Local middle schoolers are poised to invent, create and problem solve in the Makers! 4-H SPIN Club. Hosted in partnership with UNH Cooperative Extension at UNH Manchester's STEM Discovery Lab, the four-week program gives students fun, hands-on engineering projects from rockets to bots.
This fall's 4-H SPIN Club kicked off on October 14 and is made up of 11 students in grades 4 to 6.
Lab partners Sarah and Eva joined the Makers! 4-H SPIN Club to explore their interests in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Both agreed their favorite STEM disciplines were math and science.
“I love STEM,” Sarah said.
Across the lab, Gibson and Teghan had different reasons for joining the Makers! Club.
“I’m really into science, robots and robotics, that’s why I decided to take this class,” Gibson said.
His lab partner, Teghan, joined for similar reasons.
“I thought I’d make friends, and I wanted to learn more science and to build robots,” he said.
Luckily for the two of them, the title of the Wednesday evening class was EcoBot Challenge. The students would build and program a robot made out of a toothbrush, a watch battery, a motor and a bit of tape.
Instructing the class was Therese Mehrmann, who earned her B.A. in Biology from UNH Manchester.
“My goal is to be a middle school science teacher,” Mehrmann said. “I enjoy teaching, and I’ve taught the Cooperative Extension Stream Safari class as well.”
Eva and Sarah were excited to start building their EcoBot, but while waiting for instructions, they were still talking about the rocket they built in the Makers Club the previous week.
“My favorite part was stomping on the bottle and watching our rocket fly,” Eva said.
Sarah nodded. “Our rocket went the furthest but when it landed the tip bent and we had to fix it so that our rocket could fly again,” she said.
A bright orange rocket leaned up against the whiteboard in the classroom, and Teghan and Gibson proudly raised their hands when asked who built it. When asked which part of the rocket class was the most fun, Gibson said launching the rocket was his favorite part. Teghan said he enjoyed building and launching, and couldn't pick a favorite.
“It’s sort of like the tacos we had for dinner last week,” Teghan said. “Tacos are fun to make and fun to eat. Rockets are fun to build and fun to launch. I like doing both.”
Learn more about the UNH STEM Discovery Lab and its programs online or via email. For more information about UNH Cooperative Extension, click here.
