On July 5th and 6th, 2019, the East Cobb Branch of AYLUS hosted two days STEM Tutoring programs, 16 members spent up to 12 hours to teach 19 young students in the local area about wood construction and the STEM concepts behind it. The branch set up a workshop that allowed students to enter and build a bridge accompanied by a short presentation on the underlying Stem concepts. All the volunteers had a great time and all the students left with excited smiles as they carried home the bridges they built in two days.
Day one is knowledge and building day. At the start of the session, we set up individual stations, and prepared wood for use. As the students began to enter, the tutors called them over to listen to a short presentation. Our tutors told the students about the basic design, how the bridge would build, and showed them example of finished bridges. After this presentation, the tutors showed the students the first step and then assigned them a station and a tutor. Building bridges seemed easier than building towers. At the end of the first day, most groups finished their bridges and left the bridges at the library for overnight drying.
The second day was testing day. Students was eager to test their bridges to find out how much weight their bridges could bear. They also learned that how to build a better bridge.
On July 6th, 2019, members of AYLUS helped tutor kids for a 2nd day of the Stem bridge building challenge. The models had dried overnight, and our job was to help the kids perfect and refine their designs for testing. Finally, when we were done, we tested them out by seeing how much weight they could hold. It warmed our hearts to see their faces alight with glee as they piled ever more weight onto the bridges, and then laughing as the bridges cracked and snapped.
The entire program was a great success as our tutors managed to help students with their bridges and inspired a love of engineering and construction in them. Many tutors also developed an interest in wood construction.
Attendance: Jack Xu (10 hours), Jerry Xu (6 hours), Diane Chen (3.5 hours), Susanna Huang (12 hours), Selina Xu (12 hours), Jiarong Wang (4 hours), David Qu (6 hours), Yuanhao Jay Pan (12 hours), Jeffrey Kuang (3 hours), Brian Kuang (3 hours), Katherine Sha (2 hours), Kevin Shen (6 hours), Michael Fu (2 hours), Gary Mei (6 hours), Rachel Li (4 hours), Eugene Li (2 hours)
Reported by Kevin Shen, Jack Xu
