Looking for something for the kids to do post-Thanksgiving?
Elemental Minds, a program offering hands-on enrichment in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) topics, has put together a program of robotics and science experiments to occupy kids while their parents return to work or go shopping Nov. 29 and 30.
The program was developed by Charles Souza Jr., recipient of a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching and a technology resource teacher with the state Department of Education. It is aimed at supplementing the DOE’s new core math curriculum.
"They’re going to be programming the robots, and then they’re going to engineer a device to add to the robot to complete a task," said Souza, who starting offering the camps earlier this year. "You program it to turn a certain number of degrees, and so we talk about angles and degrees and circles."
Students will also make cars powered by balloons, using cardboard and foam for the body and bottle caps for wheels, trying to determine what works best. "We have them race their balloon cars," he said. "They get to figure out how long, how short, do they use bigger caps or smaller caps," he said.
The program is also aimed at helping students develop communication and collaboration skills, Souza said, adding that these "21st-century skills" are absent in the state’s new math curriculum.
"We’re going to have them working in groups," he said. "We have them writing things down. We give them little engineering journals so they can record all their observations and have them present them to the group as well. So they learn leadership skills and presenting skills.
"It’s supporting what they’re getting in the new (school) programs and also preparing them for jobs."
Registration for the Nov. 29-30 program, which is for students in grades 3-6, is open until Nov. 22. Classes will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Kaneohe Elementary School, 45-495 Kamehameha Highway. Cost is $100 for one day or $180 for both. Up to 50 children can participate each day.
