Spira Day 6 & 7: Magnets, Martians, and Microcomputers!

Today and yesterday were jam packed with lots of fun. Yesterday we showed the girls the connection between electricity and magnetism and had them get creative as they made magnetic slime. The girls were able to adjust the properties of their "slime" and play around with how strong of a magnetic pull it had. Afterwards we had the campers watch the film "The Martian" which provided an excellent example of some of the applications of engineering that are useful in surviving in an unknown environment. Once the movie ended, Professor Haberstroh came for a visit and gave some amazing advice on staying strong as a woman in STEM and the college process. She went through her experiences as a woman who studied engineering as well as her experiences as a faculty member at Brown. Her talk was very inspiring and made the prospect of pursuing a STEM field that much more real for the girls. The day ended with s'mores as the girls were finally able to test out their solar ovens from last week. It was an epic success!

Today was just as fun as yesterday! This morning we introduced the girls to the world of computer engineering. We allowed them to work for a little bit with Arduino, a computer system that facilitates in teaching the basics of programming. With Arduino, the girls were able to see how computer language could be typed in as an input and the results (the output) would be the computer responding back. It was a great way to get a glimpse at some of the work done by computer software engineers. Right after work with Arduinos we had lunch where our mentors led a fun memory game for the girls. The rest of the day was full of more programming on a fun website titled scratch where the campers were able to create their own animations and mini games. We finally wrapped up the last 30 minutes of the day with a discussion about the previous day's movie "The Martian." Today was an incredibly productive day and served as a wonderful insight to the world of computer engineers!