Students from fifth through eighth grade learned about science, technology, engineering, and math at Monsignor Edward Pace High School’s second annual Spartan STEM Boot Camp on May 14. Campers participated in four sessions of robotics, biology, chemistry, and engineering led by teachers and students from Pace’s Signature STEM Academy.
In the Robotics sessions led by Hedda Falcon, lead teacher for the STEM Academy Emerging Computer Technologies Program, students used an iPad app to program a robot to turn and follow rectangular paths by themselves.
Steps programmed into the robot were displayed on the iPads and synced with TVs inside the Innovation Center so other group members could see the steps play out.
For the Biology session, Luis Mayo, lead teacher for the STEM Academy Advanced Biomedical Sciences Program, guided students in measuring and analyzing the rate of photosynthesis in spinach leaves.
Laura Lima, lead teacher for the STEM Academy Engineering Program, had students in the Engineering session build stable structures out of nothing but basic food items.
Pace chemistry teacher Dr. Enrique Dominguez lit up the room with a Chemistry session that took students through the chemical reactions that give fireworks their colors, wowing campers as their Bunsen burners’ flames changed different colors.