Identify a problem in your community. Then, code a miniature computer to solve it.
This is not a task set before a group of trained engineers, but rather groups of Brown County Junior High School students who were paired with LHP Engineering Solutions.
Eighth-grader Violet Day was in one of those groups. After doing some research, and discovering that more than 1,000 break-ins happen each day in the United States, Day and her group decided they would use the miniature “raspberry pie” computer to connect a motion sensor that would automatically lock the doors when it detected something.
“We thought that would be a good and sustainable way to help, because if you’re not home or if you’re in bed or something, you’re not going to know. When the motion sensor detects anything moving, it will automatically lock your doors,” she said.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“A raspberry pie is a mini-computer that is about the size of a credit card. It’s really cheap. It’s only $35. You can connect it to a computer, a TV, whatever, and you can code it to do whatever you want it to do,” she added.
Every junior high school student was placed into groups that paired with a corporate partner, like Cummins or LHP. Science teachers Kady Lane and Kevin Roush acted as consultants on the projects. They also picked the top groups who would go and present their final projects to the actual corporate partners.
The corporate partners gave the groups a problem, and the students worked for six weeks in their science classes coming up with solutions and presentations about their findings. The groups also were able to visit the corporate partners’ offices.
Having community corporate partners is part of BCJHS being a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math)-certified school. In the spring of 2018, BCJHS received the certification from the Indiana Department of Education.
Corporate community partners this year included Cook Medical, LHP, Faurecia and Cummins. Bryan Gabriel, owner of Mainstream Fiber Networks, is another community partner. BCJHS students also worked this year with local partners Bob Blass with oornj brandesign, Brown County Music Center, and Designscape.
Impressive students
The junior high school decided to reach out to local businesses to see if they wanted to partner with students on projects as a way to increase the variety of projects that students could do, Roush said.
“It gives those kids some graphic design (experience) who may not be interested in a data project, but they can definitely draw or they want to do something like that,” he said.
“Some people just don’t want to do engines, but they may want to plant plants, or they may want to talk about aquaponics, or fish. We’re not going to fit everybody into what we need them to do, but we’re going to try to get some more (partners) to get them more excited.”
Blass had the students do a rebranding project with Mother’s Cupboard Community Kitchen.
“I think with that what we’ll do each year is limit it to a community not-for-profit that is looking for some sort of rebranding, and that’s a great way for our students to leave a lasting mark on their community,” Lane said.
Blass had students design new logos for Mother’s Cupboard using Adobe Illustrator and other apps.
“I tried to do it more like the original logo, which was bowls with steam and soup, so I made a bowl with steam, then it turned into a heart,” said eighth-grader Shirley Lucklider.
The board of directors for Mother’s Cupboard was presented with several logos to choose from. The new logo will be put on the bags Mother’s Cupboard uses to give customers food.
“At first, I wasn’t nervous at all, then I got in front of them and I felt like a rush of nervousness. … We had to explain our own design and then I explained the process of making it,” Lucklider said.
“There were a few questions, like, if it was in black and white, would it still look good? Would it still be able to give off the vibe that it’s supposed to?”
Lane and Roush are also thinking about ways to teach communication skills and how to interact with adults to the students working on these STEM projects.
“It’s those soft skills. Employers are looking to have their employees be dependable, communicate, look people in the eye, be responsible, shake a hand, dress appropriately, and all of these things that are kind of missing, We’re trying to add that back in on top of the engineering design process,” Lane said.
Bryan Rushton, with LHP, said his company is always impressed with how the junior high students perform when tasked with a real-world challenge.
“Because it is open-ended, there is no definite right answer, so creativity is important,” Rushton said.
“We usually see an initial struggle with coming up with an idea, because there is worry about being ‘wrong’ or coming up with an idea that won’t work. But as we work with the students more, and we reassure them, some really innovative, world-class ideas come out.”
Rushton said that LHP’s projects and technologies are different because “this is not about using technology just for the sake of using it, but how do we leverage it to create real impact?”
“Even if they have zero interest in going into a traditional ‘technology’ field as a career, it will affect them, and we want them to become aware of just how pervasive this is and will be in the future,” he said.
Day said that when her group presented to LHP, they were encouraged to go further with it and attach a sensor to an actual lock, like a deadbolt, since their project only focused on electronic door locks that used codes.
“I personally wasn’t nervous (presenting to the company) because we spent a lot of time on the presentations and we practiced a lot. The people we presented to they were very supportive of our idea and they liked our idea,” she said.
Rushton has a connection with BCJHS because he was once a student there.
“It’s absolutely awesome to be back working with the next generation at the school that helped prepare me to go out and compete on a global stage right here from southern Indiana,” he said.
“Never in a million years did I think I’d be able to live and work where I grew up, yet be so well positioned to work with some of the biggest companies all over the world.”
Working with BCJHS teachers and students is one reason Gabriel Gluesenkamp, with Designscape Horticultural Services, decided to volunteer this year as a mentor. He also graduated from Brown County.
“I’m hopeful this group of kids learned and grew in their problem solving and public speaking skills, because I believe those are the main keys to success moving into any workplace after school,” he said.
Students assigned to Designscape were given an aquaponics problem to solve.
“Aquaponics is where you grow plants in two different ways, but your main source of nutrition is biowaste from fish,” said eighth-grader Braxton Winton.
The problem was to come up with a way for a plant to grow completely in one sustainable environment instead of moving a plant as it grows.
“Designscape was using three different series. They were going from a small plant to a medium plant to the final plant. They had us figure out the quickest and most productive way to have one batch instead of having to move them. When we move them, it increases the risk of losing the plant,” Winton explained.
His group had four ideas at the beginning, and after a lot of experiments, a final idea was picked.
Gluesenkamp said he could tell the students enjoyed brainstorming and building their projects.
“I was impressed with the different ideas that they came up with, and the groups that presented at the end all did well,” he said.
“I enjoyed having them all out for the initial tour and helping them work through different ideas at the school.”
‘Take a deep breath and keep going’
Eighth-graders were not the only ones learning lessons by solving real-world problems during the first half of the school year.
Seventh-grader Lilly VanNess and her group were assigned to work with Faurecia.
“The project was about making a speaker to make another little vibration speaker louder. Whenever we started the project, we had an idea in mind just to make a simple and easy design,” she said.
After a few online searches, the group decided to design their speaker to look like the DJ Marshmello’s face that would enhance a vibrational speaker.
“We kind of drew out the design and it was easy, simple. That’s how we got this,” VanNess said as she pointed to the small white and black box that looked like a smiling marshmallow with Xs as eyes.
“It also had to look good and people knew about it.”
Other group designs looked like a Rubik’s cube and cartoon character Spongebob Squarepants.
VanNess’ group was one of the groups picked to present their idea to Faurecia. “I really liked it because I like speaking in front of a lot of people. I really enjoyed doing it. It was a really cool experience and I hope to do it again next year,” she said.
“They said they liked it, which I was glad to hear after a lot of things that went wrong, but I was also happy that a lot of things went well.”
VanNess said she learned a lot about engineering as her group worked to find the best solution.
“At first, it didn’t sound very clear and it wasn’t very loud. It was very vibrated because of the cardboard by itself. In the inside there is Styrofoam to absorb some of the vibration. It actually made it a little bit louder,” she said.
A basket inside the box helps to hold the speaker in place.
“A lot of engineering came into play with this and figuring out how to solve, a lot of problem solving,” VanNess said.
She also learned how to manage her frustration when working with others on a group project wasn’t going as planned. “I learned how to take a deep breath and keep going,” she said.
Seventh-grader Kai Koester and his group created a bracket that could hold a relay to a 3.8-liter diesel engine for Cummins.
“We have to worry about placement, where to put the bracket that could hold the relay, and we had to make it accessible if the relay, like, broke off or something,” Koester explained.
The seventh-graders had a lot to think about when coming up with their designs.
“There were two sides to the engine, the hot side and the cold side. We had to put it on the cold. We had to think of vibrations of the engine, and cost, because it had to be under $2.50,” Koester said.
“We also had to think of size, how wide and how long it has to be. It took a lot of failed bracket designs until we got to one that was sturdy, it didn’t look that expensive, it would stick the relay out a little bit, but also bolt it.”
The group also had to find a spot on the engine to attach the bracket, so their Cummins mentor told them to look for bolt holes already on the engine that were not being used. The group found one next to the transmission, Koester said.
Steel was picked as the metal to use, and after five designs, the group selected their final one.
As groups assigned to Cummins worked on their bracket designs, they were able to go into the Makerspace at the junior high to look at the actual engine and take measurements. Cummins had brought an engine in for them to use.
“It’s not looking at a picture, it is there, and they got to go every day. And they learned how to use the calipers and how to measure from the center of the hole and not from the edges,” Roush explained.
The groups then used a 3D printer to print the designs they created in Tinkercad, a 3D design tool, using the measurements they had taken on the engine.
“I had fun doing it. Sometimes it could be frustrating, but we got it done, and we got to go to Cummins because of our unique designs,” Koester said.
“They liked the presentation and they think we can go farther into that design.”
Students will continue to engage in small projects with corporate partners throughout this semester.
The next large schoolwide project will be the STEM Showcase in May, where the students will display their best STEM projects to the community alongside all of the corporate partners, Principal Brian Garman said.
