STEM-In-Action Follow Up: Whiz Kids
As we enter into the last month before our National Judging and Educational Event, we are wrapping up the year for our STEM-In-Action grant winners. If you are just tuning in, the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) STEM-In-Action Grant awards eCYBERMISSION teams up to $5,000 to develop their projects into mature and scalable solutions in their community. Last year, 5 teams were lucky enough to receive this grant and, if you have been following along, we have been catching up with each of them to see how their projects have progressed. We have just one more to catch up with and today we are heading to the Midwest to catch up with the Whiz Kids!
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Over the past year we have been working on a project that involves making concrete and using stamp sand as the fine aggregate. For this project, we tested multiple mixes with varying amounts of stamp sand and beach sand as the fine aggregate. We tested the compressive strength using a hydraulic load frame. While completing this project we did outreach at two local schools.
Over the past few months, our team, the Whiz Kids, has visited all the elementary classes at Lake Linden-Hubbell Elementary except second grade, as well as fifth grade at Calumet-Laurium-Keweenaw Elementary School which has approximately 250 students. During our visits, we helped students make concrete paperweights and explained to them what stamp sand is and how it has impacted on our region.
Prior to visiting the classes, we measured the coarse aggregate, fine aggregate (stamp sand and beach sand), and Portland cement, and put them in containers. The project we completed with them involved making concrete paperweights using milk cartons as the form and 3D printed school logos for the top. To make these paper weights, our team mixed the concrete with the help of the students. We filled the molds while the students tamped the concrete to remove the air bubbles within the concrete and smoothed the top off. Then the students put the school logos into the concrete and put them in a spot to cure. While the project was going on, we talked with the students about stamp sand and its historical significance. We also discussed why we used stamp sand as an ingredient in the concrete and about its abundance in our area.
Overall, the students seemed to enjoy the project and we received positive feedback from them. Many of the students like mixing the concrete and liked learning about stamp sand. Our past teachers were interested in our project and thought it was well planned out. This project was a good way for the students to learn about the history of stamp sand while having fun making paperweights.
While doing this outreach we were interviewed by local news organizations. We were first approached by ABC 10 to do an interview about our work with the students. Then a local newspaper company approached us and wrote up a story about our project and the work we did with the elementary students. You can catch them here:
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Here at Mission Control we are so proud of all the accomplishments of the Whiz Kids team. Not only did they set out to solve a problem in their community, but they got the community involved in their efforts by visiting students, educating them on the stamp sand uses and then having them help in the implementation of their project. We can’t wait to hear more from this team as they continue down the road to making their community a better place to live.
-Mission Control
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Over the past year we have been working on a project that involves making concrete and using stamp sand as the fine aggregate. For this project, we tested multiple mixes with varying amounts of stamp sand and beach sand as the fine aggregate. We tested the compressive strength using a hydraulic load frame. While completing this project we did outreach at two local schools.
Over the past few months, our team, the Whiz Kids, has visited all the elementary classes at Lake Linden-Hubbell Elementary except second grade, as well as fifth grade at Calumet-Laurium-Keweenaw Elementary School which has approximately 250 students. During our visits, we helped students make concrete paperweights and explained to them what stamp sand is and how it has impacted on our region.
Prior to visiting the classes, we measured the coarse aggregate, fine aggregate (stamp sand and beach sand), and Portland cement, and put them in containers. The project we completed with them involved making concrete paperweights using milk cartons as the form and 3D printed school logos for the top. To make these paper weights, our team mixed the concrete with the help of the students. We filled the molds while the students tamped the concrete to remove the air bubbles within the concrete and smoothed the top off. Then the students put the school logos into the concrete and put them in a spot to cure. While the project was going on, we talked with the students about stamp sand and its historical significance. We also discussed why we used stamp sand as an ingredient in the concrete and about its abundance in our area.
Overall, the students seemed to enjoy the project and we received positive feedback from them. Many of the students like mixing the concrete and liked learning about stamp sand. Our past teachers were interested in our project and thought it was well planned out. This project was a good way for the students to learn about the history of stamp sand while having fun making paperweights.
While doing this outreach we were interviewed by local news organizations. We were first approached by ABC 10 to do an interview about our work with the students. Then a local newspaper company approached us and wrote up a story about our project and the work we did with the elementary students. You can catch them here:
- “Whiz Kids Have Concrete Solution For Stamp Sands” (Keweenaw Report, ABC 10) http://www.keweenawreport.com/news/local-news/whiz-kids-have-concrete-solution-for-stamp-sands/
- “LL-H students contribute to Whiz Kids’ sand project” (Daily Mining Gazette) http://www.mininggazette.com/news/2018/11/ll-h-students-contribute-to-whiz-kids-sand-project/
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Here at Mission Control we are so proud of all the accomplishments of the Whiz Kids team. Not only did they set out to solve a problem in their community, but they got the community involved in their efforts by visiting students, educating them on the stamp sand uses and then having them help in the implementation of their project. We can’t wait to hear more from this team as they continue down the road to making their community a better place to live.
-Mission Control
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