-
GEMS 2015
-
GEMS 2014
<
>
The Tiki Techs are involved in various outreach events in our community, One of these events is GEMS West Hawaii, an event to support and encourage women going into STEM fields. This year, GEMS took place at the King Kamehameha Hotel on November 17th, hosting over 370 girls. Our team put time towards creating fun STEM activities for the 5th grade girls. TOWER BUILDING: The young girls were tasked with building towers that would support a foam vex ball, In only 10 minutes. Using 20 uncooked spaghetti noodles, 10 sheets of paper, 10 marshmallows, 5 shaped popsicle sticks, 5 regular popsicle sticks and 1 meter of tape. The girls all had different strategies and types of towers in the end and found different uses for each of the materials.
WRITE IT DO IT: In this activity, the girls were split into two large groups, each group had a sculpture or model of some kind, which they had to write instructions as to how the other team was to re-create this model. Then, the two teams exchanged instructions and using the instructions only (no model) they built exactly what the instructions explained. Then the teams combined again to see each other's work and discuss what could have been changed.
CUPS ACTIVITY: In this activity, girls were grouped into teams of 5 or 6, They worked on the floor to complete short challenges involving 3 cups and post-it notes. Such as pouring water from one cup to another, stacking the cups in different ways, transporting cups full of water, and even peeling off post-it notes. This seems simple, but the girls had to use a tool to do all of these things, a rubber band with 6 strings attached to it. Each girl would have control of a string and they used them to expand and contract the rubber band around cups, and post-it notes to complete the tasks.
GIrls exploring engineering math and science
In this year’s Girls Exploring Math and Science (GEMS) event girls from the Kealakehe Tiki Techs immersed girls into the world of robotics as an attempt to get them excited about math and science. Girls Exploring Math and Science or GEMS is an annual event held by the American Association of University Women for 5th grade girls to expand their knowledge of careers available in math and science. The Kealakehe Tiki Tech women were excited to help run an event that inspired them as children. Ariana Kaneshiro Tiki Technologies member and Kealakehe High School sophomore said, “The highlight of my fifth grade year was attending GEMS it was so inspiring and helped me to realize how many opportunities there are for women in STEM careers. I hope I am able to inspire a young girl, like how I was inspired.” This event gives girls hands on experience with real life activities and situations. At GEMS the girls investigated three different fields that interested them and throughout the day they rotated between these programs.
During this event, the Kealakehe High School Robotics Team set up three different stations for the girls curious about robotics. Each of the stations were run by girls on the Robotics Team. Justin Brown, the robotics head coach, oversaw the program. The activities educated the fifth graders on robotics and design thinking. At one station, the girls drove the Tiki Tech robots and scored the VEX toss up game balls. In the other Tiki Tech stations the girls learned about design processes through Stanford Design Thinking. Design Thinking is a style of thinking using empathy, creativity, and rationality to innovate and problem solve. Some of the Design Thinking projects the girls did involved building towers out of marshmallows and spaghetti. Another activity was Write It Do It; this involved building a boat in under eight minutes while writing fabrication instructions. The second part of this activity involved using a separate team’s instructions to recreate the boat. We had so much fun working with the girls and teaching them about Stanford Design Thinking, engineering, and robots. We hope to get more girls into the robotics and STEM community.
During this event, the Kealakehe High School Robotics Team set up three different stations for the girls curious about robotics. Each of the stations were run by girls on the Robotics Team. Justin Brown, the robotics head coach, oversaw the program. The activities educated the fifth graders on robotics and design thinking. At one station, the girls drove the Tiki Tech robots and scored the VEX toss up game balls. In the other Tiki Tech stations the girls learned about design processes through Stanford Design Thinking. Design Thinking is a style of thinking using empathy, creativity, and rationality to innovate and problem solve. Some of the Design Thinking projects the girls did involved building towers out of marshmallows and spaghetti. Another activity was Write It Do It; this involved building a boat in under eight minutes while writing fabrication instructions. The second part of this activity involved using a separate team’s instructions to recreate the boat. We had so much fun working with the girls and teaching them about Stanford Design Thinking, engineering, and robots. We hope to get more girls into the robotics and STEM community.