STEM club meets

The 4-H STEM Club started their February session ?Put a Lid on It? Feb. 14 after school, filling every chair in the Lincoln Library. This month they are learning and working as biomedical engineers to design helmets. This first evening they learned the important terms of criteria and constraints and how those impact what engineers do. In small groups they designed towers with very specific constraints and criteria to protect their egg ?brain? at the top of the tower. With 26 participants there were lots of unique designs.

Students also watched a video showing the evolution of helmets and the many technologies that have improved them over the years. The video showed specific parts of the brain and what they controlled. This 4-H STEM Club will meet again Feb. 21 and 28 to design their own helmets and test them with a mannequin.

Washington County Extension and 4-H and Lincoln Elementary are partnering together with a sponsorship from Bazooka Farmstar to offer this 4-H STEM Club to any third-to fifth-grade student who wants to experiment more with science, technology, engineering, and math. Classes are led by volunteers Janet Conrad and Melanie Roth and Extension/4-H Staff Amy Green.

A community showcase is planned for Feb. 28, at 4:30 p.m. to showcase what the students have learned and built as biomedical engineers. Any community member is welcome to come and learn more from these students and see their recycled racers in action.

Registrations for the March and April STEM Club sessions are now open with limited space available. Registration information can be found at http://www.extension.iastate.edu/washington/news/4-h-explore-stems-crop-science-trip-march-24.