6 minute read
Sparking STEM Curiosity
STEM and STEAM have been fundamental parts of the educational experience for students for some time. The process of integrating science, technology, engineering, math, and sometimes the arts into lessons allows students the opportunity to utilize a variety of skills to complete a project. Cimarron Springs Middle School has been working for the past couple of years to make STEM and STEAM a prominent part of the school’s identity.
“Last year at Cimarron Springs we started our first ever STEAM Night, and I reached out to community members to participate in the event,” said Delani Ferguson, Assistant Principal.
In attendance were a wide variety of participants including the Surprise Police Department with their drones and a K-9 unit, Career and Technical Education displays from high school students, and a variety of other STEM related activities.
Mrs. Ferguson also reached out to the Air Force to see if they would be interested in coming, and that’s when she found out about their new Thunderbolt Spark Cell.
The Spark Cell, established in 2021, is part of the 56th Fighter Country Innovation Team, and works to accomplish their missions in innovative ways. The Spark Cell has support from AFWERX, which is an Air Force entity that expands technology, talent, and transition partnerships with outside organizations in order to bring the military more rapid and affordable capability.
“We focus more on hands-on product development,” said Staff Sergeant Michael Jestes. “So say someone in the Air Force indicates their job would be way easier with a specialized tool. We design, develop, and build a specialized tool with a 3D printer, CNC machine, or whatever we need to get the job done.”
The Air Force Spark Cell brought out virtual reality equipment and drones, a 3D printing machine, and gave out 3D printed coins for their Spark unit.
“It was a big hit,” said Ferguson. “It was probably the most popular area for STEAM night.”
After that, it was clear that the students were absolutely amazed with what the Airmen were doing, but also that the Air Force was keen on continuing to be involved in the Cimarron Springs community. They reached out and talked with Mrs. Ferguson on how they could partner in the future. As it turns out, Cimarron Springs had a STEM Club, and a couple Airmen had an idea of how they could work to spark imagination and enthusiasm in the middle schoolers.
So after two airmen, Staff Sergeants Demitruis Benoit and Michael Jestes, met with the school over the summer, the Cimarron Springs RC Club was born. The idea was simple, teach a group of students how to build RC cars. As it turns out, that’s a popular project. Seventy-five students showed up for the after school club.
There would be two teams. The first would focus on the coding and electronics aspect of the car. They would learn C++ using a cloud-based open-source electronic prototyping platform.
As the two staff sergeants and teachers quickly realized, coding was definitely the more challenging aspect of the RC car build, and it needed to be broken down into digestible sessions for the students. Staff Sergeant Demitruis Benoit provided a foundational piece of code for the students, and then had them retype it out while explaining what each line of code does, what it’s for, what it needs to accomplish, and what results the students should be looking for.
“You really have to be interested in the coding part to be here,” said Benoit. “I think they are having fun with it. They’re asking questions. They’re running up with their computers making sure they did the right thing.”
The second part of the RC car was a bit more fun for the students. While one group worked on coding, the second learned how to actually 3D print the shell.
“We started with the course that we use in the Air Force, the Introduction to 3D Printing course,” said Staff Sergeant Michael Jestes. “So it goes through how to use the software to run a 3D printer, how to change settings for what you need, those sorts of things. That was our first class.”
After that, the students learned post-processing, removing support material, prepping the product off the printer to be used, and partial assembly of the structure of the car to prepare for the coding side.
Alex Johnson, an 8th grader at Cimarron Springs Middle School, joined the club because it seemed interesting to build and design a car. Alex is one of the students who became so interested in the project, he attends both the coding and 3D printing sessions to learn as much as he can.
“The instructors from the Air Force are very kind, and they know what they are doing,” said Johnson. “It’s real fun. You get to hang out with friends and interact with what you are building. We’ve written a lot of code in Arduino.”
After both teams finalized their portion of the car, it was time for a collaboration event where the coding students and 3D printing students got together to assemble and create a functional car. That was something Faith Richason, a 7th grader, was excited about. She got involved in the club because she had some experience and wanted to take her projects to the next level.
“I’ve been 3D printing for a while now,” she said. “I just wanted to learn how to code and combine the two things and be able to create mechanical, actual working things. I recently created a mechanical dinosaur using a 3D printer, and I’ve been trying to make the limbs move.”
After the cars were assembled, students had the opportunity to learn about Computer Aided Design (CAD), where they got to stylize their cars a bit with spoilers and accessories. For the final part of the project and club, the students got to hold a Grand Prix where they raced their cars. For students like Faith, as they learned about coding and the practical applications for this type of skill, they could see the future benefits. Faith hopes to be a paleontologist or entomologist when she grows up, and she thinks 3D printing could help in a variety of ways.
“Being able to collaborate with everyone and work with the military to be able to do this, they are really skilled in knowing how to do the coding and put everything together,” she said. “I think also just the fact that we are not just learning how to do one thing, this isn’t just how to code an RC car, we are learning how to type code that could apply to many different things and have that skill.
Mrs. Ferguson echoes that same sentiment, and is grateful that the airmen decided to help create this after school club where students could learn.
“They are gifting us their time and their expertise and the kids absolutely love that they are here,” said Ferguson.
