Toying With Technology: Mobile Robots And High School Interns

Students in today’s world grow up surrounded by electronic and electromechanical gadgetry and become adept at using such gadgetry at an early age without necessarily understanding the underlying science and technology. Garage door openers, TV remote controllers, microwave ovens, remote-control toys, and cellular phones are but a few such items in wide use today. As complex as these gadgets seem on the surface, much of the scientific and technological mystery behind their functionality can be explained in simple terms well within the grasp of the high school, or even middle school students. The primary purpose of this project is the development of science and technology instructional units aimed at a variety of students with the goal of giving these students an understanding of and appreciation for the basic scientific principles underlying the technological innovations that surround them. Students are introduced to science and technology in a gentle, non-threatening manner by developing a collection of hands-on laboratory experiences based upon simple systems constructed out of LEGOs and controlled by small microprocessors. These laboratory experiences are designed to lead students, literally by their hands-on experimentation, through the use of technology in support of many everyday activities

Creating Web Explorations In Science And Engineering

A summer internship program is held at Iowa State University each year for undergraduate and high school women in science and engineering fields. In the summer of 1995 two high school women in this program, co-authors Roberts and Sandberg, created world-wide-web based multimedia explorations into topics in science and engineering which are common in our daily lives. The prototype documents placed on the web were well researched and scientific explanations of the phenomena at hand, but explained so that the average 6th or 7th grader (the target audience) could understand them. These two students were directly supervised by an undergraduate woman, co-author Collier, herself a former intern in this program. The purpose of the internship program is to give young women experience in research laboratories under the mentorship of an Iowa State professor, thereby solidifying their interest in SEM (Science, Engineering, and Mathematics) careers. This particular research project not only provided such a research experience for the two high school women but it also provided an internship in supervising researchers for the undergraduate student as well as allowing a mentoring relationship for all three students with a professor, co-author Genalo