Young Scholars receive lesson in scientific design from RoboRaiders

Working in small groups, members of the Mill Road Young Scholars designed and created methods to protect eggs for an egg drop experiment last week.

Few eggs survived the journey from roughly eight feet in the air to the floor. And, a few tears were shed by those students who chose to give their eggs names like “Eggitha” or “Bob.”

But, that’s part of the process of refining designs and part of the lesson being taught by six members of the high school’s RoboRaiders team during their visit with the younger students at Mill Road’s STEAM Innovation Center.

The special session coincided with the end of the roughly two-month Young Scholars program. Rosie Apap, the sophomore RoboRaiders member who led the session, said community outreach, namely working with younger students, is a priority for the club.

“When they’re young, this can get them started and really excited,” she said, noting Principal Dr. Brian Boyd “made it easy to figure” the visit’s logistics out.

Apap delivered a presentation at the beginning of the visit in which she explained the importance of the design process in creating a robot that may be successful in competitions. She walked the students through the steps the team takes each year, from conceptual drawings to a 3D model, followed by a prototype, and finally testing and refining.

The high schoolers explained the same process is needed in other scientific design endeavors, introducing the idea of the egg drop. They supplied the fourth and fifth graders with the eggs and supplies like straws, cotton balls, Styrofoam and tape. They also provided guidance, floating around the room giving pointers on designs, along with Boyd and Assistant Principal Kristen Strothmann.

“I think it was fun watching the kids try to find different solutions,” sophomore Eve Celestine said. “We did run out of cotton balls and they had to change plans.”

The scholars then gathered around the center of the STEAM lab and watched as Apap dropped the designs from atop a chair. Most landed with an audible crack. Others needed to be unwrapped from their casings to confirm yoke had been spilled. Three landed unscathed, to the delight of the group. One of them was helped by a paper parachute, another was surrounded by a cube of straws to cushion the fall.

“There were almost no repeated ideas,” Apap said. “Almost every single one was different, which was cool.”

The Young Scholars met each Friday morning before school beginning Jan. 10. This year the group included more than 70 students grades 3-5, submitting an application in order to join. Each week Boyd, Strothmann and the group discussed high-concept topics; one session they discussed the California wildfires and asked the students to create detailed plans for how they would prevent their spread. At the group’s last official session early this month, the students filled out a survey for how the group should improve in the future.

All six of the RoboRaiders teaching the session last week were female. While that was not necessarily an intended part of the lesson, Apap noted the RoboRaiders are “definitely one of the most gender-diverse” robotics teams in the state, and she acknowledged the importance of the image they gave off to the Young Scholars.

“Boys grow up with this idea that ‘of course they can be in STEM,’” the sophomore said. “For all those girls – this room was probably a majority of girls – for them to see all of us women are in STEM it can be more inspiring. Hopefully, it sends the message to the girls, who maybe weren’t getting that in the same way that the boys were, that they are welcome and necessary in the STEM field.”