Saturday Morning Engineering Club Helps Young Girls View Science, Engineering Careers
For the past eight weeks, Fort Collins-area grade school girls have had an opportunity to make new friends while working on fun and challenging science and engineering projects. Every Saturday morning from January 24 to March 28, 2009, the 4th through 6th grade girls from Fort Collins and Loveland schools gathered on the CSU campus to explore new science, math and engineering concepts. Each of the 40 girls actively participated in hands-on experiments, which ranged from making parachutes, lotions and flying objects to constructing windmills using household objects such as juice cartons and sticks.
The young students learned how important engineering and science is to their daily lives. Working with a representative from FEMA, they developed an emergency response plan for natural disasters. And they studied the optimum design elements for earthquake-proof buildings, something they might not learn in the classroom.
Zoe, a 5th grader, said, “I like doing all the experiments and not just doing what we usually do at school, which is looking at things but not getting to actually do it like we do here." Her teammate Asmita added, "I like it because we get to create things and we get to work together as a group. We cooperate with each other."
The program is sponsored by Colorado State's Women and Minorities in Engineering Program and Xcel Energy, and is free for participants. Kathryn, an alumna of CSU’s Chemical and Biological Engineering Department, has been a volunteer mentor for several years. "I graduated this past summer and came back as an alum to do this; it’s so much fun and the girls have so much energy. I think it’s so important to get more girls involved in engineering. I am always so impressed by how well they do and the ideas they come up with; it’s a lot more than I would have expected from kids their age."
"Through fun activities, such as making cosmetics and building structures, the Saturday Morning Engineering Club is getting girls interested in math and science at a young age," said WMEP coordinator Aaron Benally. "The participants learn by following all engineering design processes, which includes learning about the project; brainstorming as a group; then developing, testing and adjusting their designs to come up with the final product," Benally explained. "We provide an environment where they feel comfortable working together and voicing their opinions, enhancing their teamwork skills and encouraging them to think outside the box."
Madison, a 5th grader, noted, "I really like the hands-on experiments because they show us what to do and then we get to try and do it again. We get to work together as a group to make different things, and we get to build something and test it out and see if it works. In the meantime, we are learning about a lot of different types of engineering, which is fun." Another 5th grader named Sarah gets up early on Saturdays for a similar reason. "I like how, instead of teaching us all the time, they let us do experiments, and it’s easier for me to learn that way," she said.
On March 28, the girls graduated from the Saturday Morning Engineering Club. Sixth-grader Molly is going to miss it. "We get to do fun activities," she said. "I did it last year and we are doing different things, so I get to keep learning about stuff. It’s just really fun and you get to meet new people and solve problems that you never knew could happen. Like we had FEMA and they showed us escape stuff and keeping people safe. This will be my last time, unfortunately; I wish I could continue."
The Saturday Morning Engineering Club has been ongoing in the College of Engineering for almost ten years, because programs like this are successful in encouraging women to consider the STEM disciplines. Laura Davis, a junior in mechanical engineering, is one example of the program’s success. "I participated in a lot of these programs in middle and high school. We did egg drops and made magnets, and that is part of the reason I am an engineer."
Caylee, a sophomore mentor, adds, "At one point in time I was their age and had a lot of good influences in my life, so I wanted to give them the same experience I received. And I also am here because there is such a lack of women in engineering, so I am hoping eventually there will be a lot more girls in the field."