Armed with Science | Tag Archive

STEM Leaders Encourage An Early Start In Science

Filed under STEM, Teacher Feature, Videos by jtozer on March 26, 2013 at 7:10 am {no comments}

What have you done for STEM lately?

Mary Doak is the program manager for community and education outreach at the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command‘s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center. She discusses her role in supporting science, technology, engineering and mathematics education in the APG area.

Video provided by the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command YouTube Channel

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STEM In Real Life

Filed under Education & Culture, STEM, Videos by jtozer on November 28, 2012 at 7:02 am {no comments}

The STEM program, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math, is geared toward fostering an interest in these fields in young people. United States Navy and the Office of Naval Research Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) efforts and specific programs give students an interesting look at how those skills are used in innovative, real world situations.

Check this out:

Video provided by the Office of Naval Research’s YouTube channel

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New Online Game Trains Kids Against Cyber Attacks

Filed under Cyber Security, Featured, STEM by jtozer on November 23, 2012 at 7:04 am {no comments}

The National Science Center is now training kids to stay safe from cyber attack malware when they’re surfing the web or using email and cell phones. A new online game called Cyber Swarm Defenders is targeted to 6th-8th grade students and is also appropriate for younger students. (National Science Center graphic)

Worms, viruses, Trojan horses, and spyware: BEWARE!

The National Science Center, or NSC, is now training kids to stay safe from cyber attack malware when they’re surfing the web or using email and cell phones. A new online game called Cyber Swarm Defenders is targeted to 6th-8th grade students and is also appropriate for younger students.

The game is part of the NSC’s newest Cyber Ops education outreach program. The NSC is a public-private partnership between the U.S. Army and NSC, Inc., that uses its resources to stimulate and increase science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, known as STEM, proficiency in U.S. students, especially those in grades 4-9.

“Anything we can do to make the young students of our country understand the cyber threat and get them excited about STEM technologies has a big payoff,” said Ron Ross, chairman of the NSC.

“Educating students about cyber security threats and how to counteract them is imperative,” said Mike Krieger, the Army deputy chief information officer, who serves as the secretary of the Army’s proponent for the NSC. He also serves as the co-chairperson for the NSC’s Partnership Executive Committee, which provides overall direction and oversight for the NSC.

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Math And Science Summer Fun

Filed under Education & Culture by jtozer on September 15, 2012 at 7:28 am {no comments}

Mason Payeur, 12, works on a robot during the Robotics Summer Day Camp at Wiesbaden High School, Germany. (Photo by Wendy Brown, USAG Wiesbaden)

Alex Taylor went back to school this week geared up to appreciate her math and science classes even more than before, all thanks to a Robotics Summer Day Camp held Aug. 13-17, at Wiesbaden High School.

“I like to learn new things and robotics seemed like a really good program,” Taylor said on the last day of the camp. “I have a better understanding of science as it is right now and I’d say that’s great.”

Taylor was one of 31 students to participate in the camp, which taught participants how to build a robot and program it, said Frank Pendzich, instructor of engineering technology at Wiesbaden High School and the camp’s organizer.

He is also adviser to the school’s RoboWarriors team, which competes in the FIRST Robotics Competition each year.

Campers, who were in grades 7-9, also learned the beginning steps of the engineering design process, Pendzich said.

This was the camp’s second year, Pendzich said, and members of the RoboWarriors team acted as camp counselors. In addition, members of the Air Force 485th Intelligence Squadron volunteered, as well as parents.

Taylor, 13, said she was glad to learn not only how to build a robot, but how to program it as well.

Max Johnson, 12, said he enjoyed the camp because he got to build a robot and compete against other campers with it. “I’m interested in robots and computers,” he said, and he plans to learn more about robots in the future.

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Hydrologic Engineers For A Day

Filed under Education & Culture, STEM by jtozer on August 12, 2012 at 7:41 am {no comments}

A Jenkins High School student lowers a water quality probe into the Savannah Harbor during a boat tour hosted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District. (Photo by George Jumara)

Nineteen local high school students got a “sampling” of what it’s like to be a hydrologic engineer during a boat tour of the Savannah Harbor.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District, in partnership with the Society of American Military Engineers Savannah Post, hosted the tour as part of a Jenkins High School summer engineering camp.

Corps’ hydrologic engineers and SAME members Beth Williams, Jason Lavecchia, and Bryan Robinson showed the students how to use a water quality sonde, or probe, to sample dissolved oxygen and salinity levels in the harbor’s waters.

The students took turns lowering the probe overboard at four different locations in the harbor. Once the probe is submerged, optical lenses inside it can instantaneously sample the water and produce a data reading on an attached handheld device.

The device detects six different measurements of water quality. It also stores data for later use.

Students learned how salinity levels change with the tide and how dissolved oxygen levels change with depth.

“As part of our jobs as [hydrologic] engineers, we monitor water quality in areas where the Corps is performing maintenance dredging of the shipping channel,” Lavecchia said. “We want to ensure that we maintain appropriate levels of dissolved oxygen, which becomes even more critical during the hot summer months, when the levels typically decline.”

The students also learned about the Corps of Engineers’ role in the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project.

“They often hear about the harbor deepening in the news, since it’s a huge project for Savannah and the region. We want to help them be informed about what’s going on in the community,” Williams said.

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The Opportunity Of A Lifetime

Filed under Space, Videos by jtozer on June 25, 2012 at 7:54 am {no comments}

Ever wonder what it’s like to be part of a NASA team? Well, three student interns have been given the opportunity of a lifetime. They were asked to create a major component for the Balloon Experimental Twin Telescope for Infrared Interferometry (BETTII) mission. Principal Investigator Stephen Rinehart mentored the students and gave them the freedom to be creative in making a star camera, which will study star birth in deep space.

Video provided by the NASA Goddard YouTube Channel

For more info about Goddard Internships, click here.

Or find NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Facebook. and on Twitter, too!

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The Math and Science of Seabees

Filed under Education & Culture, Videos by jtozer on May 11, 2012 at 7:12 am {no comments}

Navy personnel are setting a positive example for young people in Yokosuka, Japan, by teaching the importance of science, technology, engineering and math as it relates to everyday life. How did they do that? Real world experience, of course. Seabees demonstrated the importance and uses of math and science to girls from the Yokosuka Middle School.

Even building a Japanese lantern takes math skills:

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Inspiring Future Leaders STEMS From Innovative Thinking

Filed under Education & Culture, Life Sciences, STEM by jtozer on May 8, 2012 at 11:05 am {no comments}

Ms. Mariam Cocker, from Eleanor Roosvelt High School in Maryland, takes the controls of an F-35 Simulator, instructed by Lockheed Martin Fighter Demonstration Center.

The 317th Recruiting Squadron, based at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, recently started a program to inspire innovation and creativity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs. They challenged students in Washington D.C., Virginia and Maryland schools with a simple question: Why are STEM careers important to our Nation?

The squadron received an overwhelming response. Recruiters reached out with the Air Force STEM 2020 Challenge contest to hundreds of schools in the region. Upon learning of the program, counselors and teachers in Middle Schools and High Schools responded by posted the contest on their social media sites and web pages.

It went viral from there.

The 317 RCS received submissions from schools all over the DC, Virginia and Maryland area. Eventually, 20 outstanding essay writers were selected in April, and given “golden e-vites” to spend the day learning about innovation in the Department of Defense. They were each allowed to bring a parent with them. “This is the Willy Wonka” of STEM programs,” stated MSgt Buffy Brown, Air Force STEM 2020 coordinator.

Essay contest winners were invited to Washington D.C. for a day of innovation and exploration. They received insider tours of the Pentagon from senior strategy members assigned to the Joint Staff and Air Staff.

I believe we refer to this as the VIP tour.

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