundations Robert Jones, Associate Professor of Research and Applied Statistics Michelle Peters, and Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership Antonio Corrales worked collaboratively to create the Hawk STEAM Academy.
“The mastermind and visionary behind the World of Motion camp curriculum and activities is Robert Jones, who has worked with teachers for over 20 years to implement summer camps,” Jeffery said. “He believes in students working in research and development teams and assigning roles for each team member to solve problems.”
Becker, a former middle school science teacher in Clear Creek Independent School District who’s currently working toward his master’s degree in instructional technology at UH-Clear Lake said that each student participates in four or five activities per day and within each activity, students have a specific role. “There’s a principal investigator, a recorder/reporter who later presents the information to the group, a materials manager, and a maintenance director,” he said.
“Students change their role with each activity throughout the day, to integrate as many facets of STEAM as possible. They design with freedom and creativity, creating the artistic parts of each element while understanding the engineering process, which includes solving problems, sketching their designs, creating a prototype, testing and re-testing their designs and producing a final product” he said.
Becker and DiBacco said that the overarching objective for this week’s camp was to find ways to reach and colonize the moon. “Each activity lays the groundwork for being successful in colonizing the moon,” Dibacco said. “We discussed and explored rotocopters, parachutes, and balloon rockets, as several aspects of space travel.”
Hawk STEAM Academy campers also participated in another ‘Lunch with a STEM expert’ presentation by Meagan Cogswell, senior environmental protection specialist and certified environmental and safety compliance officer from University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.
At the end of the week, students will present in their research and development teams all of their designs and products in a Camper Showcase for parents, COE faculty, staff and friends. At the end of each week, campers receive certificates and become Hawk STEAM Academy scholars. For more information about UHCL’s Hawk STEAM Academy, visit www.uhcl.edu/education/centers-initiatives/center-educational-programs.
