Week 1 at Mirdif - Summer Camp 2018

Report by Aryunna Nares - Lead Teacher

We had an amazing week at the Mirdif STEM Camp!

What an amazing group of participants we had this week!  It was great to see children from all backgrounds coming together to experience science in a fun and interactive way. 

On our first day, we introduced the idea of STEM and what it meant to be a member of the STEM learning environment.  We then had an opportunity to work on our first activity which was making a "foosball" pitch game.  The class got down to task and worked through all the aspects of preparing the components.  On completion, we tested and solved some of the working glitches.  Then came the fun, teachers playing against the students!  The footballers of the class, Abdulaziz and Ghaya showed some interesting techniques.  Well, we know who won, the students of course! 

Fidget Spinners!

After a break we went on to prepare the clay-mold for the fidget spinners. Beforehand, the students got to plan and design what their ideal spinner would look like. Aroush had a very interesting design that was like a lotus and would balance on a small bearing.   This gave them a comparison on how it would work in reality.  A lot of thought had to go into the practical aspect of the mold making.  If the mold was too thin it would crack and not support the spinner’s depth. We learned the weaknesses of the making the mold, but eventually all were complete and laid to dry.  The last major activity for the day was the introduction to coding.  The children were divided into groups and introduced to the different coding activities, one on one.  This was the first time for many of the students to work with coding, but there were a few surprises! Sheikha, one of our youngest members got up to level five on her first attempt!  We had Timidu working hard on Minecraft and a few other forums!  That concluded the first day, as students familiarized themselves with their classroom environment and the members of the group.

Monday...In the morning, Yousif would be ready tobuild different structures, with the ample types of construction materials available.   It was interesting to see which direction he would take with wood or plastic.  As the class came together, we started the first activity.  We all discussed the ways the lungs work and why they are important. We understood that air, which contains oxygen enters a nose or mouth to fill our lungs and carbon dioxide is expelled. We moved on to construct lungs in a bottle.  This was a little challenging as there were many steps to complete.  We welcome creativity and some of the students came up with alternative ideas, which is part of innovation.  Marwan and Haran worked cooperatively with other members in the class, assisting as well and making some interesting improvements on the initial design.   

After a break we went on to create a pollution catcher.  This entailed applying a lubricant on paper that would then pick up any particles in the air.  It was proven that the air inside the building was better than outside.  There were no particles on the classroom catchers!  To end the day, we worked on projects in LEGO’s WeDo Education packs.  We had some amazing Lego builders which was a pleasant surprise!  Saeed, Juma and Shamma worked through their projects with confidence, encouraging their partners as they went along. It is always great to see projects move, make sounds and interact with the environment.  For some students, this was a new activity, so instructors guided them and introduced the solution strategy ‘retrace your steps’ to help identify where things needed to be changed in order to have a successful project.  The fidget spinners were finalised made using glue and decorated, some of the molds were so well made they were used as a template, such as Shriya’s.  Home time was abuzz as students shared their day!

Tuesday...To start our third day, we worked on the idea of ‘vehicles in water’, where students built their own submarines.  They had to work out concepts of floating and living underwater, as well as movement.  There was a demonstration, then each student got a chance to see the submarine in action. Khalifa had some well informed facts on submarines and how they actually moved in the sea.   We then moved on to more coding, but with a twist.  Each student had to participate in a competition in the Moana coding activity. It was great to see on the second day how much students remembered from the first experience and how they found solutions.  They shared ideas, though held some back for that competitive edge.  We had Fatima and Maria reach the 19^th level which is the last level! Shayna wasn’t too far behind!  I can say confidently that it was an enjoyable ‘Hour of Coding’.  For the final activity of the day we created a compass.  We discussed why it would help knowing the directions.  If we lost our way how would we find out where north is and why we needed to know north and not any other direction.  Stephan shared some ideas about a compass and what he would use it for, I’m sure he wouldn’t get lost! So another day came to an end.  Students were eager to know what the following day held. 

Wednesday started off with an engineering activity.  This involved the students building a structure that was tall and could hold weight when completed.  They were introduced to the triangular pyramid which many structures in the world follow.  However, students came up with their own ideas which was awesome to see.  Mariam, Maryam and Moza came up with a pogoda looking structure which the whole class was in awe of.  Hasan built a walled city, something similar to Westeros! We had an array of towers with unique names, some scary and some very inviting! After lunch we made a jellyfish, or as the students called it ‘octojellypus’.  This came from the bizarre tentacles that were made and the roundish head we made.  Emma and Valentina’s were both quite good looking jelly masses moving in the enclosed sea.  We moved on to do the next step in our Lego robotics building.  Students got straight onto the task and were confident in open up the program and construction a number of projects.  It was great to see the achievements and the growing confidence. Mark and Rayan were finished quickly with their first projects.   An awesome way to end the day.

Our final day in a busy and creative week, we began with making a wind gauge, an anemometer.  The question from many was why would there be a need to see how fast the wind was going and in which direction.  Since Dubai experienced a massive dust storm a week previous, it was used to answer and explain these questions.  I was pleased to see Neil try on his own to complete all aspects of construction, with success.  He also won our Lego egg prize in the following games. Donuts abound, we had a taste of this scrumptious treat, as a way of winding down and letting students know we appreciated and enjoyed their input no matter how big or small, it created our week with them and each other.

After that we has a few games as a chance for the students to socialize and strengthen friendships that had built through the week. Our finally activity was coding and we were glad to see the students pick partners that they had not worked with before.  At the end of the day students took away their budding seeds that they had planted earlier in the week, along with a certificate representing their participation, and a t-shirt from STEM for Kids to each student. 

We would like to thank the children and parent who have supported us in our first week of STEM.  We look forward to seeing the children again for another round of exploring, experimenting and excitement!