Astronaut Ride inspiring girls in science club
The girls are members of the Sally Ride Science Club at Arrowhead Elementary School in Phoenix. Club members meet every Thursday and learn about science.
Some girls consider science boring, but Kaylee McGurthy, 11, looks forward to the weekly after-school gathering in the school library. The sixth-grader said she especially enjoys projects that make her put gadgets in motion. advertisement
The mission of the club, named after Sally Ride, America's first woman astronaut, aims to spark interest of middle-school girls in science, math and technology.
Two weeks ago, the 15 girls worked on a project that had them designing a car of straw, four Lifesaver candies, a sheet of paper, two paper clips and tape.
Kaylee and other students puffed their cheeks full of air and blew their makeshift vehicles across a table. The goal was to make a car glide across a table powered only by the operator's breath.
My group won because our car traveled across the table in one blow, said Kaylee, whose team consisted of two other girls. "We didn't get a prize, but it was fun."
This is Kaylee's second year in the science club. She wants to be a veterinarian.
Fifth-grade teacher Jorjann Miller is the club's coach along with Julie Barncastle, a reading specialist. With Miller and Barncastle, the girls learn about women in science, design paper planes or watch paper clips and pennies sink or float in water.
Designing cars and paper airplanes are simple engineering skills that will benefit the girls who ultimately will create a toy to enter in a regional TOYchallenge contest in February, Miller said. A win at the regional will ensure the girls a trip to the national competition next spring in San Diego.
All of the activities leading up to the actual toy-design sessions provide learning and practice in designing and modifying in order to develop a design or prototype that will work, Miller said.
Until then, the middle schoolers will continue to explore design and engineering of gadgets that move.
Alma Armenta, 10, joined the club this year. The fifth-grader has never missed a meeting. Her team's car weighed in heavy for last week's race. The team stripped the car of weight by removing flags in order to achieve a lighter car that glided across the table.
I'd like a job researching plants and animals and, yes, I'll also be an astronaut, Alma said.