Successful Summer STEM Program for Rural South Kern County
School of Social Sciences and Education
Kathleen M. Knutzen, Ph.D., Dean
www.csub.edu/sse
|
(661) 654-2219
|
sse@csub.edu
Camp BLAST! History
Origins
• Started in 2011 with the a mini-grant from NASA Summer of
Innovation
• The goal was to target 200 middle school students from a rural
underrepresented middle-school students in Lamont, CA to offer a
NASA Summer of Innovation Academy Rocketry Camp focused on
encouraging the students to pursue the academic disciplines in
STEM
• The camp was administered by the university under a grant from the
Aerospace, Education Research and Operations (AERO) Institute in
Palmdale, affiliated with NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center
• CSUB & NASA provided PD aligned with NASA lessons to prepare
teachers for the camp
• Utilized Moodle to run and deliver lessons
• 13 Credential students both Single and Multiple Subject were
partnered with district teachers
Camp BLAST Today! Five Years Later
Student Population Served for 2015 Camp
BLAST!
• 346 students from 3 rural districts/ 5 school
sites
• 99% Free/reduced lunch
• 46% female
• 24% were identified as limited English
proficient (scored a 3 or lower on the
CELDT)
• 40% of parent population has an education
level of 9th grade or lower *based on Lamont
Elementary School District only
• 17% migrant
• 21 co-teach pairs
• 37 Residents & MSTI
• 6 district teachers
Importance of Partnership
Leveraging Funds & Partnerships
• Taft College provided specialized scientific rocket
building supplies for the Lamont rocketry camp
• Teacher Quality Partnership Grant
• District Migrant funds
• Other small grants
• Math Science Teacher Initiative
• FabLab
Objectives
Camp BLAST! Objectives
For both Pre-service & 4th-8th grade students
• Engage students in STEM projects that connect the
physical world with the digital
• Promote teamwork, critical thinking, intrinsic motivation,
and interdisciplinary content connections
• Introduce the EDP (NGSS aligned Engineering Design
Process) to help teach students methods of perseverance
in problem solving
APPENDIX I – Engineering
Design in the NGSS
Define
Specify criteria
and constraints
that a possible
solution to a
simple problem
must meet
Optimize
Improve a
solution based on
results of simple
tests, including
failure points
Develop
Solutions
Research and
explore multiple
possible
solutions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEyh9E2e1c&feature=youtu.be
Engineering Design Process
Computer
Programming
Water
Bottle
Rockets
Engineering
Design
Process
Circuitry
Robotics
Curriculum Map
Grades
(incoming)
Week #1
4th-5th
Circuits &
Programming
6th-7th
Robotics #1
Week #2
Week #3
Week #4
Rockets &
Hybrid Robotics
Computer Art #1 & #2
CSUB
Culminating
Week
Circuits &
Programming
CSUB
Culminating
Week
Robotics#2
MARBLE RUN
(DESIGN CHALLENGE)
With the supplied materials, create and use five
ramps that set the marble in cup at the bottom of
the board. Using a timer, record your fastest time.
available materials:
• pegboard (2’ by 4’)
• wooden dowels
• cardboard
• scissors
• tape (clear and duct)
• plastic cup
• marble
Marble Run Challenge
Water Rocket Challenge
Teaching Vocabulary and Basic Concepts
Concepts First
FABLAB
The FabLab was used as a place to create
teaching manipulatives for summer
camp.
Scratch Programming
Manipulatives
Teaching manipulatives were created
from fablab.
Nametags
Created from laser cutter and stickers
were from the vinyl cutter in the CSUFabLab
CSU-FabLab
The FabLab was also
used by kids to design
equipment for their
summer camp
projects.
Pixel Creations were created from
FabLab lessons, used outside of the Lab.