Middle School Programs

Key Information Grades: 6–8 Length: 1 hour Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students

Key Information Grades: 6-8 Length: 1 hour Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students

Key Information Grades: 6–8 Length: 1 hour Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students

Key Information Grades: 6–8 Length: 1.25 hours Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students

Key Information Grades: 6–8 Length: 1–1.5 hours Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students

Bill of Material Zipline Challenge

Students will design and build their own ziplines to safely carry a passenger (ping pong ball) down a zipline in less than four seconds. Followed by slowing their zipline down to take longer than eight seconds. Students will be given “money” and material constraints. They will fill out a Bill of Materials to purchase the items they’d like after they’ve designed their zipline as a group.

Industrial Engineering

Students will spend an hour working in groups of four to learn about industrial engineering. They will work to streamline their own assembly process of LEGO airplanes. Students will compete against each other to build the most efficient assembly line, meaning they have assembled the most planes per minute with the lowest defect rate.

Crash Test Cars

Students explore and experience the open-ended engineering design process as if they are the next-generation engineers working on the next big safety feature for passenger vehicles. They are challenged to design or improve an existing passenger compartment design/feature so that it better withstands front-end collisions, protecting riders from injury and resulting in minimal vehicle structural damage. With a raw egg as the test passenger, teams use provided building materials to add their own safety features onto a small-size wooden car kit. They run the prototypes down ramps into walls.

MS-PS2-1

Unplugged Artificial Intelligence

Students will learn how AI can identify images and how deep fakes are created through acting as neural networks. These activities simulate deep learning where nodes pass information to one another. This activity works best with a minimum of 18 students.

The Catapult

Students will use their knowledge of simple machines to build a compound machine. They will design their catapult to consist of a lever and wheel-and-axel. Given building materials, students will design and build their catapult to launch a mini marshmallow three meters. Students will be introduced to potential vs. kinetic energy.

Key Information Grades: 6–8 Length: 1 hour Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students

Key Information Grades: 6–8 Length: 1 hour Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students

Key Information Grades: 6–8 Length: 1 hour Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students

Key Information Grades: 6–8 Length: 1 hour Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students

Key Information Grades: 6–8 Length: 1 hour Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students

Key Information Grades: 6–8 Length: 1 hour Fee: $5.00 per student Limit: 30 students First, students will learn about functions of a healthy heart. Then students will be challenged to design and construct a replacement mitral valve that allows blood cells (marbles) to flow from the left atrium to the left ventricle, but not back in the other direction when the box is tipped. The sign of success is how many marbles pass through the left ventricle when the box is tipped, and then how many marbles remain there when the box is tipped the other way. Once a valve is ready to test, students implant it between the two chambers (in the box model) and test their model by placing marbles on the left atrium side and tipping the box toward the left ventricle.

Robotics Workshops

*must be done at the We Energies STEM Center at MSOE

Students will spend an hour learning coding basics and then programming robots to run a series of on the spot mazes.

Wind Turbines

Students will design wind turbines to transform wind energy into electrical energy. They will work in teams to create a propeller design out of paper clips, index cards/cardboard, a cork, scissors and tape. A testing station will be set up with a motor, voltmeter and fan. Students will be challenged to make improvements to their design in order to get the highest voltmeter reading.

Light My Home

Students will learn how to draw a schematic, wire a circuit using a breadboard and use that knowledge to design and wire a cardboard house. They will understand the use of various electrical components and learn how to build basic circuits.

Electromagnetism

Students will build a simple electric motor using a neodymium magnet and magnet wire. We will discuss terms like current, electromagnet, and magnetic fields. They will learn how magnetic fields cause the wire to continuously rotate.

Design a Space Lander

Students are given a scenario where they are hired by NASA to create a space lander that meets design constraints. They must keep the astronauts (large marshmallows) safe as well as land their space craft safely when dropped from different heights. Students will work through the engineering design process to build their space lander and meet the constraints.