Ohio Northern University students conducted a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Academy at Columbus Grove Elementary School on Thursday, March 31.

After an opening presentation from Dr. Todd France, assistant professor of engineering education, each of the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students participated in four different mini-workshops. Each grade-specific, 60-minute workshop was conducted by two ONU engineering students.

The STEM Academy workshops task the elementary students with building bridges out of spaghetti, learning project management skills using toothpicks and gum drops, studying buoyancy by building boats from aluminum foil, and other tasks.

The day closed with a talk about engineering from Tom Zechman, assistant dean of engineering at Ohio Northern.

The 24 ONU students who conducted the workshops range from freshmen to seniors representing engineering education as well as civil, electrical and mechanical engineering.

The engineering students were also joined by an education major and a biology major from ONU’s College of Arts & Sciences. The leadership of the project is being undertaken by the ONU student chapter of the American Society of Engineering Education.

This Columbus Grove STEM Academy is spearheaded by Heather Sapp, a junior engineering education major from Springfield, Ohio, and Jeanne Graessle, a junior engineering education major from Chesapeake, Va.