Tech Challenge at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center

On April 2, 2011 the Fleet hosted nearly 90 fourth- through sixth-grade girls and 130 of their family members for the annual Tech Challenge engineering competition. The girls, who attend Title I (low income) schools, are part of the Fleet's SciTech after school program. During the weeks leading up to the competition, the girls were challenged to create a device to help clean up the plastic waste in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch without harming marine life. The girls spent weeks researching the problem and designing and testing their devices. They kept track of their design processes in notebooks, which they shared with the judges on the day of competition. Thanks to our partnership with Motorola, we were able to have six female engineers serve as judges during the event. The presence of the judges gave the competition an added layer of authenticity. The girls were excited (and a bit nervous) to learn that they would be presenting their designs to a group of real women engineers. This interaction with the judges will have a lasting impact on many of these young girls. The feedback from parents was especially heartwarming. Many of these families had never been to the Fleet and this event offered them an opportunity to learn what we are all about. It was an inspiring day for all involved!

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Reuben
• H.
• Fleet
• Science
• Center
• diy
• girls
• experiment
• trash
• Great
• Pacific
• Garbage
• Patch
• clean
• up

[TheTechMuseum]

We are so glad to see how much fun you guys had at The Tech Challenge in San Diego!