Development of a Summer High School Research Program

Abstract

Abstract Development of a High School Summer Research ProgramThis paper focuses on secondary school outreach efforts of this School of Engineering,Mathematics, and Science. The school recently segmented its research center into aresearch and outreach center. Direction of research was also altered from extension basedindustrially driven applied projects to basic research activities. At the same time, thepreviously independent K-12 outreach arm was added to outreach segment of the center.In the last decade, the K-12 outreach arm has been operating by offering teacher andstudent work-shops, organizing conferences and competitions as well as summer camps.Events organized by the school have included Expanding Your Horizons (EYH)Conference, MathCounts and First Tech Challenge (FTC) Competitions, summer campsin Animatronics, CSI/Forensics, Alternative Energy/Sustainability, and Ecology. Inaddition, the outreach arm has been actively engaged in the local exhibitions and fairsincluding the Carnegie Science Center events.A new initiative has been developed to present research opportunities in robotics to highschool students. The theme selected for the research activities is based on alternativeactuation methods for robotics without using the conventional electric motors. Recentdevelopments of flexible gumby robots, interesting memory alloy behaviors as well asother alternative means such as magnetic and pneumatic actuation are employed inattracting students into this field. A 3-day pilot study was developed and conducted withparticipation of 10 interested high school students. The students designed and built robotsthat were actuated by pneumatic propulsion or magnetism. This paper will present theobjectives and structure of the initiative, the lessons learned from it, and will concludewith the future plans. As a part of the objectives of the efforts, one of the participants isinvolved as a co-author of the paper giving her perspective as she contributes to thefurther development of the research program. Additional feedback from other participantswill also be included in the feedback section of his paper.