Cambridge Rotary Sponsors Girls and STEM Project

This June, I once again witnessed the amazing  support from  Rotary International to their local communities.   On their website, Rotary International is described as 

"Rotary is a global network of 1.4 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves."

Tech Savvy Girls Camp 2018

Through their support of Girls and STEM, our local Rotary clubs are indeed creating 'problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action".  For years,  the Rotary Club of Newport has made it possible for  young women like, Sydney (see video below) to spend a week with their peers creating confidence with technology through  creative and practical problem solving at TechSavvy Girls summer camp.

This June, the Cambridge Area Rotary Club sponsored a Girls in STEM event at Cambridge Elementary School that engaged 3rd and 4th grade girls with Circuits and Code.  The event, designed and lead by Faith Horton (Cambridge Elementary) and Lucie deLaBruere (Create Make Learn) provided the girls with the opportunity to express their creativity while creating confidence with computer science and circuits.

THANK YOU to the Cambridge Area Rotary!

We used Scratch (a coding platform from M.I. T) to start coding firefly stories. 

In no time at all, the girls coded a backdrop with blinking fireflies and learned how to animate firefly sprites that could tell stories as they moved across the screen. 

Soon, we turned our focus to batteries, led lights, and switches to build simple circuits.  Inspired by colored LED and empowered with a wire stripper, the girls  put together circuit assemblies that would become part of a firefly model.  

   

Using creative and practical problem-solving, we used our circuit assemblies in creative firefly models whose abdomens lit up.   Colorful paper and craft supplies assembled with tape and glue fueled by creativity yielded some amazing fireflies.

Watch Cambridge girls empowered with creativity, circuits, and code!

As our time together for this session came to an end, the girls left with light up fireflies in hand and a greater awareness of how creativity, code, and circuits can empower them with new tools for creative and practical problem solving.   Hopefully many will be back during our week long exploration of many different ways to play with circuits and code.   Here's a sneak preview of different ways we will play with circuits and code at Cambridge Elementary later this summer.