Engineering Family Fun Day Promotes Interest In Math and Science

On Saturday, November 3rd, Seminole SECME will be participating in the fifth annual “Engineering Family Fun Day” in Dreher Park – Pavilion 3 (across from the Dreher Park Zoo) in West Palm Beach. The Society of Women Southeast Florida Section and the Palm Beach Alumni Extension of the National Society of Black Engineers are co-hosts.

The event will involve eight booths. Each sponsored booth presents a hands on engineering related activity by which the students, parents, teachers, councelors and engineers can interact with each other. For example, the Bottle Rocket involves aerospace engineering and Making Polymers involves science and chemistry. SECME will be presenting "Inspector Detector" from the upcoming Design Squad "Beyond the Moon" guide.

We challenge you to…

…build a device that can that you can pass above a surface and detect magnetic fields.

1.    Brainstorm and Design

• How can you make sure that the metal shards stay in your detector and not fall off?

· How can you make it easy to see when the metal shards move?

· How will you hold the detector as you move it above the surface?

2.    Build

Invent your own designs.

3.    Test

· Try out your detector. At our booth, use the small magnet to test how well your detector works.

· Find the hidden magnets. Take your detector to the newspaper grid. (it represents a map of Mars' surface.) Find the magnets by slowly passing your detector over the grid, one section at a time.
· Map the magnets. Using the grid lines to identify the locations, mark each magnet with a dot on your map (NOT on the newspaper).

4.    Evaluate and Redesign

· If it’s hard to see the shards move… Design a window or remove parts that block your view.

· If your detector doesn’t respond… Check that you have enough metal shards and that nothing is interfering with how they move. Also check that you’re not holding it too far above the surface.

5.    Go Further

• Upgrade your detector. Make it sensitive enough to work six inches above the surface.
• Magnet Treasure Hunt. You’re surrounded by magnets! Use your detector and see how many invisible fields you can find. Check things like speakers and electric motors.