STEM

As early as 1989 Eastman Kodak placed 1500 of its technology-based employees into RCSD classrooms as volunteer STEM Coaches; (to help make STEM delivery project-based, and hands-on), in more than seven hundred RCSD 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classrooms. We stayed for two-hour visits, twice a week for the entire school year. This STEM initiative lasted 10 years! Our goal was to make whatever STEM topic the teacher was working on as tangible as possible, and to also describe real-world application examples where we had used the concepts being taught.

My “teacher” was working on buoyancy, which led to density, and eventually the units lbs./in3 (back when we were oblivious to metrification.) Understanding that set that units was the crux of success, but has anybody ever seen a cubic inch.

On the way home that night I stopped at a print shop and asked them to build a steel-rule paper cutting die to make the stretch-out for a cubic inch. At the next class we gave each student a pattern and a Glue Stick (a new toy in and of itself, in the early 1990’s). Everybody made their own cubic inch (the Printer insisted on putting the dots on because “he is a printer”; so, I told the kids if you want a Cubic Inch, fold the paper with the dots on the inside, otherwise it will be a Die. Only about three kids took the bait.)

The Cubic Inch was only half of the original imaginary set of units, but I believe we made a real impact on Project Based Learning, the concept of volume, and density as well.

In 1991, two years before the Federal government began to address our slipping technological advantage and nine years before our government gave the name STEM to the intended solution path, the Rochester Senior Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) created what would today be considered a STEM initiative, known as the E3 Fair. The initial concept was to increase the visibility of the science projects, which area middle school students were already doing this for their respective schools.

Our science project history was that the students stood in front of their project (which took perhaps a couple months to investigate, build and deliver) for perhaps an hour, only to have some school officials walk past and thank them for the hard work.

Instead, we envisioned a day-long Fair, where these exhibits would be judged for their technical content, teamwork, and presentation-finesse, and where these accomplishments were recognized using prize ribbons and trophies. We named this event the E3 Fair. E3 stands for Engineering, Exploration and Experimentation, and this was our attempt at what has since evolved nationally into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Over the years, we have added team-based “engineering” competitions. The first involved LEGO motor-driven kits. Starting in 2001, robotics involving a variety of challenges was added, using programmable LEGO Mindstorm kits. Just as important as this increased visibility for such great scholastic work, and Fair-Day robotics competitions, the E3 Fair has inspired the technical societies and corporations, that collectively are the Rochester Engineering Society, to exhibit actual STEM utilization as practiced within Rochester area corporations. Fifteen to twenty-five local engineering organizations have created enumerable hands-on exhibits.

The picture above shows the industry booth from Eastman Kodak. Students are given a sheet of plastic and asked to take it to the first of three stations; that operator heats the sheet in an infrared oven; at the second station, the student sees the plastic sheet drawn down over a wooden model of Jaguar car body; at the last station, a trim-die cuts off the excess plastic, leaving the student with a 9-inch-long model of a car, still warm from the vacuum-forming process.

Between student competitors, parents, teachers and the general public, a typical E3 Fair drew a few hundred students and frequently over one thousand visitors. One year we got in trouble with the RIT security staff because twenty-nine school busses arrived, from all over the fivecounty area, in a 40-minute window.

The Society of Plastics Engineers was a big hit molding screw-drivers on-site. Each student walked away with the handle still warm.

STEM Bridges (Jon Kriegel, 585-281-5216; jkriegel@rochester.rr.com)

STEM Bridges is an RES attempt to pick-up where Kodak left off, delivering STEM support for teachers. The RES hopes to broaden this initiative from only RCSD, to any school district interested in such support, and to recruit technical support across all possible STEM disciplines, not just engineers. Let’s send an MD to help an advanced biology teacher, not a mechanical engineer.

The 2023 E3 Fair (Richard Repka, Rrepka10@gmail.com)

The 2023 E3 Fair will be held on Friday, March 31! See page 25 of this issue for a flyer with details as well as on the RES and E3 Fair websites

The 2023 RES Explorer Post (Richard

Repka, Rrepka10@gmail.com)

For more than 30 years

Jean Kendrick and then Rich Repka have been taking 1520 high school students on 11+ Rochester manufacturing plant tours and/or engineering laboratory visits. The goal is to increase their exposure to engineering, as different from their exposure to firemen and police officers, which was all they received in grade school! This picture shows RES’s Explorer Troop 801 readying for a tour of the Circuit Chip Manufacturing lab at RIT. For more information on the Explorer Post go to the RES website under What We Do

RES Tutoring Team - Volunteers Needed!

(Lee Loomis, Chair - 585-738-3079; LeeLoomis46@gmail.com)

In 1998 RES Board Member and Past President Lee Loomis triggered a family of engineers visiting 2nd and 3rd grade students from RCSD’s Dr. Walter Cooper Academy, as literacy tutors. Working in pairs, these volunteers help to improve reading skills at that mostcritical age. Although Covid stopped this effort for a while, we are recently back in business this year and looking for volunteers!

These are the details around four of the eight RES STEM and Tutoring Programs either created by or supported by the RES. I suggest that this history puts Rochester NY way ahead in STEM delivery!

We will describe the remaining RES programs in the April Rochester Engineer. Yet to come, TERRA, Future Cities, First Robotics, and Skype-AScientist. Details are also on the RES website under What We Do.

If you see value in these education initiatives and would be interested in volunteering, please contact Jon Kriegel RES Education Initiatives Director, at jkriegel@rochester.rr.com. Cell: (585) 281-5216.