Author: kdahlke2@illinois.edu

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Kenwood Field Trip

Event title: Kenwood Field Trip

Location: Mechanical Engineering Laboratory and Digital Computer Laboratory

Date: November 4th, 2016

ENVISION partnered with POETS to host 75 4th and 5th graders from Kenwood Elementary. The kids played with LEGO Mindstorm kits in the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory, where they programmed robots to move in a specific shape.

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The students then moved over to DCL to build water roller coasters with aluminum foil coated with a superhydrophobic material. The goal was to transport water from start to finish without any leaking. Their roller coaster ride had to have at least 1 turn and needed a unique name. Some of the names from today’s event were “Wolf’s Tail” and “Dragon’s Eye”.

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One of the teachers overheard four different students say “Best fieldtrip ever!”

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Champagin Library-Engineering Design Day

Event Title: Engineering Design Day

Location: Champaign Public Library

Date: September 22, 2016

The students rotated through three hands on activities during their time at the library.

At the catapult construction station, the students built catapults using craft popsicle sticks, rubber bands and hot glue. The students made adjustments to the launch angle and stick length to maximize the launch distance of various objects.

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At the paper columns station, the students made columns using construction paper and learned that circular columns are stronger relative to triangular and square due to the lack of stress concentrations at the edges. The students then made adjustments to their columns to support the most amount of books as possible!

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At the ball run station, the students were challenged to design a ball drop to move a ball along the wall in both the horizontal and vertical directions using the minimum amount of materials.

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