Ohio Northern University will conduct its fourth annual STEM Academy (science, technology, engineering and math) at Wilder Intermediate School in Piqua on Thursday, March 19.

After an opening assembly, each of the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students will participate in five different mini-workshops. Each grade-specific workshop is 30 minutes long and will be conducted by two or three ONU engineering students.

Fourth-graders will conduct a project management exercise with gumdrops and toothpicks and explore the similarities between no-bake cookies and asphalt. They also will study buoyancy by building boats out of aluminum foil. Fifth-graders will construct towers from spaghetti and fabricate batteries from potatoes. Sixth-graders will measure the effectiveness of solar water heaters and build race cars that have motors made from rubber bands and wheels made from old compact discs.

At the end of the day, Bryan Boulanger, associate professor of civil engineering, will present a sample of his research in the field of noise and light pollution.

The 36 ONU students conducting the workshops range from freshmen to seniors and represent each of the different engineering disciplines. The student leaders are Tyler Bernardy, a senior engineering education major from Wooster, Ohio, and David Reeping, a junior engineering education major from Richfield, Ohio.

The entire project was the brainchild of fourth-grade social studies teacher Sarah Jane Magoteaux. She has received grants from the Air Force Association, the Piqua Community Foundation and the Piqua Area United Way - Teens Taking Charge program. The funds are used to underwrite the cost of the materials.

Link:http://www.onu.edu/node/64537

Ohio Northern University’s quality, student-centered education distinctively combines nationally ranked sciences, arts and professional programs for more than 3,600 students in its five colleges: Arts & Sciences, Business Administration, Engineering, Pharmacy and Law.

The T.J. Smull College of Engineering at Ohio Northern University has consistently been ranked as one of the nation’s top 50 undergraduate engineering schools in “Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report. The college offers engineering and computer science students a unique academic experience with a focus solely on undergraduate programs and bolsters this with small class sizes, a strong laboratory component, experiential learning and guaranteed personal attention to support students in reaching their full academic potential. More information at onu.edu/engineering