Over the summer, we had the pleasure of hosting a STEAM Camp for kids in grades 4 to 6. Every day, we focused on a different letter in STEAM. I taught three programs during this session:Science: I taught a chalk rockets class! After talking about chemical reactions and how rockets work, we mixed up different colors of liquid chalk (see the recipe here) inside of plastic film canisters. We then went outside and put some pieces of big paper down on the ground on a tarp. Kids lined up and one by one they stuck a piece of Alka-Seltzer tablets in their film canister, closed it up, and then set it on the ground with the lid side down. We talked about why some of of them went really high and some sort of flopped.
Technology: Today I taught the MakerBot 101 class. using this slideshow - some of the content by Amy Laughlin), we talked about technology while the Makerbot was printing a little dragon. Then we talked about nitty gritty stuff like the supports, the raft, and the different parts. And then they designed their own thing to be 3D printed, making sure to talk about how it would be oriented, if it needed supports, and what it would be used for.
Art: Luckily, this day was after the Engineering day, where they had done Spaghetti Bridges and discussed how to make things tall. We could connect art and engineering. We looked at some incredible and crazy hats, and how they were used and why they were created. Then, using recycled materials, silk flowers, ribbons, paper plates, staplers, tape, and hot glue, they made some amazing hats and we had a fashion show!
