High School students learn about
engineering at Delaware Tech
Posted: Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Georgetown – Seventeen Sussex County high school students attending a summer Upward Bound Math & Science (UBMS) program worked on a project with the engineering technologies department at Delaware Technical & Community College, Owens Campus.
The students were introduced to the fields of engineering, mechanical design and manufacturing while attempting to create the most efficient spinning top.
The project was developed and conducted in the engineering technologies department by Dr. Doug Hicks, department chair; David Pedersen, instructional coordinator; Ron Sitze, lab technician; and Bill Benchoff, volunteer.
Math, science and related careers and programs are sometimes referred to as STEM which stands for science, technology, engineering and math.
"STEM careers are essential to our economy, worldwide competitiveness and standard of living but aren't being chosen by many of the young people entering college programs around the country," said Dr. Hicks.
"STEM fields are not easy," said K. Ryan Brown, program manager at the UBMS Center. "We need to encourage and support students to put forth the extra effort to succeed in these fields. Mentoring by STEM professionals, like those in the engineering department, is vital to their success."
The spinning top project was organized to provide UBMS students with some hands-on applications in STEM fields to help them make more informed career choices, Dr. Hicks explained.
"Students are learning a great deal while being introduced to fundamental engineering principles," added Brown. "Spinning tops are a great application for students to learn about and appreciate physics."
"Designing a spinning top has a lot to do with math and science," said Jenny Velazquez, 16, of Georgetown. "It really helps to learn the subject in a different way; it makes it more fun."
"We are also learning about the engineering program at Delaware Tech and how college students work," Velazquez added.
Before designing their tops, students learned about the physics of spinning tops and characteristics such as weight, center of gravity and rotational inertia that influence a top's balance.
They were then asked to sketch a design for an efficient top based on the physical principles that govern how a top works. Everyone was given the same size aluminum blank to make the top.
Once they had their individual sketches, the students worked in small teams to pick the best overall design ideas. They input the design into the computer-aided design (CAD)/computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software which controls the computer numerical controlled (CNC) machine that fabricated the actual top from the piece of aluminum.
"They gave us paper and we had to design a spinning top," said Brentdy Chavez, 14, of Seaford. "Then we entered the data in the computer and got technical with it – densities, measurements, things like that, and saw a 3-D image of our design."
"Next we went to the machine that actually cut it (the spinning top) out, tested it and entered it in the competition," added Chavez.
The teams also entered their designs into a parametric 3-D modeling software package called Inventor. The students used the Inventor software to calculate their top's weight, center of gravity and rotational inertia.
It was then time to see which team's top would spin the longest. To keep things fair, each top was spun three times by three impartial spinners. The overall average spin time determined the winner.
The first place top was designed by Deanna Sigai, Seaford, and spun for an average of 73.3 seconds; Marybeth Kemski, Bridgeville, and Jordan Sigai, Seaford, designed the second place top which averaged 54.2 seconds; and the third place top had an average spin time of 52.6 seconds and was designed by Yanet Berduo, Georgetown; Alona Soto, Millsboro; and Kyle Poplaski, Blades.
The competition was a friendly one and students had fun regardless of the amount of time that their top spun.
"My top really wasn't the best, but I had a lot of fun learning and want to use this for further studies," said Chavez.
Every student received a spinning top their team designed and a base engraved with their name on which to spin the top.
The activity inspired 15-year-old Jade Scott to think about a career in engineering.
"I think I could see computer engineering as my future job," said Scott of Bridgeville. "I enjoyed designing on the computer, working with the software and learning physics."
"This program provided a great opportunity to show these young people how science, engineering and technology are used to design, test and build a simple toy," said Dr. Hicks. "I think it became clear to all of them how much we rely on people working in STEM careers to produce all of the things we take for granted in our society."
The mission of the Upward Bound Math & Science Center program is to encourage and assist high school students who are traditionally underrepresented in postsecondary education due to income or family educational background in preparation for post-secondary education in a science, technology, engineering or math field. UBMS is fully funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education in the amount of $260,857 for the 2009-2010 school year and sponsored by Delaware Technical & Community College.