Going to Mars With MAVEN Student Art Contest

The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission, also known as MAVEN, is set to launch to the Red Planet in November 2013. And your artwork could hitch a ride to Mars!

To enter the contest, participants must be ages 5-17. All artwork must be original. The contest is open to students worldwide. Entries are due April 8, 2013. The public will vote to select the winner. Winning artwork will be used on a DVD label that will fly to Mars on the MAVEN spacecraft.

For more information and to submit your artwork, visit http://lasp.colorado.edu/maven/goingtomars/art-contest/.

Banner Brainstorm: a smART stART to inspire ART imagination

Click on the banner brainstorm template PDF. It may be useful starting point to plan the SECME banner. I give each student a copy of the banner brainstorm and let them work out their ideas of placement, proportion, and use colored pencils. Here's a banner brainstorm template that opens in Microsoft Word for editting.

If someone tells you to write a poem on a piece of paper, it helps you when they say specifically make it a sonnet of 14 lines and an alternative abab rhyme schem. It's a lot easier to ensure the quality of the end product. So when beginning the banner with Seminole SECME, I share the following mathematical concepts. You might find them interesting:

BrainPOP: Scale Drawing
Like to draw in a big way? In this BrainPOP movie, Tim and Moby show you how to resize images and use scale drawing to make pictures larger and smaller! They’ll guide you through a sample problem to help you figure out how to use ratios to find the scale of your original image and that of the final product. You’ll also see what can happen if your height and width scales are different. Lastly, you’ll discover how using a grid can help you keep things nice and neat. Anyone can be an artist!
Watch the Math movie about Scale Drawing


BrainPOP: Proportions Losing your sense of proportion? Regain it with this BrainPOP movie, as Tim and Moby teach you all about ratios or proportions! You’ll find out how to figure out the price of a movie ticket in proportion to average monthly income — and how to compare it to prices from earlier decades. You’ll also learn how to set up a proportion problem, including where to put the ‘x’ and how to cross-multiply in order to get the right answer. Finally, you’ll see how proportions can be used in any number of real-life situations!
Watch the Math movie about Proportions

[ED NOTE: post originally published September 11, 2009. Revised March 18, 2013]

Pi to 314 Places

In celebration of Pi Day at Seminole Ridge High School in Loxahatchee, FL, students in Mu Alpha Theta math honor society and SECME engineering club have decorated the courtyard in chalk around the circumference of the circular planters with the digits of pi to 314 places.

Pi Day is an annual celebration commemorating the mathematical constant π (pi) -- the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi Day is observed on March 14 (or 3/14 in month/day date format), since 3, 1 and 4 are the three most significant digits of π in the decimal form.

27th DiBiFiLiTi brings 300+ for $4000

The 27th annual Drop it, Build it, Fly it, Launch it, Thrill it Engineering Competition was held Saturday, March 9 at the South Florida Science Museum. More then 300 kids from elementary to high school competed for $4,000 in cash prizes in five different design contests: built bridges, protection for eggs, paper airplanes, model rockets and roller coasters. The competition was judged by the Florida Engineering Society.

Cody Summerlin talking with Royal Palm Beach HS SECME students before the Launch It water rocket contest

Summerlin's rocket Osprey on the launch pad

Palm Beach Post: Engineering competition draws 300 to South Florida Science Museum
WLRN: U.S. Lags In Science & Tech Education, While Science Fairs Boom In Palm Beach County

Seminole SECME 'Hawk Talk' newsletter Spring 2013

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In the Spring 2013 issue of the Seminole SECME 'Hawk Talk' newsletter

- Hawks Win Second Place at 2013 School District Olympiad
- NextEra Energy SECME Generator Build Competition
- Alumni Advise on Surviving College
- Math Midway exhibit at the Museum of Discovery and Science in Ft. Lauderdale
- Seminole SECME remembers Sandy Hook Elementary
- A Shout Out to Our Sponsors

Click here to download the attached PDF copy of our Seminole SECME 'Hawk Talk' newsletter Spring 2013 issue
Hawk Talk Winter 2013

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Mousetrap Cars: It's Not a Snap

Mission Solar System

NASA and DESIGN SQUAD NATION team up to inspire a new generation of engineers. This guide has six space-based hands-on challenges for school and afterschool programs.
http://pbskids.org/designsquad/pdf/parentseducators/dsn_nasa_missionsolarsystem_complete.pdf

In a universe filled with planets and moons, comets and asteroids, imagine a robot-controlled spaceship that can send a drill deep below the surface and pull up materials never before seen by human eyes. What secrets does an alien core hold? What mysteries will it reveal?

For more than half a century, NASA has inspired the scientific imaginations of young people through the challenge of space exploration. Now, the excitement of space engineering is available for kids in the classroom and in after-school programs through Mission: Solar System; from NASA and Design Squad Nation.

Mission: Solar System is a free, curriculum-based educational resource that includes everything you need to bring the exciting challenges of real NASA engineers to life. There are

• leader notes with detailed instructions for each challenge and ideas for making curriculum connections
• kids handouts’ with helpful tips and illustrations that enable kids to come up with their own unique solutions to each challenge.
• video profiles of young engineers that explore the direct link between each challenge in Mission: Solar System and real-world problem-solving at NASA.
• and do-it-yourself videos are included to model how a group of kids can brainstorm a variety of creative solutions.

Hawk Alumni Return to the Engineering Eyrie

Seminole Ridge High School hosted its annual alumni panel for current Seminole Ridge SECME students, in which former Hawks shared their thoughts on college and on life after high school.

The wide ranging talk covered from first day to financial aid, from meal plans to majoring in math. Cindy Nicole Dosch (Class of 2011), an accounting major at UF, and Caitlin Nicole Miller (Class of 2012), an engineering major at FAU, returned to their alma mater during their spring break to speak with Seminole SECME for an hour.

“Many seniors found the event helpful and appreciated the alumni sharing their college experiences,” guidance coordinator Sandy Baldwin said.




(left to right) Coach Ed Batchelor, Captains Cindy Dosch (2010-2011), Sam Smith (2012-2013), and Caitlin Miller (2011-2012), surrounded by multiyear members of Seminole Ridge SECME: (second row) James Carter, Cody Summerlin, Kadeem Spenser, Coach Erich Landstrom, Jessie Mendheim, and Ashleigh Cotterell



(left to right) Captains Caitlin Miller (2011-2012), Sam Smith (2012-2013), Cindy Dosch (2010-2011), and Coach Ed Batchelor

Roosevelt Middle Students Learn Real-World Applications For Engineering

In celebration of National Engineering Week, February 18-22, over 30 engineers from Lockheed Martin visited the pre-engineering magnet students at Roosevelt Middle School on Thursday, February 21.

The engineers worked on a series of building activities with approximately 240 pre-engineering students over a five hour period. The students were divided into small work groups and assigned the task of building a tower at least six inches tall that would support at least one can of tuna. The only materials the students were given were toothpicks and Dots candies. The small collaborative work groups brainstormed ideas, agreed on a concept, and constructed towers of all sizes and shapes under the watchful eyes of the team of Lockheed Martin engineers. Prizes were awarded to teams that achieved the goal.

“We learned real-world applications for engineering,” said sixth grader John-Mark Phillips. “We also learned that teamwork is very important when putting something together.”

Lockheed Martin engineers discussed the work being conducted at their Riviera Beach location. The engineers brought video, allowing students to see the products currently being worked on, including the Marlin Autonomous Underwater Vehicle™. Marlin is a small yellow submarine that inspects deepwater oil and gas structures, especially important following severe weather, to make sure the structure is safe to resume production. Its sensors and imaging equipment make it ideally critical to Florida’s maritime industries, resources and economy.

The Lockheed Martin engineers also talked about and showed video of the Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle. This is an unmanned, semi-submersible, semi-autonomous vehicle that uses sensors and imaging equipment to detect underwater mines to keep the sailors out of the minefield.

Other engineers then discussed their backgrounds, why they became engineers, and what they do on a daily basis. This was followed by a lengthy question and answer period, which gave our engineers of the future a chance to talk to current engineers. Students were curious about types of engineering jobs currently available, the types of math classes the Lockheed engineers took when they were in school, and how much money engineers make.

Lockheed Martin is a business partner with Roosevelt Middle and sits on the school’s magnet advisory board.

For more information, please contact Todd LaVogue, Magnet Coordinator, at 822-0261 or todd.lavogue@palmbeachschools.org.

Seeking Female Engineering Majors! – Students Learn from MIT Women Graduates

The School District of Palm Beach County was one of 10 school districts nationwide selected to participate in the MIT Women’s Initiative Program. The Women’s Initiative is a non-profit student group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that seeks to increase the number of females enrolled in engineering majors.

Female MIT undergraduates visited seven middle and high schools in Palm Beach County to speak with female students at each school about the importance of mathematics and science courses in preparation for engineering careers. All participants were given the opportunity to interact with two female engineering students as well as participate in a challenging engineering activity.

Lindsey Hornyak, a freshman at Boca Raton High School, said, “It was really fun and interesting to learn about the different types of engineering with my friends. I never knew there were so many kinds of engineering, and that I would consider engineering as my career.”

The following schools participated in the program: Boca Raton High School, Glades Central High School, Forest Hill High School, Lake Worth Middle School, Olympic Heights High School, Palm Beach Lakes High School, and West Boca Raton High School.

“The MIT Women’s Initiative provided our students with an opportunity to interact with female role models who have succeeded in the STEM fields. It is our hope that this will help our female students develop positive beliefs about women excelling and taking leadership roles in these fields. We are proud to have been selected for this program,” said Wendy Spielman King, K-12 Science Manager for the School District of Palm Beach County.

Kathryn Neinas, STEM Instructor at Boca Raton High School, said, “Having MIT female students come and present to our top STEM freshmen female students was an amazing experience. Exposing my young students to career opportunities that they may have never known about was very rewarding to me.”

For more information about the MIT Women’s Initiative, visit their website at http://web.mit.edu/wi/.

For more information, contact Wendy Spielman King at 561-357-1152 or via email at wendy.spielman@palmbeachschools.org.