By Stephanie Bunker
Moapa Valley Progress
Fifth graders at Perkins Elementary school in Moapa want to be engineers when they grow up! At least that’s the idea that the Nellis STARBASE program is offering as an option to the students.
Throughout the month of February, a team of retired military veterans and other instructors came to Perkins Elementary to show the 5th grade class how their current studies can be applied through STEM Education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.)
The STARBASE Program, funded by the Department of Defense, has been around for 20 years and works with 80,000 kids a year nation-wide. Nellis Air Force Base houses the STARBASED Program here in Clark County where they are able to teach about 1000 kids a year. They target Title 1 schools or kids that otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity, such as those in rural schools.
Normally the students would travel to Nellis five times a month where they would learn and participate in hands on activities. But because of the long distance between Nellis and Perkins, the STARBASE instructors opted to come to the students. Myles Judd, the Nellis STARBASE Director, explained that they had no other schools coming on those days so the team packed up their gear and traveled to Moapa.
The STARBASED instructors helped the students engineer a device to hold eggs secure through a pulley system and survive a crash against the wall. They also programmed a robot to do simple tasks. The kids learned about physics, Newton’s Law, and even got to shoot off a rocket.
One of the most inspiring technology for the kids was a 3D printer. Nellis uses the printer to create dog tags for servicemen, but many things can be made with the printer. For the kids Judd made a plastic troll. He demonstrated that things designed on the computer can be printed out on the 3D printer such as a wheel on a skate board.
“Technology truly inspires kids to get into science,” Judd said. “Especially when they see they can design a skate board on the computer and print it out.”
On Tuesday, March 5, the 5th grade class took a field trip to Nellis Airforce base where they were able to tour the STARBASE program facility.
The students checked out what the STARBASE folks call the “Petting Zoo,” also known as the cockpit of an F16. They also met a female F16 pilot.
There at the facility the students were actually able to see the 3D printer in action. They conducted more experiments, and toured the base’s Fire Department.
Judd commented that this youth program is amazing in realizing the kids’ potential.
“The Department of Defense knows if they don’t inspire kids to go into these fields, they won’t have the edge in America,” Judd said.
STARBASE predicts that during this decade, employment in science and engineering occupations is expected to increase at almost four times the rate for all occupations. They say that more graduate degrees are needed in this country in engineering, mathematics and computer science.
This program helps the students in their studies throughout the year as well. It is modeled toward the CRT’s (Criterion Referenced Tests), the standardized test that elementary school kids take every year.
Judd commented that the experiments and reinforced labs are hands-on so the kids don’t forget.
“The class is so excited about the possibility of going in to an engineering career,” said Perkins fifth grade teacher Valerie Morgan. “They loved the hands on experience.”
Morgan explained that the STARBASE instructors teach things that there is no way a class room teacher could provide due to lack of experience, money, and equipment. She predicts she will see an increase in test scores.
