On March 22, students participating in the 10-week Design Make Code course at the STEM Discovery Lab at UNH Manchester took flight with a lesson on aeronautics. Students in grades 6 through 8 from three of the local Manchester middle schools learned the basics of flight by building gliders out of foam plates.
Sean Tavares, assistant professor of mechanical engineering technology taught the class which was based on an educational activity developed by the Academy of Model Aeronautics. Students used templates to trace the design and then cut out the pieces and assembled their planes all the while learning about rudders, tails and fins. A penny added to the nose gave the proper balance needed for stability.
Then it was time to test the gliders. In the multi-purpose room, gliders soared across room as the students tested their planes and made a host of tiny adjustments trying to improve balance and to generate a flight path that was flat and straight.
“Being an engineer means learning to adjust your airplane,” Tavares said.
Tavares then set up a target and challenged the students to fly their gliders in a straight and level path to score direct hit. It was harder than it looked.
“My plane liked to go down to the ground, not straight,” said one seventh grade student from Southside.
“My glider seemed to go in a different direction than I wanted it to,” said an eighth grader from Hillside.
Still, everyone was smiling when they climbed back on the school bus with their creations.
If you are interested in STEM learning programs, there are summer youth programs available this summer on the Manchester campus for students in grades 4 through 8.
Design Make Code: Play to Invent will be offered twice this summer, July 11-15 and July 18-22 from 8:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. The program is open to students in middle school who are new to coding and would like to design and build art machines with littleBits, and fabricate controllers using Makey Makey to interact with Scratch-programmed animations, stories or games. Register online.
Design Make Code: Bots Adventures will be offered August 1-5 from 8:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Bots Adventure is for students in grades six to eight, and is recommended for students who have previously completed a Design Make Code class or have some coding experience. Participants will build robots with Arduino brains, combine art, design and engineering to improve their robots and work in Scratch to program controllers and electronics. Register online.
EPIC - Elementary Program Introducing Computing is open to students in grades four and five who are interested in robots, challenging puzzles and visual programming. Register online.
The Design Make Code school year program concludes Tuesday, April 19, with a yearend reception which is open to the public. Students will demonstrate what they have learned in the STEM Discovery Lab from 5 – 6 p.m. in UNH Manchester’s multipurpose room.
Learn more about the Summer Youth Program at UNH STEM Discovery Lab online, or contact the lab at unh.stemdiscoverylab@unh.edu or 603-641-4320.
