SciGirls 2 2014: Day 8-Atkins and Chaos Towers

Today was all about engineering (the 'E' in STEM). The girls started the day with a visit from ATKINS; they got to speak with five different female engineers! Each engineer shared a little background information about their careers; one even helped out with the engineering on the tree-to-tree zipline course we did last Wednesday! After learning a bit about our guest speakers, our girls were challenged with an engineering task: building straw towers. The girls had to build straw towers with a limited amount of tape, paperclips, and straws. Their tower had to hold a can of ginger-ale for at least a minute. Most girls were successful at completing this task, and the ones that weren't were able to tell us what changes they would make to make their tower stable. The girls practiced a lot of different scientific skills; for example, testing, revision, team-work, and communication! The SciGirls teachers were very proud of the work our campers completed :) :)

After stopping to refuel our energy at lunch, the SciGirls teachers gave the girls a new challenge building chaos towers! The girls were given a brief introduction to the towers and the parameters in which they were judged, total marble race time, creativity, and teamwork. To add further incentive, besides bragging rights, were rice krispy cupcakes! The girls were working extremely hard in building these towers and impressed the SciGirls once again! We are proud to congratulate Annie, Porschia, and Emily as the first place winners!

Girls, get ready for another exciting day; we are going to the Florida Gulf Specimen Marine Lab tomorrow!!!!