VALPARAISO — Patricia English’s third-graders continued their exploration of science and mathematics while taking a field trip to the Air Force Armament Museum on Eglin Air Force Base.
The class of 16 students received insight from science and mathematical specialists there and at the Okaloosa STEMM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medical –Center in Valparaiso on Thursday.
Paul Maryeski, co-director of the museum's Engineers for America program, said their resources can motivate students toward pursuing an engineering career.
“It truly serves as a motivational step for the students,” he stated in an email. “The young engineers can see engineering success stories right before their eyes.”
At the STEMM center, students learned programming terminology −like initialize, variables and sensors –and put those words to use when programming a Lego robotic airplane.
Beth Hanning, of the Doolittle Institute at the STEMM center, taught students about similarities between robots and humans.
“(Robots) take input from their sensors just like humans get information about their surroundings from their senses,” Hanning said in an email. “(They) also found out that robots process information just like humans process information in their brain.”
“I didn’t know I could do this,” said Northwood student Sha’Leah Warren after learning how to program the airplane robot using the program.
That's the point, teachers said.
“My goal is always to get students interested in science and math through as many hands-on opportunities as possible,” English said.
English said many of her students were surprised to learn that women could be engineers and computer programmers.
Students also learned how to measure heat absorption over sand, water and air during an experiment.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Matthew Brown, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Northwood class visits STEMM center, Armament Museum during field trip