Engineering is Fun, Eighth-graders Learn
at National Engineers Week Outreach Event
Ioana Patringenaru | Fenruary 25, 2008
Forrest Herndon, a student at Pershing Middle School, learns about making holograms.
They learned how to extract DNA from strawberries. They helped make holograms. They built six-foot-tall towers out of plastic straws, paper clips and tape. About 400 San Diego middle school students got to know more about studying engineering at UCSD Wednesday, when they took part in a massive outreach effort organized by student organizations at the Jacobs School of Engineering.
Scores of UCSD students turned out to volunteer for the event, dubbed Enspire. The idea was to make a connection between fun and engineering, said Jeanne Ferrante, associate dean of the Jacobs School.
“A lot of people think engineering means working alone in a cubicle,” she told eighth-graders gathered in the Price Center Ballroom Wednesday morning. “But it’s really different and it’s really exciting.”
The United States will soon face a major shortage of engineers, as fewer students earn an engineering degree in this country. Enspire’s goal is to help close this gap by getting more students excited about becoming the profession, organizers said. The event was part of a weeklong celebration of National Engineers Week at the Jacobs School.
On a rainy Wednesday morning, dozens of engineering students gathered just outside the Price Center Ballroom, waiting for students from Gompers Charter and Pershing middle schools to arrive. The undergraduates had planned a full day for the middle school students, including campus tours, visits to laboratories and a design competition.
Lab visits
Robert Parker, a student at Gompers Charter Middle School, helps build a tower out of drinking straws.
After a brisk walk from their buses to the ballroom, eighth-graders linked up with their UCSD student guides and went off to explore. Many of them landed in the basement of Engineering Building 1, where graduate student Josh Windmiller and three undergraduates welcomed them to their lab and demonstrated how to make a hologram.
Windmiller repeatedly asked for volunteers during the demonstration. First, one of the eighth-graders held the trigger that would fire a laser onto a plate to record the hologram. Then students contributed objects to make a hologram. One student handed her cell phone, another her keys. “Don’t worry, you’ll get them back,” Windmiller reassured.
Then, the room went dark and the volunteer middle school student pulled the trigger. Windmiller explained the hologram would have to be developed in a series of chemical baths, just like a photograph. Meanwhile, he answered students’ questions. Did 3-D movies use the same process as holograms? One asked. No, Windmiller answered. How about the holograms you see on baseball cards? They use a somewhat similar process, the grad student said.
Finally, the hologram was developed and another Pershing student got to use a hair dryer to dry it. Windmiller handed the keys and cell phones back. “It’s all intact,” he said. Then he passed the hologram around. “That’s is so cool,” one student said. “Not very many people have done this,” Windmiller pointed out. “I want to go here,” one Pershing student said before leaving the lab.
A science fair
Jeanne Ferrante, associate dean at the Jacobs School of Engineering, speaks to middle school students Wednesday at the Price Center Ballroom.
After some more touring, students came back to the Price Center Ballroom, where several engineering student organizations had set up tables with fun activities. UCSD senior Madeleine Chiu doled out water, cornstarch and food coloring to make Oobleck, a gooey substance that falls from the sky in Dr. Seuss’ “Bartholomew and the Oobleck.” Oobleck, she pointed out, is a non-Newtonian fluid, meaning it will turn solid under pressure.
At a nearby table, Peyton Paulick and Andrew Wong, outreach chairs of the UCSD chapter of the Biomedical Engineering Society, showed eighth-graders how to extract DNA from a strawberry. First, smash strawberries to a pulp. Then run them through a solution of shampoo, salt and water, which will break up the nucleus of the strawberry cells and release their DNA. Then add rubbing alcohol, mix and – voila – the strawberries’ DNA will float right up in a tangled, whitish clump.
Wednesday’s event really allowed students to experience hands-on some of the science concepts they learn in their classes, said Tom Haakma, technology director for Gompers Charter Middle School. It also exposed them to a college atmosphere, he said.
A design competition
UCSD students Nam Nguyen and Aaron Deal show off a human-powered submarine.
The day ended with a design contest. Eighth-graders formed teams and vied with other Gompers and Pershing students to build towers, bridges and free-form creations out of drinking straws, paper clips and tape. UCSD students helped each team along. Within half an hour, some structures rose more than six feet. Some swayed; others stood firm. Bridges were loaded with cereal bars, water bottles and pencils, to show they could carry weight. Jacobs School Dean Frieder Seible and Associate Deans Charles Tu and Ferrante judged students’ creations.
Isaac Ramos, a Gompers eighth-grader, said he enjoyed his day at UCSD, especially when he learned how to make Oobleck. Science and math are his favorite subjects in school and he would like to study business and engineering, he added.
“It’s a great experience because most kids don’t have these kinds of choices,” said Isaac, 13. “You get to look at all these great things.”
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