By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
Dozens of budding young scientists got a hands-on jump start to their scientific careers last week when they attended STARBASE science camp at the Educational Support Center on the Moapa River Indian Reservation. The week-long camp, open to all youth in 4-6 grades, was developed by the Department of Defense and taught by Nellis AFB Program Director Myles Judd and his team of teachers.
The program was hosted locally last week for the 10th year in a row by the Moapa Educational Support Center. Although the camp is paid for by a grant and is free to participants, this year’s local enrollment was down. So the camp had students taking advantage of the opportunity daily from as far away as Boulder City, Las Vegas, and Mesquite.
STARBASE focuses on STEM-related activities (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) to help kids develop a love for what has become the fastest-growing job field in the world. Instructors are able to pack a remarkable amount of learning, combined with hands-on activities to support their lessons, into their week. In fact, according to Judd, in one week they are able to cover all the next generation STEM standards for 5th grade.
The program has been proven to raise school test scores 17% to 21% in STEM areas for students who complete the camp. The camp has served over one million kids nationwide, with the Nellis AFB instructional team having taught 4,100 of those kids.
The curriculum covers a variety of subjects and activities. Kids were able to learn about grid systems and coordinates and go on a GPS hike. They also studied electricity and circuits and built a circuit that lit a lamp with the help of Snap Circuits. They learned about Bernoulli’s Principle and the principles of flight while shooting straw, water, and Estes rockets, among other things. They spent time on computers learning computer-aided drafting with the help of a CAD program called PTC Creo, which they used to build a virtual submarine, space shuttle, and even a satellite station.
The curriculum also included instruction in robots, with the use of Lego NXT robots, which the kids learned to program. Then using the information they had learned hands-on, the kids had a challenge to figure out how to make their robot move from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. They also had to use math skills to extrapolate how long it would take their robot to move various distances.
Chemistry experiments were also a big hit. Students learned about endothermic and exothermic reactions by measuring temperatures in experiments done with laundry soap (exothermic) and Alka Seltzer (endothermic).
They also learned about chromatography by doing an experiment with markers.
One of their favorite challenges was called the Eggbert Challenge where the kids had to study Newton’s first law of motion and put what they learned into action by developing a safety restraint system for an egg with materials that included everything from rubber bands and cotton balls to packing peanuts and pipe cleaners.
“This is a great activity because it combines so many skills,” Judd said. “They have the engineering design part, of course, but they are also given an allowance and they have to “buy” the materials for their project so they have to learn to budget, which makes it a math problem also. Then their project has a weight limit so it becomes a measurement problem as well.”
Students loved the variety and hand-on approach that the camp took, as well as the interaction with their instructors, who closed out the camp by hosting a hot dog cookout for all attendees.
“I really liked the camp and my favorite part was shooting off the rockets,” said participant Layla Moncrief. “I also learned how to use PTC Creo and that was really fun.”
“I really thought that learning about the gasses in the atmosphere was interesting,” said student Melissa Rubio. “I learned that our air is full of oxygen, nitrogen, and other gasses. It was interesting and made me really enjoy science.”
Della Frank, Educational Opportunities Unit Project Facilitator for the Moapa Band of Paiutes, was thrilled that Judd’s team could come put on the camp again this year. “We are so grateful that Myles and his team can come put on this camp even though we have fewer students than his grant requires,” Frank said. “It is so beneficial to our area. I hear back from teachers that it just ignites a passion for learning in the students that attend. That was the purpose from the beginning: to let the kids focus on the experience of learning without the stress of grades. It allows them to become little scientists.”
